wtf magazine 2013

SCORING BY YOUR OWN ABILITY AS IT IS!

All of your smile is beautiful after finishing the game. Win or lose doesn't matter anymore as you have fought through a long & arduous training. However KP&P will do the best to prevent any wrong deci-sion that might affect your training. And KP&P will cheer you up

You can get to know there are fairness & accuracyinside KP&P electronic protectors.

1st Generation 3rd Generation2nd Generation

Electronic body protector impact sensor should be made of seamless sur-face but dot or line. All protectors should express the same intensity value if it is selected any, please check impact sensor first in case you need ac-curate & fair body protector.

It is almost impossible to see every kicks as it happens 2~3 times per second. KPNP referee scoring box helps referees to determine by vibrat-ing when body or head kick is precise which will support referees to have more accurate calls.

Kick point & fist point can be divided & given by RFID tag & Antenna; fist point can be awarded separately. Case of fist, it is certified to point only where there’s a specific part of some impacts, automatic or semi-automatic (Vibra-tion) mode can be selected

The first generation of Electronic pro-tector released by A company’s impact sensor was attached on the protector as a dot that wasn’t accu-rate or uniform to detecting the striking impact. In addition some of kicks didn’t detected because there was no sensor to the whole body protector.

The gaps between the line to line make difficult for detecting the uni-formity of intensity value in case of using line types of impact detecting sensor & it may recognize improper kicks. It is likely to be unable to work properly, if the line is broken which leads to durability issue.leads to durability issue.

KP&P Electronic protector has surface type of impact sensor makes uniform intensity values no matter which parts is being hit. It has received affirmative feedback as it is faithful to the basics of Taekwondo; it distinguishes irregularity kicks, with good quality and easy to manage.manage.

※ KP&P Electronic protector internal sensor deployment diagram

FaceLineDot

Accurate impact sensor makes a right electronic body protector.

Vibration tells you where cannot be seen.

Proximity Antenna distinguishes kicks and fists.

INSIDE

President’s Message

Chungwon Choue

PresidentWorld Taekwondo Federation

onumental development and unprecedented pop-ularity have been enjoyed by the WTF and the tae-kwondo family over the past 40 years. Though the di-aspora of taekwondo started years before the WTF’s foundation, the formalization of the governing body

enabled the institutionalization of the taekwondo movement and laid down the infrastructure of what has evolved into one of the most popular sports in the world.

The legacies that have been forged by the forefathers of taekwondo, and new legacies that are currently being created, will last for years to come and inspire generations. Over the past nine years, technological revolutions have carried taekwondo into the 21st century and made it one of the fairest and most transparent sports in the world. These innovations led to the successful results of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

With its membership now standing at 204 member national associa-tions, the WTF is very proud of how far we have come. Not only have

we created a competition system that ensures our athletes fair results, but we have also ensured that each voice of our members is heard. With the implementation of brainstorming sessions, the hard work of each of our committees, and the diligence of the WTF Council and General Assembly, we have established values of good governance via an all-inclusive democratic process.

Each of our member nations has invested great time and effort into various development programs. It is through these tremendous initia-tives that we offer dreams to those who are in greatest need of hope. Stories in this issue like the ones on Uganda and Ukraine highlight the vision and purpose of both the taekwondo and Olympic movements. I urge all readers, who are in a position to help, to reach out to these nations and individuals.

The images of taekwondo champions throughout this magazine of-fer a jolt of energy to those of all ages who take up taekwondo and demonstrate that we are truly a “sport for all.” Dreams do not stop at the age of 16, they stay alive forever and no person shall be left

behind. Taekwondo and the WTF are open to any and all, regardless of affiliation, who wish to compete in WTF-sanctioned or -promoted events and who are willing to follow WTF rules and regulations.

During this time of innovation, new initiatives to display the dynamic nature of our sport are being implemented. Events such as the WTF Grand Prix Series will allow more opportunities for the top athletes around the world to compete head-to-head for coveted qualification places. More emphasis on sport presentations during championships will also allow for a more spectator-friendly experience and greater opportunities for promotion. These are just a few of the ideas that have emerged from the free flow of ideas from our members and will be a driving force toward the future.

More milestones are heading our way as we celebrate the 40th year of the WTF. There is no doubt that great things lie ahead for our organi-zation and our sport as we continue to stand together in our common cause. Inspiration lies in every corner for the world and it is taekwon-do that is leading the way to this destination.

