She joined a kickboxing club in Glen Ellyn at age 4, and soon became interested in taekwondo. She's quite good at it, and at the age of 16 she will represent Panama in the 2012 Olympic games in London this summer.
She made the team by virtue of a wild card selection that allows under-represented counties to build a bigger team, but Carolena is no slouch: She's ranked 14th in the world and fourth in the Pan-American region. She'll also be the youngest of 128 athletes competing in taekwondo. You can read the full story in the Daily Herald's edition from Sunday, May 27, 2012, or online at dailyherald.com dailyherald.com
