Tara Murray
After months of hoping he had done enough, Leon Sejranovic finally has the confirmation that he is headed to the Olympics.
The Maribyrnong Sports Academy coach was one of three athletes named in the Australian taekwondo team for the Paris Games.
He will compete in the 80 kilogram men’s competition.
Sejranovic said it was pretty special to finally get the phone call he had been waiting for.
“It feels incredible,” he said. “It’s definitely a dream come true and I think for everyone that does taekwondo or most Olympics sports as a young kid, the dream is always to become an Olympian one day and to represent Australia, do Australia proud.
“So to have the opportunity to be able to do that is surreal.”
Sejranovic really put his name into Olympic contention last year when he won bronze at the World Taekwondo Championships.
He became the first Australian male to medal at a world championships in nearly 25 years.
While he had the standout performance, he still needed to wait to see if he made the Olympic team.
He said there was a sense of relief because he expected that he had done enough, but there’s always a bit of doubt in the mind
“I mean all I could do was really think about what was in my control, which is to continue performing at the highest calibre that I can,” he said.
“I feel like I did but to finally have it be official and they’ve announced it and stuff, it takes a big weight off the shoulders.
“Instead of worrying about qualifying now, I can just put all eyes on performing at the Games.”
Sejranovic said after his breakthrough performance last year there were definitely some tournaments where he wanted to do better, there were moments in the following six months that he felt like he did really well.
He said for him now it’s about getting more consistent performances and believes that he could medal at the Olympics.
“I think that I know that when I’m at my absolute best, I feel like there’s not anyone that I can’t beat,” he said.
“I feel like when I’m at my best I have the ability to beat anyone that’s in that bracket at the Olympics.
“To be at my best requires me to have that consistency, like making sure you do everything right leading into the tournament, so you are primed on fight day.”
Sejranovic said he was hoping the college would get behind him in his push for Olympic glory.
“I don’t really talk about it,” he said. “I would assume they took at me as a role model in some sense. That’s how I looked at my coach Ryan Carneli, who is one of the coaches at MSA.
“Was always my coach at Maribyrnong when I was training here and he is one of my national team coaches.
“As a young kid I always looked up to him because he was an Olympian and he had these results as well and that is part of what made me buy in 100 per cent to everything he said.
“He knows what he is talking about.”
Carneli, will also make the trip to the Olympics.
