Thirty-nine years ago, Pina Petrillo stepped onto the global stage to represent Great Britain at the World Taekwondo Kyorugi Championships. Later this year, at the age of 63, her Taekwondo journey will come full circle as she competes at the 2026 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Chuncheon, South Korea.
It is a remarkable story of perseverance and reinvention, and showcases the lifelong opportunities that Taekwondo provides. Nearly four decades separate her World Championship appearances, illustrating how the sport allows athletes multiple avenues to compete through its diverse disciplines and age categories.
Pina only began Taekwondo at the age of 18 after a friend persuaded her to attend a class. Growing up in North Cheam, she had spent much of her childhood in care, something she says made finding Taekwondo life-changing.
“I just loved the way it made me feel because when you’re a bit displaced from being in a care system, you don’t really have anything. You don’t have any roots.
“So Taekwondo just settled me down into this nice rhythm of self-control and it was organised. I don’t even know how to explain it. You just felt part of something.
“And you get to know nice people and they’re nice. You’re learning an art and learning self-defence, self-control.
“There’s so many things to it. So I think that’s what made me stay. It was just being there made me feel good as a person and I just grew in it and I loved it. It’s beautiful.”
Training under Graham Preece in Stockwell during the 1980s, Pina’s rise through the ranks was rapid. After encouragement from GB Taekwondo’s Tony Slaney to start competing, she quickly progressed onto the national squad and, having only recently earned her black belt, found herself representing Great Britain on the biggest stage.
Pina’s first experience of World Championship competition came at the 1987 World Taekwondo Championships in Barcelona, before representing Great Britain again at the 1991 World Championships in Athens. She also competed at the 1990 European Championships in Aarhus, travelling across Europe during an era when competition looked very different.
“I’ve never seen so many good fighters in my life,” she recalled, when reminiscing on her days as one of Britain’s most-accomplished fighters on the scene.
“I was probably more natural to it than I am at Poomsae. In my first competition I was a blue belt and I won, and I was the British champion for years.”
“I didn’t do it as a kid, so the rise to the World Championships was very fast.”
After years of international competition and numerous British titles, Pina stepped away from the sport, started a family and raised her daughters, Olivia and Emilia.
Some 30 years after those World Championship experiences, that Taekwondo itch started to surface once again, with inspiration coming from watching one of the finest British Taekwondo talents in the flesh.
“I went to watch Jade Jones in London and that’s what inspired me to get back into the sport,” she said.
“I can’t remember the event, but I went there, and I was so impressed. She won everything, and it just inspired me and made me realise I wanted to go back to Taekwondo.”
Returning to competition in Veteran Kyorugi in 2018 and 2019, Pina quickly returned to her old ways and won several gold medals. Yet she also recognised the physical demands of competing against significantly younger athletes.
“I found it quite a struggle because of the age difference. I was in my 50s and fighting people in their 30s. So I started looking for a club that did more Poomsae.”
Initially, Poomsae was simply something new to explore, but everything changed when she was unexpectedly invited to trial for the national team.
“I thought I’ll just go to the Poomsae Performance Camps for fun and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t really thinking about competing.
“I hadn’t even been to a competition and one day Master Chan asked if I would like to try out for the National Team.
“I went down to the National Taekwondo Centre in Manchester and I was like, ‘wow, these people are amazing,’ and I knew that I wanted a bit of this.”
While Kyorugi had come naturally, Poomsae presented an entirely different challenge, but one she has grasped with both hands, with that competitive spirit from her early years still burning bright inside.
“It’s so different and inspiring. It’s got so much extra focus. I know I’ve got to get my head in the game because you don’t just walk on and succeed. It takes really intense concentration.
“I didn’t do well in my first competition because I messed up the Poomsae, and I realised then that I really have to focus and really get my head in the game for this because it’s totally different.
“It requires a mental maturity and a physical intensity that’s so insane, the flexibility and just the control to stay calm in a competition environment because you just freeze up otherwise.”
For Pina, mastering Poomsae has become a deeply personal journey, and it is the pursuit of Taekwondo mastery that motivates her to be the best that she can be.
“When I used to fight, I was a very busy fighter. I wasn’t one of the calm ones that just cherry-picked. I was in there, fighting. So Poomsae has been a learning curve in that respect; I have to stay calm and stay really focused for every single movement.”
“In Kyorugi there’s a lot of variables that you can change, but with Poomsae, you can’t do anything different. You’ve got to stick to every move, every pace. It’s so different mentally because you’ve got to stay so calm.”
“For me back in those days it was just about the sparring, but now it’s more about the Poomsae. It’s a personal journey to gain this calmness.
“I want to be like those people I see who are the complete package. I’m enjoying that challenge of having something new to master.
“There’s always more to learn, your cup’s never full. If you have the attitude that you know everything already, then you’re getting nowhere because you don’t.”
Having moved to Wales two years ago, Pina has flourished under the guidance of Master Alan Lee at Choson Taekwondo, as well as Alice King and Jo Draper at Pontypool Fighting Fit Taekwondo. She has also embraced the Poomsae Performance Pathway and travels to London to train under Master Chan Sau at Loughton Taekwondo each month.
Training with teammates Jenny Furness and Gini Brown in the run-up to competing in Korea in six weeks’ time has its own unique twist. With the trio spread across the UK, modern technology allows for the three to train in a virtual environment, with 8th Dan Grandmaster and Poomsae Performance Coach Gemma Biescas leading the Zoom sessions online throughout the week.
In-person, all those hours of dedication continue to pay off, with patterns performed with precision, and confidence gradually growing as their date with destiny arrives.
“We’re doing twice a week on Zoom, me, Jenny and Gini with Gemma. That’s brilliant, because we’re all in the same room, really, on the screen.
“And it’s working out great, because when we go to the training sessions in Manchester, we’re with Gemma and we’re putting what she’s told us to use on that day.”
“I love the training at the Poomsae Performance Camps very much. It’s very hard and they are very long days, but it’s very educational. The standard of training is brilliant.”
Now, almost four decades after first competing on the world stage, Pina is preparing for another unforgettable experience, this time in the birthplace of Taekwondo.
Travelling to Chuncheon, Korea for the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships between September 16-20 will be the trip of a lifetime for many of the Poomsae Worlds Team, and Pina is prepared to make the most of every second.
“Isn’t it amazing? I’ve never been to Korea before. It’s going to be amazing because it’s the homeland of Taekwondo.
“I don’t think I’d have gone to Korea if it wasn’t for this, so I feel like it’s a big privilege, to be honest, to go to Korea with the team and with Gini and Jenny.”
Her appreciation for the opportunity is perhaps greater now than it ever could have been in her twenties, when the rapid rise to the top didn’t allow for time to take it all in.
“When you’re young you don’t really see what’s happening. But on reflection, you realise how big a moment it is to turn up for these competitions.
“It’s very exciting, really. But when you’re young, you don’t appreciate it. I appreciate it more now.”
Alongside teammates Jenny and Gini, Pina hopes to create another special chapter in an already extraordinary Taekwondo story.
“We’re hoping to get a medal. We’re really concentrating, really training hard.
“I’m very excited, and I’m very proud to do that with Jenny and Gini as a team, to go with all these amazing people and coaches. I think it’s going to be fantastic. I think it’s something that most people can only dream about.
“I just feel really glad that they selected me. I really appreciate that. I’m going to do my best and hopefully go on and do even more.”
Having experienced a Taekwondo journey that has given her belonging and purpose as a young adult and hundreds of memorable occasions, Pina continues to throw herself into new challenges and prove that the journey doesn’t end when one chapter closes, it simply takes on a new form.
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