Decades after First Gold, Alum Is a Karate Champ Again

World champion martial artist Noelle Kanaga DeLuca ’06 started karate when she was just four years old—and hated it. “I begged and pleaded not to participate,” she says. “I was a petite little girl always asked to partner with boys who were bigger and stronger.”

What her parents hoped, she says, is that karate would help her grow into a confident young woman. Their strategy seems to have paid off. DeLuca persevered and by 10 was sparring against grown men during training sessions. By 16, she was enjoying competition, and in high school, she won multiple national gold medals and qualified for the USA karate team.

During her senior year, DeLuca was balancing schoolwork with training for international competition at the US Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York. She and her teammates dreamed of being Olympians, but unfortunately, karate was not selected as an event for the 2004 Olympic Games.*

DeLuca also competed in American Ju-Jitsu in 2002—even placing seventh in the Ju-Jitsu World Championships during her first semester at MIT—but she ultimately decided to prioritize MIT and her college experience. She double-majored in business and French; she joined the Alpha Phi sorority; she became involved in student council; and she played varsity field hockey and lacrosse.

The summer after her sophomore year, she also landed a coveted internship at a leading global investment bank, Goldman Sachs. She loved the experience, joined the firm after graduation, and has been there ever since. Today DeLuca is vice president in equities sales in Chicago, and she says Goldman Sachs is a lot like MIT. The work is intense—“People run to the fires here,” as she puts it—but the people make the experience enjoyable. “I’m extremely grateful for the relationships I’ve formed. It’s what brings me in every day,” she says.

At Goldman Sachs, DeLuca attributes her success to hard work, determination, and surrounding herself with talented thought leaders. The same is true in karate. While karate is an individual sport, DeLuca explains, she draws strength from the people in the dojo where she trains. “I’m not going to hurt them, and they’re not going to hurt me,” she says. “We make each other stronger.”

DeLuca sees the practice of karate as built on a foundation of respect, discipline, integrity, patience, and humility—values she hopes to instill in her two boys, ages six and eight. That’s why she introduced them to karate a few years ago, and in turn, rediscovered her own passion. “I got them up and running and quickly found myself along for the ride,” she says.

This January, she decided to start competing again “to see how it would go” and to demonstrate the power of commitment and focus to her children. “They have the opportunity to watch me and see what it takes and learn from me,” she says. “I don’t make excuses.”

In July, DeLuca earned 12 medals in national and international competitions, including the gold medal in kumite fighting in a division for women over 35 at the World Union of Karate-Do Federations World Championships. She also won gold medals at both the Amateur Athletic Union Karate Nationals and the Pan-American Masters Games.

* Karate debuted in the Olympic Games in 2020