Petite nun, 67, stands tall as Singapore's first taekwondo world champion
Published on: Monday, May 23, 2022
Sister Linda Sim wins a gold medal in the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in South Korea. (Photo: worldtaekwondo.org)
Kota Kinabalu: A petite 67-year-old Catholic nun has become Singapore’s first taekwondo world champion.
Sister Linda Sim, who is about 1.5m tall and weighs less than 50kg, won a gold medal in the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in South Korea, reported the Straits Times.
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"I felt on top of the world as I have reached a major milestone in my taekwondo journey. I felt great as this is the first time Singapore has won a gold medal and I also felt a great sense of gratitude to God," Sim told the Singapore daily.
"I have always been petite and small-framed. If I can run and kick, I don't have to carry a weapon to defend myself.
"I'm the weapon."
After joining the religious order of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood 43 years ago, the nun continued to practise and hone her skills.
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"Poomsae (a sequence of movements in taekwondo) is an art form and to me, it is like a dance,” said the fifth-dan black belt holder while answering a question whether there was a contradiction between the martial art and her religious life.
“It is not violent and the (world authority) World Taekwondo's motto is 'peace is more precious than triumph.
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"And St Francis said the prayer 'Make me a channel of your peace'. Taekwondo enables me to reach out to people in a non-church language.”
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