The transformation from Professional Ballet Dancer to British Taekwondo GB Poomsae Athlete isn’t the most conventional of paths, but then again, Anouchka Picou hasn’t lived the most conventional of lives.
From lighting up the floorboards across the stages of Paris to donning the GBR Dobok on the international stage, the Bordeaux-born athlete has quite the story to tell, whether it be recovering from a career-ending injury or arriving in London with barely a penny to her name, studying and working, living off pizza and cornflakes for the best part of a year.
Through it all she dug in and kept fighting, and that resilience culminated in selection for the British Taekwondo GB National Elite Poomsae Squad Team located at the National GB Olympic and Paralympic Taekwondo Academy Centre in Manchester at the end of last year 2025, giving her the chance to repay the country that has given her a new Life.
“I’m super, super proud to represent Great Britain and to have GBR on my back,” she says, breathless and infectiously excitable on the phone as ever.
“Britain has given me chances. Britain has given me opportunity, so you’re loyal to the hand that feeds you. For me, that’s the main thing.
“I’m loyal to my country, which is Britain. I’ve not been in France as a living resident since I’ve been here. I’m British Citizen and also completely British in my head anyway.”
We are speaking ahead of the London Open Poomsae (G-1) and President’s Cup (G-3) on the 2nd May & 3rd May 2026, the two biggest Poomsae events in the UK this year. Lee Valley Athletic Centre is set to welcome athletes from across the World for these prestigious events, with Anouchka set to compete in one of the biggest competitions of her Poomsae career.
For many athletes, this would be an overwhelming prospect, but for someone who has dedicated their life to two separate arts across two very distinct stages of life, there is pure excitement in her voice as we head towards the weekend.
“That opportunity is something you’re not going to get twice in life. You know that you’ve been selected for the British Taekwondo GB National Elite Poomsae Squad Team and that is a privilege and an honour”.
“It’s genuinely an honour because from where I started, I want to show people that you can achieve your dream. Nothing is impossible, you just have to believe that you can do it, have a strong mind-set and an indomitable spirit”.
“Last year was a very good year for me, because I had a very good, happy outcome at competitions. This year, I’ve seen the running. It’s going to be a lot of people. It’s massive this year. I’m so excited, I’m so excited.
“I’m super, super proud to represent Great Britain and to have GBR on my back.”
When you’ve been through what Anouchka has been through, it is no surprise that she is making the most of every second, every experience and every competition in her newfound life as a GB British National Elite Poomsae Squad Team athlete.
Coming from a military family background, the Bordeaux-born athlete was no stranger to discipline and hard work from an early age, and had already set her sights on the big stage.
“I knew since I was six years old that I was going to be a ballet dancer. I didn’t have at all that crisis when you became a teenager.
“It was ballet, ballet, ballet, ballet. There was no going out, no clubbing, nothing. No sports other than ballet, because you were not allowed to in Ballet.
“I still remember when I made the choice. Because a family member had showed me two things. One was martial arts, and one was a ballet class.
“I said I want to do ballet. And then it’s funny, because look where I am now. You know, a full circle.”
Living her dream on the stages of the French capital, Anouchka survived amid the cut-throat industry that was professional Ballet dancing, until the day where her whole World fell apart.
“My ankle crashed. I was on pointe and I crashed. Yeah, that was terrible,” she recalls.
“The pain, oh, my dear God. The pain was absolutely atrocious. I still remember that. The ankle was dislocated, everything was, yeah, pretty much terrible, I have to say.”
In a matter of seconds, her life had been turned upside-down. The pirouettes and Fouettés of before were now nothing but a pipedream, and not long after France was no longer where she called home.
“It was quite an impulsive decision to move to London, because of the accident I had on my left foot. I understood very quickly that I have to leave. I asked for support in my own country, which I did not have”.
“The French Government said I can have a scholarship and they will pay for the bus ticket. So I went to London. I didn’t speak English, but I was going to learn from scratch.
“I was studying, and at the same time, I found a part-time job. My first job was three pounds per hour. It was a tough life because I didn’t have enough money to eat three times a day. Then I had to eat only once a day.
