The 44th President of the United States Barack Obama practiced Taekwondo in Chicago from 2001 to 2005, when he was a professor and part-time state senator.
His instructor was financial capital planner David Posner. In an interview with Mary Ann Akers for the Washington Post, Posner remembered his former student as “very disciplined, very diligent … phenomenal balance, very good foot work … really good solid stances.”
He eventually earned a green belt.
In 2009, president Obama was awarded an honorary black belt by South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak.
CHUMBI!
In March of 2014, 15-year-old cancer survivor and Taekwondo black belt Jaren Suber met the President, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The North Texas teen fought for more than four years with a large brain tumor, suffering through rounds of chemotherapy.
Suber recalls the meeting warmly.
He opened the door and he was like, ‘Hey Jaren, what’s up?’’ said Suber to DFW’s NBC5. “He gave me a handshake and he hugged me. He was a really nice guy and down to earth.
He was like a friend who just comes over your house all the time. He was very polite and he wasn’t stiff at all, just comfortable. He made me feel comfortable.”
When Jaren told the president that he had earned a black belt, Obama laughed and stepped back into a fighting stance.
However, the US president was not intimidated in the least, as he has been known to unleash a mighty Crane Kick when necessary.
And the president is apparently a mixed martial arts fan. Back in 2010, the president stopped for lunch Thursday at Duff’s Famous Chicken Wings in Cheektowaga, New York. He fended of the advances of the saucy Luann Haley, and spoke with coach, kickboxer, and stuntman A.J. Verel.
Verel said the president talked at length about martial arts, kick-boxing, and mixed martial arts, which was then illegal in New York. Obama impressed Verel by chatting about a couple of UFC fighters who had competed last weekend.
There are those who claim the president couldn’t hurt a fly, but that is demonstrably false!
However, no, president Obama doesn’t do BJJ, but THAT’S ANOTHER STORY…
