From the Enterprise, Feb. 17, 2004
He'll get his kicks at the Olympics

By Sean Flynn, Enterprise staff writer
BROCKTON — The city of Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler has a new and upcoming champion, but this one boxes with his feet. Fredson Gomes, 21, of Rhonda Road and a former varsity soccer captain at Brockton High School, last month won the bronze medal in Tae Kwon Do at an Olympics qualification round in Cairo, Egypt. Gomes, who has lived in Brockton since the age of six, will be representing Cape Verde in the Summer Olympics Games in Athens, Greece, in August. Gomes won the gold medal in the All-Africa Games held in Abuja, Nigeria, last fall, and has participated in competitions throughout the U.S., in Europe and in South Korea, where Tae Kwon Do was developed. "He is working very, very hard for this," said Master Joe Pina, owner of Boston Tae Kwon Do in Abington and Gomes' coach for the past 3-1/2 years. "He trains four or five hours a day."

The new champ works the training around his studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where he is studying business management. Gomes, who has a winning smile and a modest way of discussing his successes, is still a little surprised that he has made it to the Olympics.

He remembered jogging along Summer Street about three years ago, when a friend, David Gern, pulled up in a car and asked him why he was working out. "I'm training for the Olympics," answered Gomes. Gomes remembers his friend laughing and saying, "Yeah, right. See you around," and taking off. Gomes laughed too, because the goal did seem out of reach then. "Now, I'm really going," he said.

Gomes said Tae Kwon Do is like boxing, except the feet are used in a series of kicks instead of the fists. The competitors kick to the body, but only above the belt, and to the head, winning points for contact, for a technical knock out, or a knock out. Hand blocks and punches to the body are also allowed, but not to the head, and play a minor role in the sport. "You kick," said Pina, the coach. "It's all legs." At 175 pounds, Gomes fights in the welterweight class. "He is one of the best in the world in that class," said Pina. "He has won lots of competitions."

How did Gomes get interested in a sport where a kick in the head can be dangerous? "I was never interested," he said, thinking back to his early youth. "At 10, I was a chubby little kid," he said. "My father dragged me to the Brockton school that Jota and Ricardo Rosa ran." Gomes came to like the new sport. He liked soccer. He was good with his feet. "The two sports work well together," he said. He now plays soccer for UMass-Boston.

There are different styles of Tae Kwon Do. Gomes was doing karate-style point fighting until the U.S. Open in Florida in 2001. After that victory, he changed to the full contact sparring used in the Olympics and began training with Pina. Tae Kwon Do is the only martial art that is an Olympic sport, and only since the 2000 Games.

Although Gomes, a native of the island Sao Vincente, has lived most of his life in Brockton, he has remained a citizen of Cape Verde. He decided to compete for that country because it has never won an Olympic gold medal in any sport. He would like to be the first, to attract more attention to the islands and give some glory to the country of his birth. He will be the first person of Cape Verdean decent to compete in the Olympics in Tae Kwon Do.

When he won a gold medal at the All-Africa games last year, it was the first time a Cape Verdean won an international competition, in any sport, Gomes was told. He was invited by President Pedro Pires and Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves to be their guest at ceremonies held in his honor in Praia and Sao Vicente. The government proclaimed a National Tae Kwon Do Day to honor him. Leading up to the Olympics, Gomes is in need of sponsorships so that he can travel to the international competitions in North America, Europe and Asia.

"It's important to stay at top strength," he said. The matches are three rounds, with each round three minutes long. But competitors have four to five fights a day in the elimination rounds. "For any athlete, training for the Olympics requires a lot of time and money," said Pina. "For the past three years, Fredson has done everything on his own. We are now asking the community and businesses for support."

Gomes is the son of Geraldina and Jacinto Gomes. He has two sisters, Nidia Gomes, 19, who is a student at Bridgewater State College, and Lillian Gomes, 7, a student at the Downey School. Before the All-Africa games, he promised his mother he would win gold. He is hoping that optimism stays with him to the Olympics. "Maybe I'll make another promise," he said.

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