‘The WTF Grand Prix Series will allow moreopportunities for the top athletes around

the world to compete head-to-headfor coveted qualification places’

49AFRICA

49EUROPE

43ASIA

19OCEANIA

44PAN

AMERICA

The WTF now boasts a global membership of 204, and is still expanding across the world

EUROPE (49)1. Albania 2.Andorra 3.Armenia 4.Austria 5.Azerbaijan 6.Belarus 7.Belgium 8.Bosnia & Herzegovina 9.Bulgaria 10.Croatia 11.Cyprus 12.Czech Republic 13.Denmark 14.Estonia 15.Finland 16.France 17.Georgia 18.Germany 19.Great Britain 20.Greece 21.Hungary 22.Iceland 23.Ireland 24.Isle of Man 25.Israel 26.Italy 27.Latvia 28.Lithuania 29.Luxembourg 30.Macedonia 31.Malta 32.Mol-dova 33.Monaco 34.Montenegro 35.The Netherlands 36.Norway 37.Poland 38.Portugal 39.Romania 40.Russia 41.San Marino 42.Serbia 43.Slovak Repub-lic 44.Slovenia 45.Spain 46.Sweden 47.Switzerland 48.Turkey 49.Ukraine

ASIA (43)1.Afghanistan 2.Bahrain 3.Bangladesh 4.Bhutan 5.Brunei 6.Cambodia 7.China 8.Chinese Taipei 9.Hong Kong 10.India 11.Indonesia 12.Iran 13.Iraq 14.Japan 15.Jordan 16.Kazakhstan 17.Korea 18.Kuwait 19.Kyrgyzstan 20.Laos 21.Leb-anon 22.Macao 23.Malaysia 24.Mongolia 25.Myanmar 26.Nepal 27.Oman 28.Pakistan 29.Palestine 30.Philippines 31.Qatar 32.Saudi Arabia 33.Singapore 34.Sri Lanka 35.Syria 36.Tajikistan 37.Thailand 38.Timor-Leste 39.Turkmenistan 40.United Arab Emirates 41.Uzbekistan 42.Vietnam 43.Yemen

AFRICA (49)1.Algeria 2.Angola 3.Benin 4.Botswana 5.Burkina Faso 6.Burundi 7.Cameroon 8.Cape Verde 9.Central African Republic 10.Comoros 11.Cote d’Ivoire 12.Con-go 13.D.R. of the Congo 14.Egypt 15.Equatorial Guinea 16.Ethiopia 17.Gabon 18.Gambia 19.Ghana 20.Guinea 21.Kenya 22.Lesotho 23.Liberia 24.Libya 25.Madagascar 26.Malawi 27.Mali 28.Mauritius 29.Morocco 30.Mozambique 31.Niger 32.Nigeria 33.Ruanda 34.Sao Tome & Principe 35.Senegal 36.Sey-chelles 37.Sierra Leone 38.Somalia 39.South Africa 40.Sudan 41.South Sudan 42.Swaziland 43.Chad 44.Tanzania 45.Togo 46.Tunisia 47.Uganda 48.Zimba-bwe 49.Zambia

PAN AMERICA (44)1.Antigua & Barbuda 2.Argentina 3.Aruba 4.Bahamas 5.Barbados 6.Belize 7.Bermuda 8.Bolivia 9.Brazil 10.British Virgin Islands 11.Canada 12.Cayman Islands 13.Chile 14.Colombia 15.Costa Rica 16.Dominican Republic 17.Cuba 18.Dominica 19.Ecuador 20.El Salvador 21.Grenada 22.Guadeloupe 23.Gua-temala 24.Guyana 25.Haiti 26.Honduras 27.Jamaica 28.Martinique 29.Mex-ico 30.Netherlands Antilles 31.Nicaragua 32.Panama 33.Paraguay 34.Peru 35.Puerto Rico 36.St. Lucia 37.St. Kitts & Nevis 38.Surinam 39.St. Vincent & the Grenadines 40.Trinidad and Tobago 41.Uruguay 42.U.S.A. 43.Virgin Islands 44.Venezuela

OCEANIA (19)1.American Samoa 2.Australia 3.Cook Islands 4.Fiji 5.French Polynesia 6.Guam 7.Kiribati 8.Marshall Islands 9.Micronesia 10.Tuvalu 11.New Caledonia 12.New Zealand 13.Palau 14.Papua New Guinea 15.Samoa 16.Solomon Islands 17.Ton-ga 18.Tuvalu 19.Vanuatu

