Lauren Chantel Burns, OAM is an Australian taekwondo practitioner and Olympic champion.
Background
Burns was born on 8 June 1974 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the daughter of singer Ronnie Burns and dancer Maggie Burns (née Stewart). Shortly thereafter, their father also began training in taekwondo. Together, her father and brother encouraged her (then aged 14) to begin training as well.
Career
Burns holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in taekwondo. Following her competitive taekwondo career, she has been involved in a range of activities, including motivational speaking and community work. As a child, she did not participate much in sports.
Her younger brother, Michael (then aged 7), became interested in martial arts after watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and started learning taekwondo.
Burns began her taekwondo training in Hall"s Taekwondo, which was founded and is directed by instructors Martin and Jeanette Hall. A successful tournament career included 12 Australian women"s national taekwondo championships, a bronze medal at the World Cup in 1996, a bronze medal in the under 51 kg class at the 1997 World Taekwondo Championships in Hong Kong, and a gold medal at the United States Open taekwondo competition in 1999.
Her first appearance at the World Championships was at the 1993 World Taekwondo Championships in New York, and she shared fifth place in the bantamweight division at the 1995 World Taekwondo Championships in the Philippines. Burns studied naturopathy, but deferred her studies for a year to focus on her Olympic campaign in 2000, training under Australian national taekwondo coach Jin Tae Jeong.
She trained 5–7 hours a day in preparation for Olympic competition.
Burns was listed at 165 cm (5"5") in height and 49 kg (108 lb) in weight, but has since indicated that 54 kg (119 lb) is her natural weight. Her Olympic gold medal was stolen in 2003, but it was recovered within a few days. That same year, she published her autobiography, Fighting Spirit: From a charmed childhood to the Olympics and beyond.
Burns is linked with the Victorian Institute of Sport and the South Australian Sports Institute.
Apart from her taekwondo career, Burns also works as a motivational speaker and promotes the "Zip Bag," which she designed. She also supports the Red Dust Role Models community project and is an ambassador for charitable organisation World Vision.