South Africa’s first Karate World Champs medal in eight years
At only 19 years old, Danielle van Wyk travelled to Chile to conquer the international karate plane.
In 1994, South Africa brought home the gold from the World Karate Championship. In 2001 another medal came our way. The next 18 years passed without South Africa seeing another big win on the world stage in the World Karate Federation’s competitions, until now.
Krugersdorp’s Danielle van Wyk, only 19, placed third in her U/21 Kumite Female 68kg division, being the only South African to do so in nearly a decade.
When Danielle was five years old, a karate instructor held a demonstration at her preschool.
“He ended with ‘I’ll teach you how to kick butt’. I remember going home and telling my parents I wanted to learn how to kick someone’s butt,” she mused.
Her parents thought she might drop it after a while, like she did with ballet. In her defense (excuse the pun) she explained, she needed to move around a lot more than you could with ballet. She only got serious at about the age of 15, when she participated in her first tournament. It didn’t go very well, but she didn’t go there to win, she did it just for the experience.
“Since then, I have become focused on working toward a set goal.”
Her hard work, passion and drive paid off when she went to the World Championship in Santiago, Chile on 27 October for the third time, this time walking away with a bronze medal after five gruelling fights.
“I remember being behind by three points, early on in the first match. I had to reset my mind and start scoring, one point at a time. I came back from 3–0, beating my opponent by quite a few points,” she said.
Next on the list for her is making it to the Olympic Games. With that much drive, and the massive support from her parents and coaches, she might well make it there soon.
