Sang-chul Lee (taekwondo)

2007-Current: president of U.S. Taekwondo Committee

1997-January 2004: president of United States Taekwondo Union, the National Governing body of Taekwondo in the United States as recognized by the US Olympic Committee (USOC)

2002-2005: vice president of World Taekwondo Federation, the International Governing body of Taekwondo in the world as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

1998-2001: executive council member of World Taekwondo Federation

Lee has been passionately involved in the promotion of Taekwondo throughout the United States and served as USA Taekwondo (formerly US Taekwondo Union) president from 1997 to 2004. In 1992, Lee established the US Open Taekwondo Championships and founded the US Open Hanmadang in 2009.

1997-2003: Board of directors of United States Olympic Committee (USOC)

1997-1998: member of International Relations Committee of US Olympic Committee

1995: head of US Taekwondo Team at Pan American Games

1993-1995: commissioner of Taekwondo at US Olympic Festival

Lee was the US Olympic Taekwondo Head Coach at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Although a demonstration sport, the 1988 US Taekwondo Olympic team is the most decorated of any US Taekwondo Olympic team. Lee's athletes won 11 medals, including 3 golds and finished second to the South Korean team, which at the time was the best in the world.

Sang-chul Lee is the most decorated US Olympic Taekwondo Head coach in history. Although Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, his US team won 11 medals, including 3 gold, more than any other US Taekwondo Olympic Team.

The US Team responded to these new innovations accordingly, attributing international competition winnings to the transition, and therefore culminating in the growing success at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

1988: first-ever head coach of US Olympic Taekwondo Team in Seoul, Korea

1988: innovator and producer of First Olympic Taekwondo Training Videos: "Get Ready for the Gold" Parts I & II

1987: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at Pan American Games

1987: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at 8th World Taekwondo Championships

1987: Developed program for human adjustment to international travel for competitions with Dr. Jackie Paul of the US Olympic Sports Science Department

The first of five USTC dojang locations opened on June 7, 1986, in the heart of Colorado Springs, the USTC Citadel. Lee opened the USTC Lehman Dojang in 1995, the USTC Monument Dojang in 2006, the USTC Briargate Dojang in 2011, and the USTC Stetson Hills Dojang in 2015. The US Taekwondo Center has gained a world renowned reputation and its Hank Logo is recognized in Taekwondo circles around the world.

1986: Created for the first time a Taekwondo Resident Athlete Training Program at the US Olympic Training Center

1985: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at 7th World Taekwondo Championships

1983: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at 6th World Taekwondo Championships

1981: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at 5th World Taekwondo Championships

Lee changed the kicking stance of the US athletes. He shortened the length, lifted the heel of the back foot and distributed more weight on the front foot than the back. This new kicking stance was revolutionary for sparring. A Taekwondo athlete could move much faster forward and backward and to the side. Additionally, the stance had an added advantage of allowing for a quicker and greater variety of kicks, especially spinning kicks, which were becoming more popular in the 1980s. According to Lee:

He is the longest-tenured US National Taekwondo Team coach, serving from 1979 to 1988. In Taekwondo sparring, Lee is credited with innovating the Ax Kick. During his coaching tenure, he is credited with developing a more versatile fighting stance and developing steps for his athletes to be more fluid in their movements.

1979: head coach of US Taekwondo Team at 4th World Taekwondo Championships

In 1976, Lee purchased a small Taekwondo school inside an abandoned warehouse in Binghamton, NY, opening Sang Lee's Black Belt Academy. Running the school was a challenge in and of itself. The school had only 30 students, which was barely enough to cover the business expenses. Across town, Lee faced heavy competition from the popular Karate Master Hidy Ochiai, who owned the biggest Martial Arts school in Binghamton.

In 1975, Lee immigrated with his wife, Soon Lee, to America. The Lees arrived on Staten Island, New York with $800 in their pockets. Lee's first job was as a janitor at a special education school. He also worked part-time as a Taekwondo instructor. Lee came to America with a much bigger vision of introducing and establishing Taekwondo in America.

After college, Lee served his mandatory military service in the Marines. He again led his team to national titles. When his competition days ended, Lee coached his Marine's team to additional championships. In 1970, Lee retired undefeated with 13 Korean National Gold medals. Soon thereafter, Lee was inducted into the Korean Sports Hall of Fame.

Lee's coaching success was not easy. In the late 1970s, the US Taekwondo Team was unranked in the world. According to Lee, the team had gone through a series of "fake" masters who knew Taekwondo, but did not know Taekwondo sparring or how to teach it.

1970: Inducted into Korean Taekwondo Hall of Fame by Korean Olympic Committee

Korea in the 1960s was still a poor country. Although the country prided itself on its martial arts prowess, university scholarships were hard to attain. The teenage Lee applied for a scholarship at Korea University. The university accepted him, but since he did not have money to pay the entrance fee, which was around $5,000 at the time, he could not enroll. Lee's future prospects looked bleak. He returned to his family farm to follow in his father's footsteps.

Lee's teaching proved instrumental in the U.S. Team's success. Taekwondo athletes traveled from around the country to Binghamton to train under him. Lee was not satisfied with his own teaching. Taekwondo sparring had been somewhat stilted in South Korea in the 1960s. The number of kicks were limited and the movement was back and forth. Lee remarked, "In our time we just kicked, we didn’t move much."

"When we competed [Korea in the 1960s], we could make points with our first or second kick. But these days, the athletes are very fast and they kick continuously - now you need to use four and five kick combinations in order to make a point. That is why I emphasize the short, unstable stance in bringing the leg back fast after each kick, so that you can get ready for the next one while keeping your balance forward so that you can kick continuously and quickly."

1960-70: 13-Time Gold Medalist (Both Intercollegiate and National) in Korea

In the summer of 1950, when Lee was 2 years old, the North Korean Army invaded South Korea. The Lee family felt the brunt of the civil war. Lee's oldest sister had married a man from the North near the 38th parallel. When the North Korean Army invaded, the Lees lost contact with their daughter. The family never heard from her again.

Sang-chul Lee (born May 8, 1948) is a Korean born Taekwondo grandmaster 8th Dan, US Olympic Taekwondo head coach, entrepreneur, and owner of the US Taekwondo Center. Sang-chul Lee is a leading taekwondo innovator and missionary and has played an instrumental role in the promotion and development of Taekwondo throughout the United States and the world.

Sang-chul Lee was born in Korea in 1948 and was the youngest of six children. The young Lee grew up in the war-torn Korean town of Mangyeong near Gunsan, which is Southwest of Seoul and not far from the coast of the East China Sea (today there is a US Airforce Base at Gunsan). The family lived in a one-room thatched hut at the base of an acre plot where his father scratched out a living as a farmer in the Mangyeong rice fields.

Lee's martial arts training began at age 11, when he joined his first dojang. His school was a style of Taekwondo called Jidokwan, roughly translated to 'the way of wisdom'. Lee's Master was Grand Master Il-sup Chun, whose brother, Sang-sup Chun, had developed this style of martial art in 1946. Unfortunately, like Lee's sister, Sang-sup Chun was kidnapped by the North during the Korean War. However, his brother maintained the school and contributed heavily to the development of modern-day Taekwondo and many of the techniques found in Olympic Taekwondo Sparring.