TINY KWON DO
Olivia, 8, wins three world titles and sets her sights on Olympic gold after taking up sport to help calm her rage
A GIRL of eight has won three world titles in tae kwon do and set her sights on Olympic gold after taking it up to calm her anger.
Olivia McCuish started lessons aged three and flew up the ranks – training alongside adults at just five.
Mum Emma, 42, said Olivia would use stepbrother Kristopher, 17, as a punching bag growing up.
Health and safety manager Emma took her daughter to tae kwon do classes after she became frustrated with the lack of conversation with the kids in her nursery.
The youngster has worked her way up to a red belt in the sport – one step below a black belt.
Olivia, of Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, used lockdown to focus on her tae kwon do, training every day in the spare room – which her parents turned into a gym.
Emma said: “She was a bit of an angry child and used to get frustrated with the lack of conversation with the kids in nursery.
“They weren’t able to hold a conversation with her. We were told she should maybe go to out-of-school classes.
“One of our family members said their niece did tae kwon do. Martial arts is really good for selfcontrol, controlling situations and we thought that might be a shout.
“We took her along a week after her third birthday – they have to be three to enrol. When I picked her up, she was jumping up and down asking, ‘Can I stay?’ She was in the little Tiger Cubs class and started to excel – she had a thing for it. She then moved on to the Active Tigers, who train with the adults. “She is now a red belt so she is going for a black belt. “Olivia trains five times a week at Polmont, Bo’ness and Grangemouth. It is the same instructor so she goes to all her classes. “She lives and breathes it. “When we told her, when she was nearly six, the world championships were going to be in the UK, that was what she wanted to do. “She won her first title in 2019.” Olivia won another in 2020 and again in 2021. Emma said: “She made the best she could from the lockdown. “We turned a room into a gym and set up the computer so she could do online classes where she was training every day. “She was entering the online competitions – the world is your oyster when it’s online.” Olivia – known by her tae kwon do family as Miss O – has set her sights on Olympic glory. Emma added: “Proud is not even a word I can use to describe it.”