The 2025 Taekwondo Open Championships wrapped up at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center on Sunday.
The three-day tournament brought in over 2,000 competitors and 500 coaches from 75 different countries.
There were lots of very enthusiastic people there who brought a lot of passion to the tournament, and organizers say fighters in the tournament put in a lot of time to get to this point.
"Manage your rest, manage your training, manage your arousal, your emotions, you can't get too high or too low. So, it requires a lot of discipline - a lot of management, but then you also have to have fun. You have to enjoy the art of fighting," said Sherman Nelson Jr., Director of Athlete Affairs for USA Taekwondo.
The tournament was a bracket style and Sunday featured only athletes in the 18 and over age group.
Competition was fierce as there were many national team members, world champions, and even Olympians.
Ultimately, many of the fighters are there to not only win for bragging rights, but to also boost their overall ranking and work towards and even bigger goal.
"So, when you win a G2 event you get 20 points for a gold medal. Well as we're working towards the 2028 Olympics those standings matter, so people are trying to plot their course and stake their claim to a space to be a high enough rank that you are automatically qualified for the Olympic games," said Sherman Nelson Jr.
In some cases, fighters will have three or four matches in one day before reaching the finals.
This can be extremely mentally and physically tiring, but for one competitor who won his weight division today, he says intense preparation pays off when it matters.
"I push myself as hard as I can every day in training, and then when I get here it's like - I can let myself go. And I don't have any doubt in my mind that I'm more fit than everybody, because I work harder than everybody in the world," said CJ Nickolas, 2025 Taekwondo Open Championships Minus 80Kg Class Winner.
Nickolas and many others at today's tournament are now looking ahead to future tournaments, and they say they will continue to work hard as the countdown to the 2028 Olympics continues.
