From The Mercury News .com
For these siblings, tae kwon do titles are all in the family

BY MERI-JO BORZILLERI

The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (KRT) - When you're tae kwon do, you need something dramatic to get attention between Olympic Games.

Last weekend, in the 2005 World Championships in Madrid, Spain, the obscure sport got it.

Three American siblings, Steven, Mark and Diana Lopez, each won world titles on the same weekend.

Not only that, but they were coached by eldest brother Jean, also coach to bronze medalist Mandy Meloon.

"I cried," said Steven, 26, two-time Olympic gold medalist. "To have my brother and sister win it, the same day . . . I saw history being made with my very eyes."

It was a remarkable feat that sent U.S. Olympic Committee researchers flipping through record books.

"As far as we can tell, it's something that has never happened before," said Bill Kellick, U.S. tae kwon do spokesman. "In the Olympic sports, it's never been done."

Sure makes fixing all those holes in the garage wall worth it. Before Jean, 31, opened his tae kwon do gym near the family home in Sugar Land, Texas, a Houston suburb, the Lopezes trained in the garage.

"Our parents spent a lot of money repairing the walls," said Jean. "We'd try to fix it first, but it became so frequent, we'd put up posters to hide the holes."

Ondina and Julio Lopez get a benefit, however, in having tae kwon do athletes around the house.

"My parents have their own built-in security," Jean said.

In the past, tae kwon do has made headlines for reasons other than medals. In 2000, an injured Esther Kim gave up her spot on the U.S. Olympic team to best friend Kay Poe. Poe did not medal in Sydney. Since then, the sport has been mired in scandal and mismanagement.

The USOC took over tae kwon do's governing body last year because of financial and leadership trouble, and suspended its residency program at the Olympic Training Center here.

Dr. Un Yong Kim, former head of tae kwon do's international federation, is serving a two-year term for embezzlement and bribery.

Now, finally, some good news. Next question: Can the Lopez trio pull it off at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?

"That's the plan," said Steven, 26, the only athlete to win two tae kwon do Olympic gold medals and three straight world championships since the sport became an Olympic medal sport in 2000.

He's the family celebrity, named as one of the 50 most eligible bachelors by People magazine in 2004. He'll have to share some fame now with Mark, 22, and Diana, 21.

Steven won his title April 15. Two days later, Diana followed, then Mark later that day.

Diana said the title helped make up for not making the 2004 Olympic team. She came one match away, losing to Nia Abdallah, who won silver in Athens. There was little question she'd follow her brothers into the sport.

Because the United States qualified only two spots, Mark would have had to beat Steven for a team berth. In the pre-trial tournament in Colorado Springs last May, Mark was eliminated one match before he would have met his brother in the trials.

When Diana was 7 or 8 years old and Jean and Steven competed internationally, they'd call home with updates.

"We'd get phone calls at 2 a.m., saying, `Oh, we won,'" Diana said.

She'd tell her mom: "'I want to call you guys one day and tell you I won.'"

This week, said Diana, "That's what happened."