{"id":17972,"date":"2020-02-07T15:32:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T20:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdcthereporter.com\/?p=17972"},"modified":"2021-06-04T11:02:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:02:31","slug":"kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendall Campus Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a three-time Olympian with two silver medals in taekwondo, Juan Moreno knows a bit about the sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

So when he began training Paige McPherson for the 2012 Summer Olympics, he knew he had a champion in the making.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Fighting For Gold: Paige McPherson, a 2018 graduate of Kendall Campus, will represent the United States in taekwondo at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The feat will make her the first taekwondo athlete to represent the U.S. at three Olympic Games.
VANESSA GIMENEZ \/ THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He was right. The 29-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, will participate at the 2020 Summer Olympics<\/span><\/a> in Tokyo, which will take place from July 24 through Aug. 9.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McPherson, who is 5-foot-8-inches tall and weighs 136 pounds, competes in the 148-pound weight class. Currently ranked No. 6 in the world, she will be the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at three Olympic games.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud of Paige,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cSome of the things she has gone through have made her a strong-minded person. When you\u2019re looking for your identity you become very resilient. She\u2019s truly one of the good people in life. If my daughters can grow up to be a person of her character I\u2019d be more than satisfied.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Early Years<\/b><\/p>\n

McPherson was born in 1990 in Abilene, Texas to Shonna Nichols, who is from the Philippines. Nichols, a single mother who was already raising another child, couldn\u2019t afford another kid, so she put her up for adoption, McPherson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that is when Susan and Dave McPherson stepped in. The couple from Sturgis, South Dakota, who have four other adopted children, took her in when she was four days old.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing adopted is the only way I know,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cBecause my siblings were all very different, I get along with a lot of different people and personalities. It has allowed me to become more open-minded and more empathetic. I am able to adapt to any environment because of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When she was 18, McPherson decided to search for her biological family. After hiring a private detective, she found her biological brother, Bryce Rhodes, on Facebook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The siblings met in 2015 after Rhodes took a four hour road trip to see McPherson compete at a taekwondo tournament in California.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I saw his smile I was like \u2018oh my goodness, this is my brother,\u2019\u201d McPherson said. \u201cHis personality was almost exactly like mine, so it was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She also has two biological half-siblings, Denise and Blake Nichols. Although she has initiated contact with them and Shonna, she has not been able to visit them because of her busy schedule.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning To Fight<\/b><\/p>\n

McPherson\u2019s talent started to shine at an early age.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her interest in taekwondo was first sparked when she was five years old after her adoptive brother Evan started participating in the sport. At the time she was into ballet, but soon followed in her brother\u2019s footsteps.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife would take Kevin to practice and Paige would just run around and wait,\u201d McPherson\u2019s dad, David, said. \u201cShe would say \u2018I wanna try! I wanna try!\u2019 So we finally did it, we signed her up. And the rest is history.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When she was eight years old, she competed at the South Dakota State Taekwondo Championship and won her first tournament.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a child, McPherson was homeschooled with two of her siblings by their mother Susan. In high school, she enrolled at Black Hills Classical Christian Academy and was soon winning state and national taekwondo tournaments.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 2012, she moved to Miami to train with Moreno for the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Moreno took notice of McPherson after seeing her compete at national competitions and invited her to his facility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew after high school that if I really wanted to pursue [Olympic taekwondo] I had to go somewhere else, and Miami was the place to go,\u201d McPherson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Training For Gold<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Paige
Decorated Medalist: After competing in countless national and international taekwondo competitions, Paige McPherson has racked up her fair share of acclaim. Pictured left-to-right are three of McPherson\u2019s medals: a gold medal from the 2019 Grand Prix Final in Moscow, a bronze medal from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and a silver medal from the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships in South Korea.
VANESSA GIMENEZ \/ THE REPORTER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moreno runs Peak Performance International, a martial arts training facility dedicated to developing Olympic taekwondo athletes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The facility is an intense environment that ratchets up the tempo. During her first practice, McPherson recalls seeing 20 athletes train there. Then she got struck in the face and decided this was the place for her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe local gym is a hole on the wall, just as warehousey as my taekwondo gym,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cIt\u2019s dirty and old but it builds character. I think coach Moreno does this intentionally because if I can work there and train there, I definitely can train anywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On a normal day, McPherson goes through two strengthening and conditioning sessions at her local gym No Limit Fitness in Kendall for two hours, as well as a two-hour taekwondo practice at night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she replaces her morning sessions with a second taekwondo practice. She also undergoes physical therapy at least three times a week at Jaguar Therapeutics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After winning an Olympic bronze medal in 2012, McPherson was ready to win gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio <\/span>de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/span>\u00a0 However, her dream was quickly dashed after she lost 6-5 in the opening round to Farida Azizova from Azerbaijan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had done everything possible to get the gold,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cI really truly thought that I was gonna win it. At that moment you break because you dedicated and sacrificed, you know, four years worth of your life to this one moment, and I blew it on the very first fight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the loss, McPherson used the moment as a learning experience. She decided to focus more on passion, self-confidence and faith rather than brute strength and athletic ability.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is easy to win, it is tough to lose,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cShe identified herself as an Olympic medalist and then she wasn\u2019t. She showed me more these four years then she had ever before. It was a reality check.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite her love for taekwondo, McPherson plans to retire after the upcoming Summer Olympics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my age\u2014and although I am young at heart\u2014my injuries are catching up to me. It’s getting slower to recover than it was when I was younger,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cI do love taekwondo but I have other dreams and aspirations. This is the perfect time to transition out, settle down and have a family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, McPherson injured herself during practice. She suffered several ligament sprains in her left ankle. Doctors recommended she have surgery but McPherson feared the procedure would jeopardize the 2020 Olympic games so she chose to do physical therapy instead. She is currently still dealing with the injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the end near, McPherson has started to prepare for her future after taekwondo. That future includes opening a coffee shop or taekwondo school.<\/span><\/p>\n