London 2012: Taekwondo Comes of Age

Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012

London Stars

LEGACIES

OLYMPIC REVIEW

AROUND THE WTF

INNOVATION

President’s Message

204... and Counting

12

16

20

22

24

28

Charting Taekwondo's Changes: Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF

40 Years of History: 1973-2013

History of the World Taekwondo Championships

Viva Puebla! 'City of Angels' Gears up for 2013 Worlds

40 Years: Congratulatory Messages

ATU Activities

AFTU Activities

ETU Activities

134

136

138

144

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158

PATU Activities

OTU Activities

140

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Iraqi Taekwondo: Troubled Past, Bright Future

Uzbekistan Takes to Taekwondo

Northern Exposure: Canadian Taekwondo

Island of Innovations: The Singapore Story

Facing the Challenge: Taekwondo in Uganda

Somalia Celebrates 1st Taekwondo Medal

Bulgarian Taekwondo Raises its Game

Innovative Philippine League Enjoys Successful Run

Addicted to Taekwondo, Not to Drugs

Finland’s Training Center Aims High

Small Country, Great Ambitions: Uruguay Taekwondo

Italian Passion

Sky-High Demonstration Takes Taekwondo into Stratosphere

World Taekwondo Peace Corps: Hope and Dreams to Youth of World

Bare Feet, Kind Heart

Vika’s Story: A Coach Appeals

World Taekwondo Federation Nominated for Peace and Sport Award

4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp

Participants’ Reflections: WTF-Kyung Hee Course

Lebanese Leaders Granted Olympic Positions

Royalty Visits WTF

Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader

Singapore Taekwondo Chief Joins NOC

African Honor for WTF Head

Around the Continental Unions

Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: WTF World Grand Prix Series

Armor: No Longer Just for Protection

Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training

Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs up

Setting a New Standard

Member National Associations

100

110

116

117

120

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124

130

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134

84

86

88

92

94

144

CHAMPIONSHIPS9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships

3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships

162

164

166

170

174

Results

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42

52

58

China’s Double Gold Medalist Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream

She’s Not Jaded

Afghan Hero Wins Bronze

52

56

57

Competition Day 1 - Competition Day 4

Medals Table : 63 Qualified NOCs 2012

Medals Table :Taekwondo Medalists 2012

Olympic Medalists 2012

Global Media Talk Taekwondo

Photo Gallery Day 1 - Day 4

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66

67

68

72

74 WTF Events Calendar

PART 1

Stronger than Ever!

12

16

20

Charting Taekwondo’s Changes: Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF

40 Years of History: 1973-2013

The History of the WTF: Olympic Legacy Stories

22

24

28 40 Years: Congratulatory Messages

History of the World Taekwondo Championships

Viva Puebla! ‘City of Angels’ Gears up for 2013 Worlds

Part 1 Legacies > Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

Legacies

TAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF12 13

Legacies

Charting Taekwondo’s Changes:

How, where, when and why did you get into taekwondo?Even though my main martial art was judo in the 1950s, I was also interested in other sports and competed in ssireum (Korean traditional wres-tling), football, and track and field. I trained in taekwondo and kendo in high school. Unlike many who studied martial arts for self defense in the post-Korean War era, sports competition was my main focus. I was able to win in both ssireum and judo in middle and high school, winning numerous sacks of rice through ssireum competition! I also competed successfully in track and field at the annual Korean National Sports Fes-tivals. I grew serious about taekwondo in the military and earned my 3rd degree black belt before I left Korea in 1963. I started my taekwondo teaching career the second day I arrived in the United States! I faithfully followed the technical guidelines and rank promotion of the Kukkiwon and disregarded kwan (the old taekwondo school) affiliations. I still firmly believe that the unified technical leadership of the Kukkiwon, with the support and collaboration of the WTF, is necessary for taekwondo’s successful globalization.

What made you relocate to the United States?After the Korean War, I taught martial arts at an American military base in Bupyeong, Korea. I learned a great deal about America and its ad-vanced higher educational system. I had a strong desire to study and pursue sports and physical education in the United States. I was very fortunate to have financial support from a former student and admittance to a university with a partial scholarship. This enabled me to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia.

