The circle of ITF Taekwondo recognize in Naomi vulnerable an unavoidable figure: she is the only Argentine participant and the only woman in the world to have worked with the founder of the discipline, General Choi Hong Helloand the great master Choi Jung Hwa, in creating the technical didactic encyclopedia LEGACY, a reference manual containing many of the great secrets of this martial art.
Added to this extraordinary fact is her appointment as “adoptive daughter” by General Choi himself, a symbol of trust and recognition reserved for only a few exponents.
Noemí Prone’s competitive career spans four decades and includes success in national and international competitions. In ITF Taekwondo World Championshipsbecame champion three times, with titles and medals in venues such as Montreal (Canada, 1990), Pyongyang (North Korea, 1992) and Daejeon (South Korea, 2004).
“I’m from Mercedes (Corrientes) and when I was 11 they sent me to Buenos Aires to work as a domestic worker, in bed. I worked there for a year and a half; I was walking around the area doing errands and I saw a sign that said ‘Japanese Karate’ and said, ‘What could that be?’ and I wondered,” she begins to say Infobae This was by far his first approach to martial arts.
Time passed and Noemí returned to her homeland after quitting her job, although it was this job that, by fate, led her to discover her passion. “We went to the post office with a friend to deliver them a telegram in which I told them that I would not return to work because they wanted me to come back. There was a teacher at the front handing out scholarships for 30 days of free training. When the 30 days were up, I told him that I could not continue and he invited me to continue training if I cleaned up the place. That’s why I’ve been training practically since 1982 Taekwondo,” recalls Prone.
Financial difficulties were common throughout his career, although he and his family struggled with them in one way or another to advance and succeed. “I didn’t like school, but I studied because they paid my mother a pension and they only gave it to her if I presented the certificate of study. So I studied different things until I was 21,” he says.
Born on September 1, 1967 in Mercedes, Corrientes, her entry into Taekwondo marked the beginning of a career full of achievements that forever changed the history of this sport in Argentina. Lying reached the IX in 2024. International Dan and is part of the ITF Federation of Argentina as well as the Presidency of the ITF Taekwondo Sports Federation of the Litoral.
“Mercedes is 300 kilometers from the capital Corrientes, it is a very small city. Taekwondo back then for women… forget it. But when I started I said: “That’s what I want for my life.” “I competed with men and beat them,” he says.
The awards received guarantee its sporting, educational and social impact. She was recognized as the first illustrious citizen of Mercedes, received the keys to the city of Corrientes and was also named illustrious citizen and adopted daughter of Mariano Indalecio Loza. He has received several awards presented by the Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos in the 1990s, including the Convivencia Award and the Taragüisita. In 2011, he was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed upon the greatest leaders of the art across all federations.
“I’m not well-known because taekwondo is a completely amateur sport. My partner took me to my first world championship and I sold paintings with my photo to finance my stay in North Korea. It wasn’t easy,” she says.
In any case, there was a decisive event in Prone’s sporting career that catapulted her to the top of the world. “The General choythe founder of Taekwondo, saw me at a seminar he was going to hold in Buenos Aires and I did a very complicated form called Taekwondo Yay And the teachers who were there told me later that he said: “This is Taekwondo” and was surprised by the technology. After that, he called me a few times for seminars to talk to him. “He took me in like an adopted daughter,” she remembers.
Currently teaching classes at a gym in her hometown of Corrientes, Noemí wants to share her calling with her students. “We train people. For me, it was a pleasure to train, I enjoyed the training. It was not a sacrifice. I am one of the oldest in ITF Taekwondo. My thought was always to improve myself. After that, the results come. Yes, it cost a lot, but I enjoy it. Taekwondo is my life,” she concludes.
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