Havelock woman coaching Olympic athlete

Taekwondo has already taken Missy Cann around the world. Next summer, it will take her to the Olympics.

A master black belt and seasoned taekwondo instructor, Cann is training Côte d’Ivoire athlete Sebastien Konan and will serve as his coach for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Konan, who is attending college in Washington on an Olympic scholarship, qualified to compete in the Summer Games with a strong showing in the World Taekwondo Federation Olympic Tournament last month.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Master Cann, you made it!’” Cann remembered. “I said, ‘No, no, you made it. We both made it.’”

Cann lives in Havelock and works as an industrial specialist in the air speed office at Fleet Readiness Center East. A sixth-degree black belt, she has studied taekwondo for most of her life and coaches the All-Marine team based at Cherry Point.

A native of Taiwan, Cann has coached Konan since 2004 and trained numerous athletes in the United States and Africa.

“My personal goal has been to coach at the Olympics, and to do that, you have to coach in many, many qualifiers and have a winning record,” she said. “I feel like I’ve just finally reached my goal — to bring the young men to that level and help them reach their goal.”

Formerly known as the Ivory Coast, Côte d’Ivoire is a West African nation with a population of about 17 million. The country received independence from France in 1960 and has endured political uprisings in 1999 and 2002.

Konan practices regularly while in school, and Cann said she visits her student at least once each month. The training regimen will intensify next year as the Olympics — scheduled from Aug. 8 to 24 in Beijing — approach.

“With his technique, I never, never have seen anyone that fast or that good,” Cann said. “He’s like a lightning bolt.”

Konan suffered a torn meniscus in October and is still completing physical therapy for his knee, but Cann is confident that her star student will be in top shape for the Olympics.

“He is a natural and he really wants it,” she said. “When someone really wants it, they will try to reach for it.”

Cann has taekwondo students throughout the world, including many in Côte d’Ivoire and other African nations. She said children who grow up in poverty are usually more eager to learn and more appreciative.

“Over here, kids have six uniforms,” she said. “There, the uniforms turn yellow. When I give them a new uniform, their eyes light up like Christmas.”

In May, Cann will lead Marine athletes from across the United States when Cherry Point hosts the Armed Forces Taekwondo Championship. Three months later, she and Konan will be headed to Beijing to compete for worldwide acclaim.

Cann said she’s confident Konan will do well — “if he listens to what I tell him.”

And, she’s sure he will strive to make her proud.

“I guess he respects me like a mother,” Cann said. “He wants to do well just for me.”