rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (03/14/85)
This story is culled, without authorization, from the pages of the
San Francisco Chronicle, dated March 13, 1985 (slow news day):
In O'Fallon, Missouri, Lucille Thompson, an 88-year-old
great-grandmother, showed off her skills at the 1985 Tae
Kwon Do championships by breaking a board with her elbow,
crushing a piece of concrete with her foot and vanquish-
ing a male opponent.
Thompson, who saw a demonstration of the Korean martial
art a year ago, has been taking lessons ever since.
Called "Killer" by her grandchildren, she said she
spends an hour a day at a studio working out, and then
goes home to practice.
"I was brought up a lady," she said. "I was never al-
lowed to do anything athletic, and I seethed inside.
This is my release. I can go out now and blow my stack."
There was a very impressive photograph accompanying this article. Alas,
I haven't quite figured out a way to reproduce it here. Ideas, anyone?
--
rod williams
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dual!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjwwall@fortune.UUCP (Jim Wall) (03/26/85)
> In O'Fallon, Missouri, Lucille Thompson, an 88-year-old > great-grandmother, showed off her skills at the 1985 Tae > Kwon Do championships by breaking a board with her elbow, > crushing a piece of concrete with her foot and vanquish- > ing a male opponent. > Sounds like a great little lady to me, so don't get me wrong, but... even over the net, I could teach anyone to break a 1" pine board with their fist/hand/foot/elbow/etc. in about two paragraphs. And a piece of "concrete" is not much more difficult. There is an excellent article that was in Scientific American that explained the physics of Karate. Amazingly enough, there is no magic, no laws of physics are broken. I believe very strongly in martial arts as an art, a self confidence builder, a mental and physical strengthener, and a way to protect oneself. But the board and brick breaking is the lowest end of the scale in the martial arts. And just to start an argument, some Aikido legends and modern day demonstrations do border on "magic", as near as I can tell. It can lead to the total use of the human bodies strength, which is much more than even modern athletes can acheive. Of course, they are very, very few that appear to be able to do this, and those that do, are not interested in showing off. But I hear that they can do these things.... -Jim ...amd!fortune!wall