Jean Carlos Gamarra

Jean Carlos Gamarra Morales, born 23 March 1977 in Miraflores District, Lima, Peru), is most recognized for being a top international fin weight athlete for the Peruvian Taekwondo team during the late 1990's. He is a direct descendant of Peruvian President Agustín Gamarra.
Gamarra began his Taekwondo training at the age of six at the Joung Hye Chorrillos Taekwondo School in Chorrillos, Lima, Peru. In 1989 he continued his training under the direction of Sabumnim Joung Hye Seo {present day vice president of the Federación Deportiva Peruana de Taekwondo) and under the direction of Sabumnnim Jeon Young Gi, present day president of the Federación Deportiva Peruana de Taekwondo. in 1993. In 1993 Jean Carlos Gamarra competed in the Trial Team Championship in Lima, Peru and placed 3rd, winning the Bronze and earning him a spot on the Peruvian National Taekwondo Team. He would remain a member of the National Taekwondo Team until the year 2000.
Biography
Jean Carlos Gamarra considers himself a "Chorrillano", despite having been born in Miraflores, another district of Lima, Peru. Jean Carlos spent the majority of his life from a young age growing up in the district of Chorrillos. His parents had separated shortly after his younger brother Erlo Simon Gamarra Morales was born. His mother had left the two young boys to be raised solely by their father, Carlos Vidal Gamarra. It would take years for Jean Carlos Gamarra to reconcile his grievances with his mother for having left the family.
During the 1980s under the Presidency of Alan Garcia, Peru's economy struggled. While the economy struggled, Carlos Gamarra raised his sons in the role of a single father working hard to ensure that the athletic and academic development of his sons did not falter despite hard economic times. In 1985 a then very young Jean Carlos was enrolled in his very first Taekwondo class at the Joung Hye Chorrillos Taekwondo School in Chorrillos, Peru. Four years later he would train with the Korean Master Joung Hye Seo who was the name sake of the first Taekwondo school he attended.
In 1993 Jean Carlos Gamarra would continue his training under Jeon Young Gi who would be the master that introduced him to the world of competitive Taekwondo. Jean Carlos Gamarra did not compete in his first major competition until he was a black belt.
Taekwondo would become Jean Carlos Gamarra's passport to the world in the 1990s. He would travel to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Spain, Cuba, Canada, France, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, and many other countries under the flag of Taekwondo.
He was not only an outstanding athlete, he was also an excellent teacher and volunteer. After performing in a demonstration for the Peruvian Elite Special Forces, Jean Carlos Gamarra was invited to become a Taekwondo instructor for the Peruvian Military. In the late 1990s the Tae Bo craze swept through Lima. Jean Carlos quickly took advantage of this and began offering and teaching Tae Bo style classes at a local gym in Chorrillos, "Spa Arnold." It would be in 1999 that Jean Carlos Gamarra would team up with his younger brother Erlos Simon Gamarra, who was also a member of the Peruvian National Taewkondo Team. Under the guidance of Jean Carlos the two started a local Taekwondo community program for impoverished children of Delicias, a poor and dangerous neighborhood in the district of Chorrillos. They had known what it was like to struggle economically and through Taekwondo gave back to the Children, not only by offering them instruction in the Martial Arts, but also providing them free milk and pasta products through the auspice of Jean Carlos Gamarra's sponsors.
The community Taekwondo program caught on with the neighborhood children and soon Jean Carlos was able to gain the support of the local Mayor, Augusto Miyashiro, who contributed uniforms and equipment for the children. A year later the children participated in their first promotional test and the Mayor as well as other famous martial arts figures in Peru were in attendance for the testing. Nearly 300 children participated in the grass roots program.
1999 would soon prove to be a tough year for Jean Carlos Gamarra who was at the height of his success as an athlete. During the National Qualifying Team Trials which were a forté into the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Jean Carlos Gamarra would suffer a sever knee injury during the competition, forcing him into early retirement. Shortly after his injury he would struggle with the federation for compensation for his surgeries and come face to face with his own Masters in an election scandal.
After dealing with injury, Jean Carlos Gamarra decided that it was time to leave Peru in 2001 and pursue his Taekwondo interests in the United States of America. In the U.S. he was able to finish the necessary surgeries to repair his knee, enabling him to return to the sparring ring again and compete in U.S. competitions.
It was in 2001 when Jean Carlos Gamarra began training and teaching at a Taekwondo School in Central Florida where he met his future American born wife, Rachel Newhart. Unseen circumstances would prevent the two from dating each other and eventually getting married until 2004.
From 2001 to 2004 Jean Carlos would continue to train and work in Taekwondo, traveling back and forth between Florida and Peru. In early 2004 he married 1st Dan Kukkiwon Black Belt, Rachel Newhart. The newlyweds soon combined their talents and their ideas to revive the community Taekwondo program that Jean Carlos Gamarra had originally founded in Peru.
In February 2005 USA Taekwondo featured "The High Performance Institute of Taekwondo and its American based Non-for-Profit organization the "Gamarra Taekwondo Foundation" in an Article featured in their Club Corner Section. They would later follow up with the story in April 2005 in a second online feature article.Both of these organizations were the creations of Jean Carlos Gamarra and his wife Rachel Gamarra.
