Donald Ravenscroft

Husband, father, brother and son. Director and Founder of Just Physical. Health and Fitness fanatic and expert.

About me.

I began studying Taekwondo in 1995, my first year out of high school. With a background in other close quarter combat styles, I quickly progressed through the ranks and fell in love with the fierce discipline, respect and humility that the Korean martial arts all tend to embrace. I now hold a 4th degree black belt. In 1996 I was selected for the South African National Team and was sent for my first of many training camps in South Korea. In 1998 I won the African Taekwondo Championships in Nairobi, Kenya to take the African heavyweight title and have managed to stay number one in Africa ever since. In 1999, I qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Just before leaving for Australia, I picked up a serious injury during training that put me out of the Games, sitting on the sidelines when my event was held.

After a brief period away from the sport after the Games, I bounced back and in 2003 won the African title yet again, and was ranked 5th at the World Championships in Germany. I was selected for the South African Olympic squad for the 2004 Games in Athens but contracted malaria and was unable to compete fully at the qualification tournaments in the few weeks after, thus putting me out of the 2004 competition. In Feb 2005 Gaylene and I got engaged and decided to move to London. The idea was to base myself in London to train and be close enough to
travel every few weeks to Europe to compete on the European circuit and gain all the extra training and competition experience in my push for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
On the 29th April 2006 Gaylene and I travelled back to South Africa to get married – and no, we have no plans yet for children. Over the past two years in London, I have competed in numerous European events and in November 2006 I won the British National Heavyweight title.

After working as a personal trainer the last two years for Fitness First in Angel, Islington, I have now (under pressure from Gaylene), made the the move to train full time, two to three times a day for two hours each session.
I am aiming towards the Olympic World Qualification tournament in Manchester, UK, where I will need to take one of the top four places in order to qualify. Failing that, I will have to focus on Tripoli, Libya, in November where at the African Olympic qualifications I will need to take either 1st or 2nd to qualify.