How has the profile of taekwondo changed in the United States since you moved there?Most early Korean instructors promoted their studio, or dojang, as “Korean karate” until taekwondo was recognized and unified by the Amateur Athletic Union, or AAU, in 1974 and the United States Olympic Comittee, or USOC, in 1978. American media was unable to pronounce or spell “taekwondo” properly and still some refer to it as “tai kwon do.” Today, there are thousands of taekwondo masters operating private studios and organizations and these leaders have been involved in the globalization of taekwondo. After the 1988 Seoul Olympics, many instructors of other styles of martial arts (karate, kung fu, etc.) changed their studio names to “taekwondo.” Every given weekend in the USA, there are over 100 different tournaments with more than 1,000 participants, and taekwondo-related technical clinics and symposiums.

Prof. Ken Min, one of the first-generation taekwondo coaches to relocate from Korea to the Unit-ed States, was on the ground floor as the sport took off globally. In this exclusive interview, he shares thoughts, memories and recommendations

Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

Coming to America

How did you get taekwondo accepted as part of the curriculum at Berkeley?I arrived at the University of California at Berkeley after teaching two years in the Montana university system. Judo had been rooted in the university since the 1930s but there were no other martial arts taught. I implemented taekwondo classes as credit courses with the experience I had accumulated at the University of Georgia as a graduate student, and at the University of Montana and Eastern Montana University as fac-ulty. The courses were highly successful and eventually taekwondo became the most popular martial art taught at the University of California among judo, karate, wushu and taijiquan. In fact, I developed the University of California Martial Arts Program (UCMAP) in 1969, now recognized internationally as one of the most innovative and successful programs in a university setting, as an extracurricular activity to develop a scientific understanding of the physical and spiritual implications of human performance.

What have been your own best and worst moments in taekwondo?I have had setbacks but always followed the Asian philosophy of soosungyeosee (“follow the characteristics of water”). Water flows to lower ground despite obstacles, eventually reaching the ocean. My best moment was the recognition of taekwondo as a United States amateur sports governing body of the AAU in 1974. This was the second body after Korea’s Amateur Sports Association to recognize taekwondo as an official national sport. The other accomplishment was a Korean government one million dollar endowment for taekwondo and other martial arts in honor of Dr. Ken Min, resulting in a permanent commitment to taekwondo instruction at the University of California, Berkeley. And as a tenured faculty member in Physical Education at Berkeley, I envisioned early taekwondo as a compulsory sport of the Summer Universiade. It was approved from the 2017 Summer Universiade, with the strong support of the WTF leadership, after 12 World University Taekwondo Cham-pionships and five Summer Universiades as an adopted sport.

Part 1 Legacies > Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

Legacies


Legacies

Going Global

What have been the key developments in taekwondo globally since 1973?Taekwondo was internationalized after the Korean and Vietnam wars by U.S. Armed Forces personnel. Another factor that contributed to the success of taekwondo, in my opinion, was the “economic miracle” developed in Korea in the 1960s and ‘70s. Other factors were the exceptional success of the 1988 Olympic Games and the thousands of taekwondo masters who ventured overseas to teach and promote Korean martial arts. Taekwondo was one of the biggest exports from Korea to the world.

Who have been the key persons driving these developments?The leadership of WTF founding President Un-yong Kim was key: He not only successfully unified the kwans in Korea, he tirelessly pursued Olympic recognition during his tenure. Since 2004, the WTF leadership has continued with great success under President Chungwon Choue. With innovation and transparency, Dr. Choue’s efforts made taekwondo a core sport for the 2020 Olympics.

What have been the biggest challenges faced in making taekwondo an international sport?The biggest challenges have been to overcome cultural and language barriers as well as economic imbalances throughout the world - especial-ly narrow-minded interpretations of “sports” and “martial arts.”

How well does taekwondo get with the Olympics?In my opinion, the ideals, philosophy and values of taekwondo are synonymous with Olympism, the Olympic ideals and Olympic philosophy. The purpose, objective and mission of both are a challenge to elevate humankind now and in the future.

Define “martial art” and “sport.” What have been the most significant changes from martial art to sport?Sport is a Western concept of human development of body, mind and spirit by training under coaches. It is based on competition under rules and regulations, developing a democratic citizenship. Martial art was developed to discover oneself through body, mind and spirit by training under masters to harmoniously exist. However Western and Asian philosophies are learning from each other on a daily basis and the world is becoming one.

