Joël van der Weide

Joël van der Weide (born 20 June 1999, sometimes spelled as Joel van der Weide) is a Dutch taekwondo athlete and nine-time European Poomsae medalist.

Taekwondo career

Joël van der Weide started practicing the Korean martial arts taekwondo at age six and started competing internationally at nine years old. He had at first tried out kyorugi (full-contact fighting), but then switched to poomsae.

He participated in his first major tournament in 2013, the European Poomsae Championships in La Nucia, where he won gold in traditional poomsae in the cadets' category. At the European Championships in 2015 held in Belgrade, he became European Champion in the juniors' as well as the pairs' competitions, the latter alongside teammate Angel Crystal.

At the 2017 European Championships in Rhodes, he claimed a bronze medal at the men's senior poomsae competition. In 2018, he placed second at the men's poomsae competition at the World Beach Championships, also held in Rhodes. In 2019 and 2021, van der Weide became European Champion in the men's traditional poomsae competition at the European Championships in Antalya and Seixal, respectively.

In 2023 in Innsbruck, he won the European Championships in men's individual poomsae for the third time. Additionally, he claimed a bronze medal in the pairs' traditional poomsae competition alongside his younger sister Dewi van der Weide.

At the 2025 European Poomsae Championships in Tallinn, van der Weide won the silver medal in the men's individual under-30 recognized poomsae competition, finishing behind French athlete Pierre-Malo Tranchant.

Personal life

Van der Weide completed a Professional Education and Training program in Sport and Exercise at Summa College in Eindhoven and achieved a Bachelor of Arts through the Higher Professional Education program in Sports Science at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. He works as a taekwondo and self-defense instructor as well as a motivational speaker. He is also a poomsae coach at his taekwondo club.