She enrolled at<\/span> Kendall Campus<\/span> in 2009. Tackling tournaments, training sessions, traveling and a part-time job at Abercrombie & Fitch made it hard to attend class in person so she took some online courses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her academic career was further delayed because McPherson didn\u2019t take classes during the years she competed in the Summer Olympics, but she earned an associate\u2019s degree in business administration from Miami Dade College in 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McPherson is now working on a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration at Florida International University. She stopped to focus on the Olympics, but plans to restart in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love taekwondo because it has helped mold me into the person I am today,\u201d McPherson said. \u201cThere are a lot of life lessons to learn through it and in sports in general\u2026 The best way I can explain it is that it\u2019s like a physical game of chess; very dynamic with a lot of tragedy and excitement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Staff writer Jose Tovar contributed to this report.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a three-time Olympian with two silver medals in taekwondo, Juan Moreno knows a bit about the sport. So when he began training Paige McPherson for the 2012 Summer Olympics, he knew he had a champion in the making.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was right. The 29-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":452,"featured_media":21336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2749],"tags":[63,193,226,1475],"class_list":{"0":"post-17972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-kendall-campus","9":"tag-alumni","10":"tag-olympics","11":"tag-summer","12":"tag-martial-arts"},"yoast_head":"\nAlumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adriana Dos Santos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adriana Dos Santos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adriana Dos Santos\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a5e36cb5927d0afab414631dc1fdd2bf\"},\"headline\":\"Kendall Campus Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1384,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/paige_wb_g.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alumni Spotlight\",\"Olympics\",\"Summer\",\"martial arts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Kendall Campus\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/paige_wb_g.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/paige_wb_g.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/paige_wb_g.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Roundhouse Kick: Paige McPherson trains at Peak Performance International on Feb. 4 as she prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She will represent the United States in the 148-pound weight class in women\u2019s taekwondo. VANESSA GIMENEZ \\\/ THE REPORTER\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kendall Campus Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MDC The Reporter\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/R_reporter_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/R_reporter_logo.png\",\"width\":315,\"height\":309,\"caption\":\"MDC The Reporter\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a5e36cb5927d0afab414631dc1fdd2bf\",\"name\":\"Adriana Dos Santos\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Adriana Dos Santos\"},\"description\":\"Adriana Dos Santos, 20, is a mass communication\\\/journalism major in The Honors College at North Campus. Dos Santos, who graduated from Ronald W. Reagan\\\/Doral Senior High School in 2019, will serve as editor-in-chief, briefing editor and social media director for The Reporter during the 2020-2021 school year. She aspires to work at a public relations firm.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mdcthereporter.com\\\/staging\\\/8357\\\/author\\\/adriana-dos-santos\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo","description":"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo","og_description":"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.","og_url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/","og_site_name":"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College","article_published_time":"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adriana Dos Santos","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adriana Dos Santos","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/"},"author":{"name":"Adriana Dos Santos","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5e36cb5927d0afab414631dc1fdd2bf"},"headline":"Kendall Campus Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo","datePublished":"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/"},"wordCount":1384,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg","keywords":["Alumni Spotlight","Olympics","Summer","martial arts"],"articleSection":["News","Kendall Campus"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/","name":"Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg","datePublished":"2020-02-07T20:32:07+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-04T15:02:31+00:00","description":"Paige McPherson, an MDC alumna, will become the first female taekwondo athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/paige_wb_g.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Roundhouse Kick: Paige McPherson trains at Peak Performance International on Feb. 4 as she prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She will represent the United States in the 148-pound weight class in women\u2019s taekwondo. VANESSA GIMENEZ \/ THE REPORTER"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/kendall-campus-alumna-fighting-for-gold-at-2020-summer-olympics-in-tokyo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kendall Campus Alumna Fighting For Gold At 2020 Summer Olympics In Tokyo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/","name":"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami Dade College","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#organization","name":"MDC The Reporter","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/R_reporter_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/R_reporter_logo.png","width":315,"height":309,"caption":"MDC The Reporter"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5e36cb5927d0afab414631dc1fdd2bf","name":"Adriana Dos Santos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Adriana_DosSantos_propic-125x125.jpg","caption":"Adriana Dos Santos"},"description":"Adriana Dos Santos, 20, is a mass communication\/journalism major in The Honors College at North Campus. Dos Santos, who graduated from Ronald W. Reagan\/Doral Senior High School in 2019, will serve as editor-in-chief, briefing editor and social media director for The Reporter during the 2020-2021 school year. She aspires to work at a public relations firm.","url":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/author\/adriana-dos-santos\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Roundhouse Kick: Paige McPherson trains at Peak Performance International on Feb. 4 as she prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She will represent the United States in the 148-pound weight class in women\u2019s taekwondo. <br \/> VANESSA GIMENEZ \/ THE REPORTER","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}