Taekwondo

The Korean martial art of taekwondo is over 2,000 years old. "Tae" means jumping and kicking, "kwon" means striking and blocking with the hand, and "do" means "the way". The sport places more emphasis on kicks than it does on hand blows. Like other martial arts, it also emphasizes ethics, philosophy and tradition.

It became an official Olympic sport in 2000, where Canada brought home a bronze medal in the Women's event. It was a Pan American sport in 1987.

Matches take place on a mat of 12 metres square. The match consists of three rounds of two minutes each, during which combatants try to dominate one another by using kicks and punches. Blows must land on the target area in order to score. The target area for hand blows is the front of the body between the waist and the base of the neck (excluding the throat), and the area for foot techniques includes the head as well as the upper body. Combatants wear protective equipment on their forearms, shins, heads and upper bodies. The match is presided over by a referee and scored by a panel of four judges.

Foot and hand techniques must be executed with control in order to score. If a competitor loses balance after executing a blow, the blow will not count. Successful attacks executed to the head earn two points, whereas those executed to the body earn one point. If a combatant staggers or falls after receiving a legitimate attack, the referee will stop the match and perform an eight-second count (called a knockdown). A knockdown earns the attacker one bonus point. If one of the fighters is unable to continue after the eight-second count, his/her opponent is given the victory by "knockout."

Ties are decided by a sudden death round where the first point wins.

Athletes

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to leave a comment.

Sign Up or Login