Napavine standout making waves in international taekwondo

Like all young athletes, Justus Stoker has high aspirations for himself. Ever since he started taekwondo seven years ago, his goal has been clear.

“Master Moon (Dae-sung) told me that I had great kicks, and he told me that if I kept working on that, I could go to the Olympics,” Stoker said. “I’ve been sticking with it this entire time.”

While the third dan black belt isn’t yet old enough to qualify for the Olympics, he has recently competed in his first international competition.

At the end of June, he and his father, Ben Stoker, traveled to Seoul, South Korea for the 2024 World Olympic Taekwondo Championship. There, the Napavine rising sophomore competed against over 750 martial artists from all over the world.

He won five medals, including a gold, three silvers, and a bronze. His gold medal came from dual poomsae, and his silvers came in individual poomsae, team poomsae, and sparring.

“It’s almost mind-boggling,” Ben Stoker said. “All kids imagine themselves at the top of whatever they want to do … He’s already a lot more successful in his sport than I ever got in mine,” he added with a laugh.

Justus Stoker added that competing internationally was surreal, and he was proud to show that he could compete on an international stage.

Over the last seven years, the Stokers have been traveling an hour and a half each way to Justus’ practices in Battle Ground, where he first started his training with Master Hosuk Oh.

“He’s the main reason why I stuck with taekwondo,” Justus said.

Oh trained under Moon, who won an Olympic gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Both Moon and Oh encouraged Justus early on, and it didn’t take long for him to fully entrench himself into the sport.

“I loved it immediately,” Justus said. “It was just enjoyable to me.”

Justus did note that he’ll be watching the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. On the first watch through, he lets himself watch as a fan, but after the Games, he plans on watching it back to learn from the world’s best.

While there isn’t another tournament planned in the near future, Justus will be a part of the HS Taekwondo Demonstration Team that will be at the next Ridgefield Cultural Event on Sept. 7.