The Lopez family of Sugar Land, Texas, took another step Thursday toward becoming just the second trio of siblings to qualify for a U.S. Summer Olympics team.
Mark Lopez, 25, won the men’s bantam/featherweight taekwondo final by withdrawal over Chris Martinez, also of Sugar Land, on the opening day of the U.S. Olympic team trials in Colorado Springs.
In doing so, he qualified to represent the United States at the World Olympic Qualification tournament in Manchester, England, next month. There, a top-three finish would qualify him for nomination to the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
On Friday, Lopez will be cheering on his older brother Steven, 28, and younger sister Diana, 23, as they continue their quest to become the first three siblings in 103 years to make a U.S. Summer Olympic team.
“Their chances are really good,” Mark Lopez said. “They are the reigning world champions and this will be a big stepping stone for them. They just need to go out and do their jobs. They cannot underestimate anyone even though we believe their calibers are way higher than anyone else. They cannot take anything for granted.”
If all three earn the right to represent the United States at next year’s Beijing Games, it will mark the first time that three siblings will represent the U.S. team in the same summer sport since 1904, when brothers Edward, Richard and William Tritschler competed in men’s gymnastics, though none won any medals.
Steven Lopez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion, is the heavy favorite for the combined light/welterweight division. He hasn’t lost since 2000.
Diana Lopez will face 2004 Olympic silver medalist Nia Abdallah for the lone spot in the women’s bantam/feather division. Abdallah beat defeated Diana Lopez at the 2004 U.S. Olympic team trials and eventually gained the sole berth to the 2004 Athens Games.
The Lopezes are coached by their older brother, Jean, 33, a two-time Pan Am Games champion who also serves as the national team coach.
Jean was just 8 when he took up the sport and Steven just 3 when he began tagging along and learning the martial arts that their father had been drawn to by watching old Bruce Lee movies.
“It’s been a family affair since before Mark and Diana were born,” said Jean Lopez, whose 8-year-old daughter, Alyxandra, won her competitive taekwondo debut earlier this summer.