The attention that The High Performance Institute of Taekwondo received from the articles helped push it into the American spotlight earning it recognition from other Taekwondo Instructors and Athletes from across the United States.
In 2005 during a trip to Lima, Peru, Jean Carlos Gamarra and his wife Rachel Gamarra met with the President and the Vice President of the Peruvian Taekwondo Federation to gain support for their community project. They also appeared on Radio Programas del Perú (RPP) in an interview with Milagros Valverde to promote their cause to the people and businesses across the nation of Peru.
In May 2005, back in Florida, Jean Carlos Gamarra was featured on the local television in a featurette aptly named "Cale Do My Job!" where Instructor Jean Carlos Gamarra taught Fox 35 local newsman Cale Ramaker how to be a Taekwondo Instructor for a day.
Presently Jean Carlos Gamarra offers his services to other schools and athletes throughout Central Florida and abroad through The High Performance Institute of Taekwondo. His institute offers instructional services and international seminars. He has future plans of returning to Peru with his American wife and their two daughters, Elise and Liesel to establish an international installment of his High Performance Institute in his hometown of Chorrillos.
Competition History Highlights
In 1995 Jean Carlos Gamarra began his international career by particating in the World College Olympic Games Qualifier in Fukuoka, Japan; however it wasn't until 1997 that he won his first international title in the 1st South American Cup in Bolivia, where he won the Silver Medal.
In 1997 he continued his successful competition career by placing second and winning the Silver Medal at the Bolivarian Olympic Games which were hosted that year by his home-country, Peru. Jean Carlos Gamarra would compete in his first XIII World Taekwondo Championship that same year in Hong Kong, China.
In 1998 he achieved another medal for Peru. Lima, Peru would be host for the second time in 10 years to the 11th Pan American Taekwondo Championships. Jean Carlos Gamarra would win the Bronze Medal by defeating Luis Carlos Koo of Guatemala who had placed 3rd two years before in the 1996, 10th Pan American Taekwondo Championships in Havana, Cuba. 1998 would continue to prove to be a successful career for Jean Carlos Gamarra who had not only won an International title for his country, but also was the Taekwondo National Champion of Peru by placing first in three major competitions and winning the Gold in the National Team Trial Championship, Peruvian National Championship and the National College Olympic Games. He would also compete again in the World College Olympic Games Qualifier in Mexico City, Mexico.
Peru was host to the 6th Pan American Taekwondo Championships in 1988.
In 1999 he would once again defend and keep his title as National Champion in the (Peruvian) National Championship as well as continue to represent his country in two other major international tournaments in Canada. Jean Carlos Gamarra represented the country of Peru in the XIV World Taekwondo Championship in Edmonton, Canada and in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada.
In 1999 at the National Olympic Team Trial Championships for the upcoming 27th Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Jean Carlos Gamarra would suffer a debilitating knee injury that would force him into early retirement and end his dreams of earning an Olympic Medal for his country.
Two years later in 2001 after he was forced into retirement from international competition a list of the current standing top male fin-weight athletes in Taekwondo was posted and Jean Carlos Gamarra ranked 19th in the World.
In 2001 Jean Carlos Gamarra moved to Orlando, Florida in the U.S.A. and returned to competition after undergoing multiple surgeries to repair his knee. He would mark his return by competing in and winning the Gold Medal in the Florida State Governor's Cup.
In 2002 Jean Carlos Gamarra would compete in two more U.S. competitions and win Gold and the title of Absolute Champion for the first time in the bantam weight category at the American Open. He also participated in his first U.S. championship at the XI U.S. Open Championship in Orlando, Florida that same year.
Awards
*Diploma of Honor from the Congress of the Republic of Peru; Commission of Women, Human and Sports Development ( Silver Medal - XIII Bolivarian Games) - 1997
*Presidential Award of Honor from the Minister of the Presidential Office of the Republic of Peru; (XIII Bolivarian Games) - 1997
*Diploma of Honor from the National University of Callao (XII College National Games) - 1997
*Award of Recognition from the City of Chorrillos (Development of community Taekwondo Programs) - 2001
Certifications
*High Level Coach of Taekwondo (International Olympic Committee) -1998
*High Level Coach of Taekwondo (Peruvian Olympic Committee) - 1998
*Sports Administration and Taekwondo Technique ( Pan American Taekwondo Union & Federacion Peruana de Taekwondo) - 2000
*2nd Level National Referee (Peru - Federacion Peruana de Taekwondo, National Commission of Referees) - 2001
*3rd Dan Kukkiwon Certified Black Belt (Kukkiwon) - 2002
Titles & Positions
*Peruvian National Taekwondo Team Member 1994 - 1999
*Deportista Calficado de Alto Nivel en Taekwondo ( Qualified High Level Athlete - Peruvian Institute of Sports) -1999
*International University Ambassador (National University of Callao) - 2000
*President of the Electoral Committee ( Peruvian Taekwondo Federation) - 2001
*President (Association of "Club Joung Hye Chorrillos") - 2001
*Director of Activities (Taekwondo Sport's Association of Peru) - 2001
*Honorary Representative & Ambassador (Peruvian Taekwondo Federation) - 2001
*Legal Representative (Taekwondo Sport's Association of Peru) - 2001
*Official Male Fin Weight Taekwondo World Ranking (#19) - 2001

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