Taekwondo Table of Rocks CONTENTS Rio 2016: President’s Message Welcome to Part About Taekwondo Global Membership 8 a Festival From Korean Martial Art to Global Combat Sport 10 1 How to Play the Game 14 of Fight! Inside the Protector and Scoring System 18 Part About Olympic Taekwondo Taekwondo Medalists: Sydney 2000 - London 2012 22 What’s New In Rio 2016 28 2 NOCs Qualified for Rio 2016 32 Competition Schedule 38 Sample of a Draw Sheet 39 The Full List of 128 Qualified Athletes by Category 40 128 Qualified Athletes’ Profile 44 Qualification Process 60 About Repechage 61 Rio 2016 Fun Facts 62 10 Stars To Watch 64 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Global Media Professionals, elcome to taekwondo at Rio 2016! I hope you take an interest in a new initiative: The W Rio is famed for its carnivals, and taekwondo Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF). will rock the city with a “festival of fight” - lively ring Taekwondo requires minimal equipment, so is one of announcements, thunderous music, gravity-defying the easiest sports to deploy. It delivers physical fitness, demonstrations by the WTF Demonstration Team and mental discipline, self-defence and self-respect. Since the world’s top taekwondo stars competing for glory. late 2015, the THF has been teaching taekwondo to some of those who need its benefits the most: I hope you note the sport’s innovations. For over Refugees and displaced persons. THF programs are a decade, we have leveraged technology to make underway in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and taekwondo as fair and transparent as possible – we Turkey, and in earthquake-struck regions of Nepal. have even been dubbed “techwondo!” London saw the first Olympic use of a PSS (Protector and Scoring I hope you approach me with questions, queries or System) trunk protector, in which sensors electronical- comments. Myself and the WTF Council will be at the ly register points; Rio marks the Olympic debut of the venue, and we want to hear what media professionals Head PSS. We have also tweaked scoring to encourage make of Olympic taekwondo. the most spectacular kicks, and made our mats octag- And I hope you talk to our athletes. Taekwondo onal to promote lively movement. boasts over 70 million practitioners, making it one I hope you recognize our focus on equality. Taekwon- of the globe’s top participation sports. When you do is a true sport for all, one of the most economical meet our elite players here in Rio, you will find they and democratic sports on earth. In Rio, our team of are some of the most open, friendly and courteous international referees is split exactly 50-50, male-fe- sportspeople anywhere. I conclude with one request: male. And while para-taekwondo athletes are not In your coverage of taekwondo in Rio, please do our competing in Rio, they will make their Paralympic athletes justice! debuts in Tokyo 2020. Thank you and yours in sport - Chungwon Choue President, World Taekwondo Federation 4 5 Part 1 About Taekwondo About Taekwondo 50 EUROPE The WTF has 206 Member National Associa- tions +1. The “+1” stands for refugees. Albania Italy +1 The WTF allowed refugee athletes to compete Andorra Kosovo Armenia Latvia in the Olympic qualification tournaments for Austria Lithuania the first time as an IF. Azerbaijan Luxembourg Belarus Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Belgium Malta Bosnia & Herzegovina Moldova Bulgaria Monaco Croatia Montenegro 206 Cyprus The Netherlands Czech Republic Norway Denmark Poland 43 Estonia Portugal Finland Romania 50 France Russia ASIA Georgia San Marino 44 Germany Serbia Afghanistan Malaysia Great Britain Slovakia Bahrain Mongolia AFRICA Greece Slovenia Bangladesh Myanmar Hungary Spain Bhutan Nepal Algeria Malawi PAN AMERICA Iceland Sweden Brunei Oman Angola Mali Ireland Switzerland Cambodia Pakistan Benin Mauritania Antigua & Barbuda Guatemala Isle of Man Turkey China Palestine Botswana Mauritius Argentina Guyana Israel Ukraine Chinese Taipei Philippines Burkina Faso Morocco Aruba Haiti Hong Kong Qatar Burundi Mozambique Bahamas Honduras India Saudi Arabia Cameroon Niger Barbados Jamaica Indonesia Singapore Cape Verde Nigeria Belize Martinique Iran Sri Lanka Central African Republic Rwanda Bermuda Mexico Iraq Syria Comoros Sao Tome & Principe Bolivia Curacao Japan Tajikistan Cote d’Ivoire Senegal Brazil Nicaragua Jordan Thailand Congo Seychelles British Virgin Islands Panama Kazakhstan Timor-Leste D.R. of the Congo Sierra Leone Canada Paraguay Korea Turkmenistan Egypt Somalia Cayman Islands Peru Kuwait United Arab Emirates Equatorial Guinea South Africa Chile Puerto Rico Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Ethiopia Sudan Colombia St. Lucia Laos Vietnam Gabon South Sudan Costa Rica St. Kitts & Nevis Lebanon Yemen Gambia Swaziland Dominican Republic Surinam Macao 19 Cuba St. Vincent & the Grenadines Ghana Chad Dominica Trinidad and Tobago Guinea Tanzania Ecuador Uruguay Kenya Togo OCEANIA El Salvador U.S.A. Lesotho Tunisia Grenada Virgin Islands Liberia Uganda American Samoa