Dae Sung Lee is headed to China a year before the Olympics.

The former U.S. Olympic coach and founder of the U.S. Taekwondo Center in 'Aina Haina will lead China's men's and women's taekwondo teams at the Beijing Games, which will be held in August of 2008.

"I'm very fortunate to be chosen for the Chinese team," said Lee, 49. "They select many different international coaches. I was very fortunate."

Some of the foreign coaches leading Chinese national teams include American Michael Bastian (softball), Swede Marika Domanski-Lyfors (women's soccer), Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas (men's basketball) and Aussie Tom Maher (women's basketball).

Lee, a nine-time U.S. national champion and four-time Pan American Games gold medalist, leaves next week for China, where he'll be in charge of training and selecting members for the Olympic squads.

Lee, who was born in South Korea and graduated from Moanalua High School and the University of Hawai'i, was contacted about the position earlier this year by Zhao Lei of the Chinese Taekwondo Association.

They met in Florida, but Lee asked the decision be deferred until after the World Taekwondo Championships. Lee coached members of the Chinese team at the World Championships in May in Beijing. China won two golds and a bronze. One of the gold medalists was Chen Zhong, a two-time Olympic champion.

China extended its invitation after the World Championships and Lee accepted a month ago. Lee announced his decision last week at a ceremony at his school.

"All my parents and students are comfortable," Lee said. "They are 100 percent supportive. They are so proud of our school."

His current staff, along with friends from the Mainland, will run the school in his absence. Lee's family — wife Heon Mi, daughter Nikita and son Daven — will remain in Hawai'i.

"My daughter and son are very supportive and especially my wife," Lee said.

Lee was an assistant coach for the U.S. team in 1988 and 1992 when taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the Olympics. Taekwondo became an official Olympic sport in 2000, when Lee was a technical coach.

The Chinese team trained with the U.S. in the late 1990s, which is how Lee first met Zhao. Despite being coach of the host nation's team, Lee said he feels no pressure because of the athletes he'll be working with.

"I don't have any pressure because the athletes in China, they are great," said Lee, who added that he'll have a translator since he doesn't speak Chinese. "When I was there, I trained them six hours a day.

"Not one person complained about the training. The Chinese coaches are also very supportive. The CTA is fully behind my program. I have no pressure. I know they will do very well in China."

In 2003, Lee coached American Steven Lopez to gold medals at the World Championships and Pan American Games. That same year, Lee was named U.S. Olympic coach, but was removed in April 2004 after reorganization of the U.S. Taekwondo Union, the sport's governing body. Lee filed a $1 million federal lawsuit, claiming he was removed because of his Korean heritage. Many officers of Korean heritage were also removed during the reorganization.

Lee asked to be reinstated for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway denied his request two weeks before taekwondo competition was to begin. Mollway did side with Lee's claim that he was removed on the basis of race.

Lee said he couldn't comment further on the case.