WEST LINN, Ore. — A Portland man is taking four of his students to compete in an Olympic qualifying event this week in the Dominican Republic.
Taekwondo, the way of foot and fist, is a martial arts form that only some develop a jabbing passion for.
"Taekwondo is what I like. I enjoy doing taekwondo," said Frenel Ostin, president of the Haitian Taekwondo Federation and the founder of the One Taekwondo Academy franchise across the Portland Metro area.
Ostin is kick-starting opportunities by leading a group of athletes representing Haiti to compete in an Olympic qualifying taekwondo tournament.
"We have a lot of potential — there is a lot of potential. We are not sure if they are going to qualify but I’m very convinced that every athlete will do their best and possibly earn Haiti that qualification," Ostin said
Four of his students — Johny Saintibert, Aliyah Shipman, Ava Lee and Gregory Jean-Baptiste — will be competing at the Para-Taekwondo Pan American Qualification Tournament in the Dominican Republic on April 9 and 10. His students have been training and fighting for a chance like this for years.
"This only happens once every four years and it’s an amazing opportunity," said Aliyah Shipman, who previously qualified for Haiti in the Tokyo Olympics.
Ava Lee expressed her excitement.
"It’s really exciting, you know — also a lot of nerves, of course. But I’m more excited than nervous," she said.
The last time Haiti qualified was in 2020 for the Tokyo Olympics; a technicality knocked them out of the competition.
"2020 was the moment where Haiti athletes qualified at the Olympic games by Aliyah Shipman," Ostin said. "That was the first time a Haitian taekwondo athlete qualified on their rank to earn that spot to go to the Olympic game."
But now, after years of preparation, they're in the ready position to try again for a spot in the Olympic games and to give people a different perspective of Haiti.
"Haiti needs a lot of representation, and especially with what is going on right now, I just want to somehow give back in a positive light," Shipman said.
That's amid the current crisis back in Haiti where recent gang violence has set off due to changes in government.
Back in March, KGW spoke to Laurent Uwumuremyi, a humanitarian working for Portland-based Mercy Corps in Haiti’s capital, Port-Au-Prince. He said neighborhoods are overrun by gangs forcing people to flee their homes, leaving all their belongings behind. He added that people still stuck in the area have no family or friends to take them in or simply fear their property will be looted with nothing for them to return to.
Gregory Jean-Baptise, one of Ostin's four students representing team Haiti, acknowledge the situation in Haiti but expressed the value of also highlighting the good that's taking place.
"With all this chaos happening in Haiti, we want to shed positive light. We have good sports programs," said Jean-Baptise. "We want to bring out the positivity and focus on the good stuff and not just all the negative stuff happening."
Ostin also mentioned the value in taekwondo and welcomes anyone and everyone to participate in the sport.
"(Anyone interested) can be as young as 3 years old and as young as 99 years old. Right now, one of my current athletes, he is 74 years old," Ostin said.
While not everyone can be an Olympic athlete, these four students hope for a chance for Haiti to compete and shine on the world's biggest stage this summer in Paris.
"Hopefully, we can make it to the Olympics to qualify and win. We want to put Haiti back on the map," Jean-Baptise said.
