Michelle Lim became a taekwondo world champion, despite a 10-year break

Lim with the gold medal that she won at the 21st ITF Taekwondo World Championship. Photo: The Star/Azlina Abdullah

Even though Michelle Lim started learning taekwondo from a young age, the importance of it did not hit home until one fateful incident in 2009.

At that time, Lim was training for a world championship held in St Petersburg, Russia and was jogging in a park early in the morning when she was almost sexually assaulted by a man.