Taekwondo experts will get a kick out of marriage

JASON OXENHAM/Western Leader

DOUBLE SUCCESS: Taekwondo experts Mark Trotter and Carolina Dillen got engaged and won gold medals at the world cup in Italy.

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Top taekwondo couple Mark Trotter and Carolina Dillen have many reasons to be happy after competing at the world cup in Italy last year.

They each won a gold and silver medal and they got engaged.

"Mark proposed at the Colosseum, which was pretty appropriate since we’ve both been fighting our whole lives.

"I was pretty shocked," Carolina says.

Carolina, 25, tied for best woman in the 18 to 35 age-group after claiming gold in the patterns, where the competitor is judged on a series of taekwondo moves.

She also won silver in the under 58kg full-contact sparring.

She’s thrilled with her gold and says the sparring medal was just as satisfying.

"In the final I was up against Joanna Paprocka, the best fighter in the world.

"She dropped down from her normal weight category."

Mark, a former Te Atatu South and West Harbour resident, knows exactly what his fiancee was up against.

"I’ve sparred with her a couple of times and she’s a hard girl."

Mark won a gold medal in traditional sparring with partner Luke Thompson. In traditional sparring, a pair of fighters are judged on choreographed set moves in a non-contact bout.

The 24-year-old says his work as a stunt man on movies like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong helped with the routine.

"It’s great for training.

"The kicks and flips make it a real crowd pleaser."

He also won silver in patterns, but missed out on the medals in the full contact category.

The couple have known each other for around a decade and have dated for two years.

"It’s great we’re both able to travel and train together," Mark says.

"You spend so much time training if you were into something else you’d never see each other."

They hope to get married sometime next year, but haven’t set the date.

"It has to be in between competitions," Mark says.

New Zealand assistant coach Steve Pellow says the pair’s results in Italy were "stunning".

"It’s something that you’ve got to be very dedicated to.

"It’s not just something you turn up to once or twice a week."

- © Fairfax NZ News