Moving Forward

Do we have the perfect rule-set yet?I strongly believe that the current competition rules and regulations of taekwondo should be re-evaluated, keeping in mind several factors: ath-lete safety, becoming TV-media friendly (such as including poomsae and breaking as a preliminary requirement for kyorugi competition), and developing an ideal route for Olympians and world champions to be exposed through media. Taekwondo athletes should understand entertain-ment in addition to competition.

Do you think the gear we have now needs further tweaks?There is always room for improvement, such as equipment which is safer, lighter, more dependable, more visible and more flexible - including the dobok. This should be looked at in three dimensions: the athletes’ safety, media acceptance, and the spectators’ viewpoints.

Taekwondo is a participant sport rather than a spectator sport compared to boxing, mixed martial arts, football, basketball, etc - highly popular televised events, much sought after by advertisers. Should taekwondo seek to make itself a spectator sport?The aesthetic performance of combative techniques will appeal to media and spectators. Taekwondo has unlimited potential if guided through flexible and creative rules and regulations based on speed, agility and the ingenuity of coaches and masters. Individual athletes who deliver creative technical performances will attract the media and spectators. We can help encourage this with rule changes. For example, jump kick with two feet simultaneously to the body would be five points; a back spin jump kick to a soft object attached to the opponent’s headgear would be seven points, and so on.

The WTF has a 40-year history of taking taekwondo global and it now has a secure berth in the Olympics. Is it “job done?”In my opinion, no other martial art/sport has been able to globalize as successfully as taekwondo in only 40 years, through the leadership of the WTF. But even though you are on the right track, if you don’t move forward faster than competing sports, you will lose the advantage. I would recommend that the taekwondo movement integrate scientific, technological, economic, socio-cultural and political developments. It should continue to develop and enhance knowledge and techniques through scientific, up-to-date development of physical, mental and spiritual attributes.

Part 1 Legacies > From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF

Legacies


Legacies

From Korea to the World:

40 Years of the WTFSince the WTF took over its administration, taekwondo has exploded onto the global sports scene. In an article translated by Prof. Russell Ahn, of the University of California at Berkeley, the late Prof. Kyong-myong Lee takes a look back at the WTF’s first four decades

Introduction 2013, the Year of the Snake, is shaping up to be a good one for taekwondo. On February 12, the IOC Executive Board included taekwondo as one of the 25 core sports for the Olympic Games in 2020. With this seal of approval, 40 years of efforts to globalize taekwondo have been justified. Today, the World Taekwondo Federation has 204 member nations and an estimated 80 million practitioners. Having grown 12-fold in 40 years, the WTF is now the world’s seventh largest international sport federation.

It has been a long road. The general meeting for the WTF’s establishment was held in 1973, with 35 representatives from 17 countries. Taekwon-do’s acceptance by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States in 1974 was another catalyst necessary for taekwondo’s globalization, as was its joining of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF; since renamed “SportAccord”) at the 1975 GAISF General Assembly in Montreal.

The late Prof. Kyong-myong Lee

The WTF’s globalization started with the establishment of four con-tinental unions and the hosting of their championships. The Asian Taekwondo Championships were held in Seoul’s Kukkiwon in October 1974 before the Asian Taekwondo Union was founded and Un-yong Kim, president of both the WTF and Korean Taekwondo Association, or KTA, served as tournament chairman. Ninety-three officials and ath-letes participated from Australia, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Korea.

The European Taekwondo Union was founded in 1976 by 12 mem-ber nations in Barcelona, Spain. Spain, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, West Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom participated in the establishment meeting. In May, the Spain Taekwondo Association hosted the European Taekwondo Championships. Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, West Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Belgium com-

peted in the championships. The Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU) was founded in 1977

during the 3rd World Taekwondo Championships in Chicago. The in-augural meeting of the Pan American Taekwondo Union elected Don Marrow as president and Ken Min as secretary general. The 1st Pan American Taekwondo Championships were held in 1978, with 152 of-ficials and athletes from 10 countries.

In 1979, the African Taekwondo Union was founded in Abidjan, Ivory Coast with 11 representatives from Ivory Coast, Benin, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Morocco, Togo and Upper Volta (previously known as Burkina Faso). Ivory Coast organized the 1st African Taekwondo Championships. One hundred twenty officials and athletes participated from Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauri-tius, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast.