New Caledonia Guadeloupe Venezuela Libya Zimbabwe Madagascar Zambia Australia New Zealand Cook Islands Palau Fiji Papua New Guinea French Polynesia Samoa Guam Solomon Islands Kiribati Tonga Marshall Islands Tuvalu Micronesia Vanuatu Nauru 8 1 | About Taekwondo 9 About Taekwondo Defining Taekwondo Judo and taekwondo are both modern, unarmed martial arts, but while judo is based on grappling, taekwondo is based on striking. What differentiates Origins From Combat Sport to Olympic Sport taekwondo from its cousins, wushu and karate, is its Competitive Formats For some 2000 years, a range of martial arts were prac- emphasis on high kicking. For reasons that may be Taekwondo’s first appearance at the Summer Olym- ticed on the Korean peninsula. However, the martial linked to physiology - Koreans inhabit a mountainous pic Games was in Seoul, in 1988, as a demonstration Two competitive formats exist for taekwondo: Poom- arts that would form what we now call “taekwondo” peninsula, and have the cultural habit of sitting on the event. It appeared, again as a demonstration sport, sae, or solo patterns of taekwondo movements; and first appeared in Korea after the Japanese colonial floor, granting them legs that are both strong and flex- at the Barcelona Summer Games in 1992. There were kyorugi, or sparring. Only kyorugi is an Olympic event. period (1910-1945) ended. Following the Korean War ible– and/or may be linked to national character – the no demonstration sports at Atlanta in 1996, but tae- Kyorugi offers a plethora of national, regional and (1950-1953), a number of these martial arts styles and Korean spirit is emotive and passionate – taekwondo kwondo reappeared as a full medal sport at Sydney in global championships, from Cadets and Juniors to schools agreed to cooperate and use the name “tae- emphasizes spectacular leg moves. Today’s taekwondo 2000, then at Athens in 2004, at Beijing in 2008 and Opens and Worlds. An invitational Grand Prix series kwondo” (literally: “The way of fist and foot”) to de- provides its practitioners with a physical encyclopedia at London in 2012. Rio 2016 marks taekwondo’s fifth was instituted in 2013 to create a regular circuit for the scribe what they did in 1959. In 1965, the name tae- of high, spinning and jumping kicks that challenge the consecutive appearance on the Olympic program as a sport’s elite athletes, to incubate stars and to upgrade kwondo was officially adopted. boundaries of athletic endeavor. full medal sport. the sport’s media exposure. Going Global From Martial Art to Combat Sport A Global Sport A Global Organization While a small number of itinerant Korean masters trav- With the advent of protective gear, the martial art While the sport was customarily dominated by Kore- Today, the WTF has two headquarters: One in Seoul, elled the world teaching the martial art from the mid- morphed into a combat sport. Under the auspices ans, this is no longer the case: In London 2012, only Korea, and another in Lausanne, Switzerland. The cur- 1950s onwards, taekwondo went global during the of the Korea Taekwondo Association, the first world one gold medal went to Korea. Taekwondo is now a rent WTF president is Chungwon Choue (Korea) and Vietnam War, when it was taught to Korean and South championships were held in Seoul in 1973, with 161 truly global sport with one of the widest medal distri- the current WTF secretary general is Hoss Rafaty (USA). Vietnamese troops for physical conditioning and com- athletes from 16 nations competing. The World Tae- butions in the Olympic Games: In London, the eight Taekwondo is practiced in 206 countries and territories bat training. Many U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam kwondo Federation, or WTF, was founded in Seoul in gold medals on offer went to eight different nations. worldwide, administered by five Continental Unions and Korea also learned taekwondo, then taught it 1973 as the international governing body, replacing an As it requires no real equipment other than the hu- (Africa, Asia, Europe, Pan America and Oceania). when they returned to the U.S., joining a growing earlier body, the International Taekwondo Federation. man body, it is an economical and democratic sport, number of Korean masters. In the 1970s, taekwondo Under the auspices of the WTF, taekwondo evolved in offering developing nations some of their best oppor- received a huge boost from the world-wide martial all aspects, from its competitive systems to its techni- tunities for Olympic success. An estimated 70 million arts movie boom. cal repertoire. It also saw a massive expansion in its people practice WTF taekwondo, making it one of the geographical reach, its number of practitioners and its world’s most popular participant sports. range of championships. 10 1 | About Taekwondo 11 About Taekwondo From Korean Martial Art to Global Combat Sport A Sport with A Sport for EVERYTHING Taekwondo is not just for the athletic elite. It provides a near-perfect exercise system, inculcating flexibility, agility, grace, power, speed and stamina.