“And that was my breakfast, my lunch, my dinner. It was everything in one meal. The first year was really, really tough.”
£1 pizza in Leicester Square and a box of cornflakes per day proved to be sustenance for the next year as she scraped by in her new surroundings, working every hour possible just to make ends meet.
These experiences, as hard as they were at the time, helped build a resilience in Anouchka that she carries to this very day. A steely determination in everything that she does; she had been hopeless when her Ballet career abruptly ended and has come out the other side.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I had to go through so many obstacles, daily obstacles. I didn’t speak English. I was lost in the middle of nowhere.
“Going to see the doctor. How are you going to do that? How do you register? All those little things that look so easy, but are so difficult.
“You don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know how to communicate. You don’t know how to say ‘spoon’ in English.
“When you go to a different country and you don’t know a thing, don’t know what the custom is, know the culture, know the language, it’s a tough ride.”
For all the tough times, Anouchka was falling in love with her new surroundings, a country that welcomed her in and accepted her. In Britain she could start again and be herself.
“I fell in love with Britain. I literally fell in love with Britain. I see a lot of diversity. I saw that people were themselves. They literally could dress how they wanted and do their hair how they wanted.
“There was no judgement. There was nothing. There was inclusion.”
Having found her way in her new surroundings, Anouchka physically rehabilitated her ankle by herself studying Anatomy and Physiology, and becoming a qualified Personal Trainer & Pilates instructor & Hatton Boxing instructor, while she is currently studying to become a Taekwondo coach.
It was on the commute to work that she eventually found her new calling: Aquila Taekwondo.
A banner advertising the club was on her usual bus route, and one day she decided to take the leap of faith into the unknown and head through the doors into the Dojang. Little did she know then it was a decision that would change her life.
“I really like Master Terry Cooper, I really do. I think he’s a superb Master and he’s a superb human being. To me, he makes the difference on many things”.
“Taekwondo is a supportive environment. If you have any problems, any questions, the coaches will be there. All of them will support you.”
Starting as a white belt in 2017, Anouchka started to dedicate her life to perfecting the art of Poomsae. Not only in sessions at Aquila, but also at the RST Poomsae Performance Camps in London each month, learning from the British Taekwondo National Squad coaches.
“I would not be in the GB British National Elite Poomsae Squad Team now without Master Terry Cooper and Master Kuzey Akses, they have always been there”.
“The GB National Coaches are brilliant, they teach me technique but they are also very supportive as human beings; they listen to you, they help you to go over your obstacle if you don’t understand something then they will adapt so that you understand”.
“I enjoy every minute of Poomsae, I always have a smile because this is a dream come true for me.”
After becoming a regular member of the sessions and impressing on the domestic competitions circuit, Anouchka was initially asked to join the GB British National Elite Poomsae Performance Squad team as a trial at their training sessions at the National GB Olympic and Paralympic Taekwondo Academy Centre located in Manchester, before earning her place on the full squad after trials at the end of last year 2025.
After experiencing the highs and lows of her life journey, it is no surprise how emotional a moment that was for the British Poomsae star and her mother, who have an unbreakable bond despite the English Channel keeping them apart.
“It’s a dream because I started competing many years ago and from where I started to where I am now… I’m still pinching myself every time I go to the National GB Olympic and Paralympic Taekwondo Academy Centre in Manchester.
“I cried of happiness because I never thought that will happen ever in my life as it has been extremely challenging. It is one of the things that I will never going to forget”.
“My mum was also crying of happiness, she knows my story my life and she’s super proud. She doesn’t mind that I’m British and said that she’s very proud because she knows that Britain has helped me.”
Life in Britain has helped to rebuild Anouchka Picou, not only as a British Taekwondo GB National Elite Poomsae Squad Team Athlete, but as a Human Being. It has given her a renewed “Joie De Vivre” that radiates across any room that she enters.
You’ll be able to see that on the mats at the London Open Poomsae this weekend on the 2nd May & 3rd May 2026, she’ll be the one with the biggest grin on her face, loving every second as always.
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