Michelle Tau: From the catwalk to fighting on the tatami
Tau is from a family of taekwondo practitioners and grew around a tatami. Her father, John Molise Tau, a national taekwondo legend, passed away when she was young, but she grew up admiring his medals.
“My mum was in the national team along with my dad,” she told Olympics.com from her training base in Alcobendas, just outside the Spanish capital Madrid.
“My dad, he’s like a hero in the country because he’s been to the African Games championships. He has a World Military Games medal.”
This lineage naturally drew a young Tau towards the sport too. She loved the physicality of the sport, which was the polar opposite of her other passion, modelling. In 2017, she became the face of Lesotho, going as far as finishing among the top three in an international pageant.
“The fact that I was into modelling and then into taekwondo, it was confusing for a lot of people. It still is,” she admitted.
“Back then, as a girl going into taekwondo, a lot of people would just be like, ‘this is not a girl’s sport. This is like for boys. Do you want to be a boy? What are you trying to do?’
“They say to me, ‘you look like a girl! When you are in modelling you have makeup, your hair is done, you are in heels, you are walking, you look soft, very soft, very poised, very composed’. Then here I am, they see me also in taekwondo, they are like, ‘you fight, you are strong, how do you balance the two?’”
That’s the bit she really wants to be defined by.
“When I get in the ring, I’m a different person than I am in my real life.”
“I am very feminine, but I’m also very strong. It’s like women can also be strong. Women can also do tough things, and women can also fight.”- Michelle Tau to Olympics.com
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