South Australian Taekwondo instructor Louie Dimou is being inducted into the Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame in August.
Based in Port Pirie, 223km north of Adelaide, Dimou has trained for nearly 43 years and took over the school when his old instructor retired in 2018, rebranding it to Full Impact ITF Taekwon-Do.
Now he is being recognised for his contribution to martial arts with an induction into the Hall of Fame with a Category Three Continual Excellence and Service to the Australasian Martial Arts Community Award.
“It’s an honour to be inducted and it’s a testament to my hard work that I’ve put in over the years on behalf of myself and over the years passing my knowledge to all my students and everyone in the in the community,” Dimou told Neos Kosmos.
“It is a high honour and I’m pretty overwhelmed about it, to be amongst all different types of disciplines of martial arts.”
One of, if not, the highest achievement someone can achieve in martial arts in the region.
An internationally certified 3rd degree black belt, the Greek Australian, whose parents came from Rhodes and Spathovouni (near Corinth) in the early 60s, he played soccer as a kid.
He became interested in taekwondo because his uncle used to do it in Port Pirie.
But because at the time he was quite young and lived outside the city, he wouldn’t get his start until after his father sold his farm and market, and they moved to the city.
“I just happened to go to my uncle’s house one day and I was just watching a martial art movie,” Dimou said.
“After watching that martial art movie, I’d enjoyed what I’d seen. I loved the kicking and the punching side of things.
He recalls watching movies back in the day with the likes of Bruce Lee, David Carradine and other martial arts actors.
From there he made the decision to go to the local school that his uncle used to train in and nearly 43 years later, he’s still there enjoying what he does.
“Still learning and helping out the community and helping people and seeing them become bigger and stronger people both mentally and physically,” he said.
Dimou is an active member of the Greek Community of Port Pirie, which is the oldest Greek club in South Australia and the second oldest in the country.
Sticking with his fellow Greeks, Dimou is now affiliated with a new master, Melbourne-based Spiridon Cariotis.
Cariotis is also originally from regional SA, in Whyalla, but moved when he was young, and was inducted into the Global Taekwon-Do Hall of Fame.
Now Dimou enters a hall of fame himself, the only one in his respective class from SA, and the first ever from regional SA.
Dimou and the rest of this year’s class will be inducted on the weekend of August 16-18, at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide.
