2 U.S. Athletes Look to First Olympic Taekwondo Action

Maggie Steber for The New York TimesPaige McPherson working out in Miami in May.

Half of the United States Olympic taekwondo team is not like the other.
Terrence Jennings and Paige McPherson, besides having different surnames than their two other teammates — siblings Diana and Steven of the taekwondo powerhouse Lopez family — have yet to make their mark at the Olympics.
Diana Lopez claimed a bronze medal in the martial art at the 2008 Olympics, while older brother Steven took home Olympic taekwondo gold at the 2000 and 2004 Games, and returned from Beijing with a bronze medal.
Yet Jennings, 26, and McPherson, 22, both believe that prized medallions of their own are within reach, having each defeated medalists from past Olympics in order to earn their spots in London.
At the Olympic trials in March, McPherson, the team’s youngest member, was pitted against Nia Abdallah, the silver medal winner of the 2004 Games in Athens. Abdallah was a personal hero of McPherson’s. “I looked up to her for years,” she said. “For me, having to beat your role model for your own shot was a great moment