Establishment Period of World Taekwondo: 1973-1979

1973

1984

1990

1997

2000

2005

2013

World Taekwondo Fedration membership growth

Number of WTF member nations

17

108

140

153

160

189

204

Year

Developmental Stage: 1980-1993In 1980, the WTF became the official International Federation (IF) for taekwondo during the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow. In 1984, taekwon-do was adopted as an official event of the 1986 Asian Games at the Olympic Council of Asia meeting. The 6th Asian Taekwondo Champi-onships were held in Manila, Philippines in 1984 with 300 officials and athletes from 21 countries attending. That year, WTF-affiliated mem-ber nations reached 108.

During the 90th IOC Executive Board meeting in Berlin in 1985, taekwondo was adopted as a demonstration event of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Moreover, WTF President Un-yong Kim was elected as an IOC member at the 91st IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1986, and was also elected as president of GAISF in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The Seoul 1988 Olympics taekwondo demonstration competition was hosted at Jangchung Gymnasium: It was taekwondo’s first step onto the Olympic stage. Some 120 male athletes from 34 countries and 63 female athletes from 16 countries participated, as well as 58 officials.

Soon after the Games finished, Hungary, Vietnam, Syria, Myan-mar, Bangladesh, Congo, Palestine, Bahamas, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea requested membership in the WTF. It was assumed that this was because the 1988 Seoul Olympic taekwondo event was a suc-cess, and they predicted that taekwondo would be an official event of the Olympics in due course. In 1989, taekwondo was approved as an Olympic demonstration event for the second time at the 1992 Barce-lona Olympics. In Barcelona, 64 male competitors from 26 countries and 64 female competitors from 25 countries participated.

The Take-off Stage: 1994-2000In 1994, the WTF formed a task force to promote taekwondo as an official sport of the Olympics; 49 committee members were nomi-nated. Their efforts bore fruit and on September 4, at the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, taekwondo became an official sport of the 2000 Syd-ney Olympics, unanimously gaining all 85 votes. In 1999, an electronic scoring system for taekwondo events, similar to that in fencing, was reviewed. The WTF, the Kukkiwon and the KTA adopted scoring meth-ods using an “electronic sensor scoring system” to eliminate all dis-putes over referee judgments.

Taekwondo’s Official Debut: The 2000 Sydney Olympics The Sydney Olympics’ taekwondo event was held in Sydney’s Olympic Park State Sports Center with 103 participating athletes - 55 males and 48 females - from 51 countries. The taekwondo events had four weight categories for each gender. Each participating country was allowed to send a maximum of two male and two female competitors per weight category; the host country was given an exception. The competition rounds were three minutes per round, with a total of three rounds. If there was a tie at the end of the third round, a sudden death round was added. The sudden-death round declared the winner based on which competitor scored the first point. Repechage rounds were also adapted so that competitors who lost in the quarterfinals would get the opportunity to compete for a bronze medal. Therefore, only one gold, one silver and one bronze medal was awarded per weight category.

Part 1 Legacies > From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF

Legacies


Legacies

New Directions: 2006-2009 The 1st WTF World Poomsae Taekwondo Championships were held in 2006, in Seoul. Koreans were the winners in all divisions, but otherwise, the championships were deemed satisfactory. The WTF hosted the 1st World Junior Taekwondo Champion-ships in Barcelona, Spain, in 1996. There were 273 male and 183 female athletes and 33 referees from 53 countries at the championships. In 2008, the WTF adopted the World Athlete Ranking System to make events more exciting, more accessible to the media, to increase marketing potential and to set the foundation for a professional league. Also in 2008, the Taekwondo Peace Corps was founded. Via this, taekwondo practitioners could undertake voluntary service around the world, sponsored by the WTF. And in 2009, the 1st WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships were held in Baku, Azerbaija, with 38 athletes and 18 officials from 18 countries participating.

New Hand at the Helm: 2004 -2013 Following the resignation of Un-yong Kim, after a series of scandals, Dr. Chungwon Choue was elected as WTF president in 2004, during a gen-eral assembly meeting in Incheon, Korea, to serve Kim’s remaining term. Choue was reelected on April 12, 2005 at the general assembly during the World Taekwondo Championships in Madrid, Spain where he was given a four-year term.

