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Taste and Person: Henk Meijer, continued
In 1996 the IOC announced that Taekwondo would be an official Olympic sport at the Olympic Games of 2000 in Sydney.As a result of this the Dutch TKD Fed. received a much bigger support from the government and they offered me a job as a part time Olympic coach.
Under my guidance we were able to qualify two players for the Games of Sydney resulting in a 4th place (Virginia Lourens ) and a 5th place (Mirjam Muskens).
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In 2001 the Dutch TKD Fed. was able to offer me a fulltime job as Olympic coach (thanks to the Dutch Olympic comity) ,finishing after the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004.
Also in Athens we were able to qualify 2 players for the Olympic Taekwondo tournament.
Already before the Games in Athens I realised as a National coach, it was time to go and therefore I quit direct after Athens.
In February 2005 I signed a contract with the French TKD Federation to become their Head coach .
Best moment as a coach: 1. WC 1991 in Athens. Due to a miserable preparation, because of a lack of money, we did an excellent job scoring 4 medals (2 silver and 2 bronze),which was the best result ever on a WC for Holland.
2. During the US Open 2003 I received an award as outstanding coach.
Worst moment as a coach: EC 1998 in the city of Eindhoven. We had an excellent preparation and the expectations were high, but the result only 1 Gold medal. A disaster !
The big goal for me is winning a Gold medal at the Olympic Games. The French TKD Fed. has this also as their big goal (I think it is possible) ,so our ambition are the same !!
What after your coaching career: The next logical step will be that I will use my experience as a player and as a coach to become an official of a National or even International Federation to help proffesionalising our sport.
Degree in Taekwondo: 6th dan ( for me of not any importance)
Special to mention: In 2006 I celebrated my 30 years of Taekwondo.
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