CCF is proud to welcome aboard Lauren Burns, Sydney Olympic 2000 Gold Medallist for Tae Kwon Do and vegetarian to boot! "I first started doing Tae Kwon Do when I was 14. My brother, who was seven then, was right into the 'Ninja Turtles' so he and dad started going along to the club and I joined them. I really loved it and it took off from there. A lot of women do taekwondo, 60 - 70% of the people in my club are women as opposed to some other martial arts where the men dominate.

I look at taekwondo as an active form of meditation – it requires you to be totally in the moment, it has its own journey for every person. It's a very personal thing and people take what they need from it.

On vegetarism
I've been a vegetarian since I was very young. My parents decided to become vegetarians but they didn't force it onto me. It was my own decision -one day I just said to them - 'I don't want to eat my friends' and that was it. I am very passionate about food and I love cooking. Lots of tofu, tempeh, legumes, grains and lots and lots of steamed vegetables. People are surprised that an athlete can be a vegetarian but I can tell you, I am in great health!

On animals
I have this great dog Zoe. When we left home I don't know if mum and dad were sadder to see me go or her! She is my best friend. She helped me train for the Games and she really misses all the walks. I think I'll have to put her on a diet - we went to Tassie last week and I had to pay excess baggage on her!

On animal testing
Stop it! It is really important to know that, as con-sumers, we can do something to stop it. Choose with your conscience.

Exerts from an article on Lauren in the CCF newsletter…DOWNLOAD PDF (720k)