Taekwondo at the Source: Athens 2004In 2004, the Athens Olympics’ taekwondo events were held with 64 males and 60 female athletes and 24 international referees. Sixty countries par-ticipated in the Olympics and the regional preliminary events. Taiwan, China, Korea, Iran, the U.S.A., Cuba, Greece, Mexico, Turkey, France, Thailand, Egypt and Venezuela won medals. The medal distribution covered 18 countries in 2000, 13 countries in 2004 and increased to 22 countries in 2008.

The Drive for Reform, and Beijing 2008Choue worked to reform the organization so that taekwon-do could continue to develop as a controvery-free Olympic sport. His goal was to make taekwondo more fun and dy-namic, and to increase fairness in referee judgment. He also hoped to improve the reputation of the WTF and taekwon-do. The WTF Reform Committee report that was developed over two meetings was officially adopted on March 10, 2005 at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland with IOC President Jacques Rogge attending. The core tasks were to

ensure fairness, increase dynamism and make the sport more media friendly. Also in 2005, the IOC voted to include taekwondo in the official program of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Of the 116 IOC members that participated in the vote, which was conducted both electronically and anonymously, taekwondo won majority approval. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the IOC’s executive board decided to add two more male and female athletes to the previous total of 124 athletes from the Beijing Olym-pics so there would be 128 taekwondo athletes. It also decided to increase the num-ber of bronze medals awarded per each weight category from one to two.

Electronic Body Protectors at 2009 World ChampionshipsThe 2009 19th Men’s and the 12th Women’s World Taekwondo Cham-pionships in Copenhagen, Denmark featured over 1,000 athletes and officials from 143 countries. For the first time, electronic body protec-tors with in-built electronic sensors were used to measure impact and obviate human error in refereeing and judging. The 2011 WTF World Taekwondo Championships were even bigger, featuring 1,750 athletes from 149 countries.

Taekwondo’s Golden Age: 2010-2012In 2010, the 1st Youth Olympic Games sanctioned by the IOC were held in Singapore. Taekwondo was an official event with five weight categories in both male and female divisions. Two years later, it was taekwondo’s big moment. For the 2012 London Olympics, the WTF had made dramatic changes. Protector and Scoring Systems and Instant Video Replays were both implemented. Some 6,000 people watched the bouts in the sold-out ExCel arena, as a differentiated points scoring system made bouts unpredictable and a reduced mat size made matches more exciting. In addition, the WTF Demonstra-tion Team performed four times every day. Finally, London Olympic taekwondo distributed eight gold medals to eight countries, laying to rest concerns that it was a Korea-dominated sport.

Taekwondo had come of age. On February 12, 2013, the IOC Executive Board decid-

ed on 25 core sports of the 2020 Olympic Games. Taekwondo remains

Part 1 Legacies > 40 Year History TimelineTAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF20 21

1973 May 28

The WTF was established.

1980 July 17

The WTF was recognized by the IOC at the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow, Russia.

1995 Feb. 15

The WTF was a�liated to the ASOIF(Association of Summer Olympic International Federations).

2000 Sept. 27-30

Taekwondo participated as an o�cial sport at the 27th Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

2005 Mar. 10

An extraordinary WTF Executive Council Meeting held in Lausanne, Switzerland approved the reform recommendations from the WTF Reform Committee.

2012 Nov. 21

Creation of WTF World Cadet Championships for athletes aged 12-14 and the WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series was approved at the WTF Council meeting held in Santa Cruz, Aruba.

2013 Feb. 12

The IOC Executive Board, at its meeting in Lausanne, selected 25 core sports for the 2020 Olympic Games, including taekwondo.

2009 June 10

The �rst WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships were held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

2009 June 10-14

Electronic body protectors and an instant video replay system were used for the �rst time.

2012 Aug. 8-11

The taekwondo competition of the 30th Summer Olympic Games took place in London, UK.

2005 April 12

Dr. Chungwon Choue was reelected at the WTF General Assembly.

2005 July 20

An extraordinary WTF Executive Council recognized Oceania Taekwondo Union as the 5th Continental Union of the WTF.

2006 Sept. 4

The WTF celebrated Taekwondo Day on the occasion of the 1st WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships.

2004 Aug. 26-29

Taekwondo participated in the 28th Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

1994 Sept. 4

Taekwondo was adopted as an o�cial sport of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games at the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, France.

1988 Sept. 17-20

Taekwondo participated as a demonstration sport at the 24th Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

1992 Aug. 3-5

Taekwondo participated as a demonstration sport at the 25th Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

1973 May 25-27

The 1st World Taekwondo Championships were held in Seoul, Korea. 1975 Oct. 8

The WTF was a�liated to the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations).

