Steven Roy Coleman (born 22 September 1981) is a British Wushu athlete and actor.[1] He is a two-time European wushu champion having been the second gold medallist for Great Britain in daoshu ans gunshu behind Ray Park, and is a multiple-time medallist at the European Wushu Championships. Coleman has also won the Great Britain National Wushu Championships multiple times and has broke and set many Great Britain National Wushu records. He is said to have one of the longest competitive wushu careers, having competed internationally for over twenty years.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 22 September 1981 Kettering, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Martial artist, athlete, coach, actor, stuntman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1998-present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wushu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Captain (2005-2023) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Changquan, Daoshu, Jianshu, Gunshu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Great Britain Wushu Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Mike Donoghue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editEarly Career
editColeman began martial arts at the age of nine by practising Shotokan Karate. He trained and competed in Karate and earned a blackbelt at the age of thirteen. From 1991-94 he was a junior Karate Kata champion and in 1994 was a national champion.
In 1995, he turned his attention to Kung Fu and kickboxing. After a year of finding his direction in martial arts Coleman began training in London in wushu and Chin Woo, later complemented by training in sanda and gymnastics. He began to train in wushu around the world including in Great Britain under Mike Donoghue and at Ray Park's former school, as well as in Malaysia under Oh Poh Soon. In 2001 and 2002, Coleman won at the Traditional National Wushu Championships as well as at the 2002 Chin Woo World Championships [2]
Wushu career
editAt 21, Coleman decided to focus strictly on Wushu. Training privately under Mike Donoghue, Steve went on to win the all-round National Wushu Championships in 2003 and consecutively every year since. This was added to with another World Chin Woo Championship win in 2006, various European Competition wins, and representation of the Great Britain Wushu Team.[3]
Coleman made his wushu continental debut at the 2002 European Wushu Championships in Porto, Portugal and his international debut at the 2003 World Wushu Championships in Macau.[4] He subsequently competed in the next few European and world championships, becoming the captain of the Great Britain Wushu Team in 2006.[5][6] At the 2008 European championships in Warsaw, Coleman won the silver medal in jianshu,[7] but did not compete the following year in the 2009 World Wushu Championships. A year later, he competed in the 2010 European Wushu Championships in Antalya and won a shared bronze medal in changquan.[8] From 2011 to 2012, Coleman retired from competitive wushu.
In 2013, Coleman started competing in wushu again. A year later at the 2014 European Wushu Championships in Bucharest, he became the European champion in daoshu and won silver and bronze medals in changquan and gunshu respectively. He then returned to compete internationally at the 2015 World Wushu Championships in Jakarta with a 7th place finish in daoshu.[9] A year later, Coleman competed in the 2016 European Wushu Championships in Moscow and became the European champion in gunshu and won bronze medals in daoshu and gunshu.[10] He returned to the European championships two years later also in Moscow and was a bronze medalist in gunshu.[11] Later that year, he competed in the World Martial Arts Masterships in South Korea and finished 6th in gunshu. He then competed at the 2019 World Wushu Championships in Shanghai where he was the oldest competitor.[12]
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Coleman returned to competition once again. His most recent competition was the 2023 World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth where he was once again the oldest competitor and competed with multiple injuries.[13]
Acting career
editHis first television appearance was on a show called Masters of Combat, aired on BBC2 in 2001. This was later followed up with an appearance in a documentary This is Kung Fu, also shown on BBC2.
In the 2011 film On The Ropes, Coleman appeared alongside Mark Noyce, Ben Shockley and others in a mockumentary style film about martial arts culture in the UK.[14]
Competitive history
editWushu
edit| Year | Event | CQ | DS | JS | GS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | National Championships | 
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| European Championships | 7 | 8 | 12 | ||
| 2003 | World Championships | 35 | 12 | ||
| 2004 | European Championships | 5 | 4 | 5 | |
| 2005 | World Championships | 15 | 15 | 19 | |
| 2006 | European Championships | 4 | 7 | 6 | |
| 2007 | World Championships | 35 | 37 | 37 | |
| 2008 | European Championships | 5 |
|
6 | |
| 2010 | European Championships |  |
4 | DNS | |
| 2011-12 | Retired | ||||
| 2014 | European Championships |
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| 2015 | World Championships | 7 | 11 | ||
| 2016 | European Championships |
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| 2018 | European Championships | 4 | DNS |
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| World Martial Arts Masterships | 6 | ||||
| 2019 | World Championships | 37 | 14 | ||
| 2020-22 | Did not compete due to COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2023 | World Championships | 36 | 11 | 17 | |
References
edit- ^ Profile, rx3fightcrew.co.uk; accessed 26 December 2014.
- ^ Wushu Acro Fight Choreo by Steve Coleman, metacafe.com; accessed 26 December 2014.
- ^ Profile, mkgym.co.uk; accessed 26 December 2014.
- ^ "7th World Wushu Championships, 2003, Macau, China, Results" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2019.
- ^ "8th World Wushu Championships, 2005, Results" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2019.
- ^ "9th World Wushu Championships, 2007, Beijing, China, Results" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. 17 November 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2019.
- ^ "12th European Championship" (PDF). European Wushu Federation. 18 October 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ "13th European Wushu Championship - Taolu Final Results" (PDF). European Wushu Federation. 14 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ "13th World Wushu Championships, 2015, Jakarta, Indonesia, Results" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. 18 November 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2019.
- ^ ""16th European Wushu Championships and 9th European Junior Wushu Championships", Russia (2016-05-14 - 2016-05-20)". Competition Book. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ ""17th European Wushu Championships and 10th European Junior Wushu Championships ", Russia (2018-05-16 - 2018-05-20)". "17th European Wushu Championships and 10th European Junior Wushu Championships", Russia (2018-05-16 - 2018-05-20). 20 May 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ "15th World Wushu Championships, Shanghai, China, Results" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. 23 October 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2019.
- ^ "HYX 16th World Wushu Championships Results Book" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ On The Ropes cast & crew, ontheropes-themovie.com; accessed 26 December 2014.
External links
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