Taekwondo European Championship medal joy for Lanarkshire teen - eight years after handing them out

Law taekwondo star Hollie Waddell saw her dreams come true at the ITF European Championships in Romania after winning the gold medal – eight years on from handing them out.

Hollie was a medal bearer at the 2015 Championships when she helped present the champions with their awards, so it was a surreal moment for the 17-year-old last month when she ended up with one around her neck in Cluj.

She defeated Dutch opponent Myrthe van der Veer in the Junior Girls 14-17 years 65kg and over category to take home gold for Scotland.

Hollie, who took up the sport when she was six-years-old and trains under David Condie VI, managed to juggle the challenge of competing in the high-pressure environment with sitting two of her Higher exams while out in Romania.

And proud mum Tracey is over the moon with her success.

She said: “It’s amazing and Hollie is delighted. She was handing out medals at the same event in 2015 so it was great to be getting one herself.

“It was Grandmaster Wallace who gave her the medal, so that was nice for her because he is from Scotland as well.

“Hollie felt she fought well and her instructor was getting compliments from other coaches about how well Hollie had sparred.

“She sat her Higher PE and Higher Biology exams while she was out there so it was a big week.

“She is delighted that she is now a European champion after all these years of training.”

Tracey runs T-Uk Shotts with her daughter and added: “She’s been doing this two years longer than me and I took it up because of her.

“She trains five or six times a week so she puts a lot of effort in.

“We also run a Taekwondo UK club in Shotts and she is an instructor for me there.

“Taekwondo is a great thing for families to do.”

Hollie said of her medal-winning