Lauren Burns

Lauren Chantel Burns (born 8 June 1974) is an Australian taekwondo practitioner and Olympic champion. She won Australia's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, competing in the women's under 49 kg class. Burns holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in taekwondo. Following her competitive taekwondo career, she has been involved in a range of activities, including motivational speaking and community work.

Early life Burns was born on 8 June 1974 in Melbourne, Australia, the daughter of singer Ronnie Burns and dancer Maggie Burns (née Stewart). As a child, she did not participate much in sports. Shortly thereafter, their father also began training in taekwondo; together, her father and brother encouraged her (then aged 14) to begin training as well.

Competitive taekwondo career

A successful tournament career included 12 Australian women's national taekwondo championships, a bronze medal in the under 51 kg class at the 1997 World Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong, and a gold medal at the US Open taekwondo competition in 1999. She trained 5–7 hours a day in preparation for Olympic competition. On 23 August 2000, less than a month before the Sydney Olympics, she was awarded the Australian Sports Medal. Burns won a gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics, in a tournament marked by controversial judging at times. She defeated Taiwanese competitor Chi Shu-Ju in the quarter final, who claimed that the loud cheering of the parochial home crowd had influenced the judges,

Her Olympic gold medal was stolen in 2003, but it was recovered within a few days. That same year, she published her autobiography, Fighting Spirit: From a charmed childhood to the Olympics and beyond.

Post-competition career Burns is linked with the Victorian Institute of Sport and the South Australian Sports Institute. and promotes the "Zip Bag", which she designed. She also supports the Red Dust Role Models community project and is an ambassador for charitable organisation World Vision. Burns resides in Melbourne and their children, Mac Banjo (born in early 2009) and Piper (born in 2010). In 2017, Burns was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.