Gary Hall Announcement

Press Release: Gary Hall & GBT

Executive Performance Director Gary Hall MBE to leave GB Taekwondo.

After 18 years as the executive Performance Director of GB Taekwondo, Gary Hall will be leaving the organisation to pursue new opportunities.

Gary was the leading director of GB Taekwondo when the organisation was transitioned from an NGB committee to a limited company in 2002 to establish a World Class Taekwondo Performance and Development Programme following the sports inclusion in the Sydney Olympic Games. Initially working in a voluntary capacity, Gary was appointed Performance Director in 2006 when the sport received a significant uplift in investment to pursue medal success in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

During his tenure, Gary transformed the fortunes of GB Taekwondo, establishing a leading combat athlete Talent ID pathway alongside the Olympic athlete development programme to provide elite and aspiring Taekwondo combat athletes the very best support and opportunity to succeed on the world stage. Gary’s strategic leadership, elite sport knowledge, business acumen and his ability to make key decisions in high pressured elite sport environments to bring about change, saw the team move from training in an unused isle of an Asda supermarket to a purpose-built National Taekwondo Centre in East Manchester, which he was pivotal in designing. Under Gary’s tenure, the team went from winning no medals in Athens 2004 Olympics to having now won 10 Olympic medals and 4 Paralympic medals from the past five Olympic and Paralympic Games with Great Britain recognised internationally as one of the leading Taekwondo nations.

Gary was also integral to the strategic planning and hosting of GB Taekwondo’s first major Taekwondo event, the 2007 Beijing Olympic Qualification event and played a key role in establishing World Taekwondo’s Grand Prix event series the first of which was held in Manchester in 2013. His performance vision connected to GB Taekwondo hosting and delivering world class events has created the opportunity for athletes to compete at the highest level on home soil.

In recognition of his achievements, Gary was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s 2022 birthday honours for services to Taekwondo.

Gary Hall MBE says:

I am extremely grateful and privileged to have recruited and worked with some incredibly talented and focused athletes, world class coaches, science/medicine and support teams alongside some excellent board members and truly invested stakeholders who have believed and committed to helping the Great Britain Taekwondo Team to move from a team with a multitude of reasons, ‘why it could not achieve’, to a team that now expects to achieve at all levels of elite Taekwondo combat competition.

The performance and business transition I’ve been able to lead whilst on the journey to becoming a world class team has never been easy. Challenges are always there but I’ve learnt each time we succeeded or failed that you have to address the challenges creatively, learn from them. I believe that the programmes culture promotes trust and honesty alongside our values of commitment, ownership, responsibility and excellence and in this regard I must thank Steve Peters for his advice on core values and for the support he has given to the team.

It is fair to say that the journey with GB Taekwondo is what got me out of bed each day. Whilst recognising this journey it is important to acknowledge that the harder we worked the sweeter the successes became and the easier it became to conquer the challenges we faced. I am confident that the robust and knowledge anchored plans created whilst working at GB Taekwondo have laid down the foundations for anyone who engages with the team to have an amazing learning and development experience… for me this experience will be one which I could never forget.

Thank you to all who have helped me develop and lead this wonderful team, thank you to everyone who worked so hard with integrity to deliver upon the world class vison we set out to achieve.
I wish GB Taekwondo continued future success.

Jules Newton, Chair of GB Taekwondo said:

"Gary is one of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with. What Gary Hall, the team at GB Taekwondo and of course our fantastic athletes have achieved for taekwondo in the UK is nothing short of extraordinary. Gary has taken taekwondo from a niche sport with a small but loyal fan base to a sport the nation has taken to its heart thanks to the relentless success he has helped our athletes achieve on the world stage. That success includes 10 Olympic medals, 4 Paralympic medals and 6 world champions.
It's with an extremely heavy heart that we’ve accepted Gary’s decision to move on and we are incredibly grateful to have enjoyed the fruits of his passion and utter dedication to a sport he loves, for over twenty years. That love has shone through both on and off the mat and on behalf of the Board I want to wholeheartedly thank him for creating a genuine legacy of excellence and a real pathway for those young people who’ve been inspired by what Gary Hall has achieved. We wish him every success for the future and hope our paths cross again."

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Press Release: Gary Hall & GBT

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