Anderson Silva has made an official request to the president of the Brazilian Confederation of Taekwondo expressing his intents on competing in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Anderson is a 5th degree black belt in Taekwondo, as well as a black belt in Judo and 3rd degree black belt in BJJ.

He began training Taekwondo at 14 and at 18 was already black belt.

Anderson wrote:
(Translated from Portuguese) “Everyone knows that for a high-performance athlete, the Olympic Games are the highest dream, and I’m no different. When President Carlos Fernandes named me ambassador of the sport, that feeling became even stronger and, with the games being in my country, that Olympic spirit left me very motivated. It will be an immense pleasure to be part of this golden team, which has a serious institution, commanded by President Carlos Fernandes who honors us, along with his whole team. In this manner, I leave here my wishes to represent Taekwondo and Brazil in the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. With all my esteem, strength and honor.”

The Taekwondo Grand Master Yeo Jin Kim, 8th dan black belt, has been following the plans of Anderson Silva. Yeo Jin, is the former Brazilian National Taekwondo team coach, with significant results in the Pan-American games of Puerto Rico.

The Korean introduced Taekwondo in Brazil and believes that the fighter, who is now 41 years old, if he is able to prepare, will achieve a good result.

He told Brazil’s Espsortes:

“I can not guarantee that Anderson will be medalist, but I can prepare him for that. He’s in great shape, has exceptional potential, and a biotype that also helps, with long arms and long legs. I’m sure he will do very well if he chooses to compete in the Olympics in Taekwondo, ”

“The ideal would be to work on it for about two years, but there is still a good time to do a proper and thorough preparation, aiming that Anderson fully adapts to the sport. Ideally, he should first do smaller competitions and do some exhibitions matches in preparation and adaptation to Taekwondo, before trying something bigger. ”

The Grand Master is already doing similar work with Taekwondo athlete Edson Silva, who is attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2016. The athlete is the current World champion and has trained regularly under Yeo Jin Kim.

“Edson Silva is a great athlete who is very dedicated to the training we do regularly, so we believe he has a good chance to be one of the representatives of Brazil in the competition of Rio de Janeiro.”

The president of the Brazilian Taekwondo federation will meet with Anderson Silva in person this week.