Skip to main content
Intellect

BYU student wins gold at international martial arts competition

A Brigham Young University student won a gold medal two weeks ago in the 2006 Haidong Gumdo World Championships in Seoul, South Korea.

Lina Ferreira has been training in martial arts including tae kwon do, judo, aikido and kung fu since she was seven years old, and has been training in haidong gumdo since last spring. She is the daughter of Jaime Ferreira, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is an English major at BYU.

Gumdo, from the Korean, can be split into “gum," which means sword, and "do," which means way or school. Literally, the word is translated to mean "the way of the sword" and uses a philosophy called “shimgum,” which is characterized by a unification of the mind, body and spirit, and transcends technical accuracy. One can achieve technical exactness in execution without reaching this ideal state, according to Ferreira.

The championships were held July 23-Aug. 1 and take place every two years. It is a large-scale event in South Korea, with more than 10,000 attending the 2002 competition. The Haidong Gumdo World Championships experience includes an immersion in South Korean culture along with the tournament.

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

Wildfires in residential areas are on the rise; why hydrants and the water system behind them were never meant to stop those fires

July 01, 2025
BYU professor Rob Sowby teaches and studies environmental engineering, urban water infrastructure and sustainability. He has particular expertise in the planning, design, construction and operation of public water systems. That expertise has been increasingly important (and regularly sought out) in the wake of apocalyptic wildfires that have taxed those public water systems.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Meet the BYU math student helping make wildfire predictions faster and smarter

June 25, 2025
Using machine learning and math, a BYU student improved a key tool firefighters rely on during wildfire season
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Geology meets history: BYU professor studies WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches

June 05, 2025
Eighty years after D-Day, BYU geologists uncover lingering WWII shrapnel on Normandy beaches to study how history still shapes the coastline today.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=false overrideCardHideByline=false overrideCardHideDescription=false overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=