473: Ward Selman on Chasing the Olympics and Breaking Barriers in Lebanon

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Columbia Sports Management student and Lebanese taekwondo standout, Ward Selman, for a powerful conversation about resilience, identity, and building a career in sports beyond the mat. Selman, who began taekwondo at age four and joined Lebanon’s national team at twelve, discusses her TEDx talk on “Resilient Dreamers,” shares what it meant to pursue a “non-traditional” sport for women in a tight-knit society, how her parents shielded and supported her through early skepticism, and how public perception shifted as her results made her impossible to ignore. She reflects on the moment she truly believed an Olympic run was real (a bronze at the 2022 Asian Championships), the heartbreak of missing Paris 2024 by a single point, and the hard-earned lesson that a career can’t be defined by one outcome alone. The talk also explores Lebanon’s sports landscape with the challenges of limited infrastructure, why individual sports can sometimes outpace team sports in resource-constrained countries, and how Ward’s competitive drive shows up everywhere, from Ivy League tournaments to a love of extreme sports like skydiving. Now navigating her first months in the U.S. and NYC, Selman discusses her emerging interests in sports events and player-facing roles, and her long-term dream of creating a roadmap and support system for Lebanese athletes,so the next generation doesn’t have to build it from scratch.Connect with Ward: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wardselman/Follow Ward: https://www.instagram.com/ward.selman/?hl=enThe CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Sydney Cristall, Emily Kim, and Lissa Ruiz. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com