2004 June 11

Dr. Chungwon Choue was elected as new president of the WTF.

2008 Aug. 20-23

The taekwondo competition of the 29th Olympic Games was held in Beijing, China.

Charting Taekwondo’s Globalization

Part 1 Legacies > History of the World Taekwondo ChampionshipsTAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF22 23

Chicago, U.S.A.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

New York, U.S.A.

Edmonton, Canada

Puebla, Mexico

Stuttgart, Germany

Copenhagen, DenmarkBarcelona, Spain

Madrid, Spain

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GermanySeoul, Korea

Manila, Philippines

Hong Kong, China

Jeju City, Korea

Beijing, China

Gyeongju, Korea

975

13th (6th Women’s)WTF World Championships

Hong Kong, ChinaNov. 19-23, 1997


Copenhagen, DenmarkOct. 14-18, 200916th (9th Women’s)

WTF World Championships

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GermanySept. 24-28, 2003

2ndWTF World Championships

Seoul, KoreaAug. 28-31, 1975

4thWTF World Championships

Stuttgart, GermanyOct. 25-28, 1979


Seoul, KoreaSept. 4-8, 1985

10th (3rd Women’s)WTF World Championships

Athens, GreeceOct. 29-Nov. 3, 1991

1stWTF World Championships

Seoul, KoreaMay 25-27, 1973

3rdWTF World Championships

Chicago, U.S.A.Sept. 15-17, 1977


Guayaquil, EcuadorFeb. 24-27, 1982


Copenhagen, DenmarkOct. 20-23, 1983

8th (1st Women’s)WTF World Championships

Barcelona, SpainOct. 7-11, 1987

9th (2nd Women’s)WTF World Championships

Seoul, KoreaOct. 9-14, 1989


Edmonton, CanadaJune 2-6, 1999


New York, U.S.A.Aug. 19-21, 1993


Manila, PhilippinesNov. 17-21, 1995


Jeju City, KoreaNov. 1-7, 2001


Beijing, ChinaMay 18-22, 2007


Madrid, SpainApril 13-17, 2005


Gyeongju, KoreaMay 1-6, 2011


Puebla, MexicoJuly 15-21, 2013

History of the

World Taekwondo Championships

Part 1 Legacies > Milestones > Viva Puebla!

Legacies


Legacies

Dream will soon become reality for Puebla as the city in central Mexico vows to host the latest - and finest - World Taekwondo Championships in the sport’s history

The American continent has not hosted World Taekwondo Championships since 1999, and Mexico has never had this honor. All that changes this summer when, from July 15-21, the world’s super-kickers will converge on Puebla, Mexico, one of the most im-portant exhibition and business centers in Latin America.

Over those seven days, Puebla is expected to welcome 1,500 athletes and more than 2,000 participants, including coaches, managers and judges, as well an estimated 18,000 spectators per day.

The city was chosen to hold the WTF World Taekwondo Championships 2013 thanks to the efforts made by the municipal, state and federal governments since April 2, 2012. Then, in the city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, a meeting of the WTF Council, comprising 33 members from five continents, voted Puebla as the host.

One of the main drivers of the project has been Ximena Mata Zenteno, Director of the Municipal Institute of Sport in Puebla, and a top athlete herself. “Having the city of Puebla chosen to be the meeting place and venue of taekwondo participants from about 150 countries around the world, was no simple matter,” she said. “Howev-er, the effort was worth it and we are proud that the WTF trusted Puebla to receive this important event and see the dreams of athletes in our city, Puebla and our country, Mexico, crystallized.”

Part 1 Legacies > Viva Puebla!

Legacies


Legacies

Welcome to PueblaLocated in the geographic center of Mexico, Puebla – “The City of Angels” - boasts almost 500 years of history and is recognized by UNESCO as part of world heritage. Its gastronomic traditions are recognized internationally, and the weather is comfortable all year long.

Moreover, it is a modern, industrial city, ranked as the fourth largest in Mexico, offering first-class infrastructure, transportation, security, ac-commodation and health facilities. The city also has a wonderful tradition of hospitality and this will hopefully result in the 2013 World Taekwondo Championships being the best ever.

Puebla’s Exhibition Center is the largest in Latin America. With an ex-hibition area of 40,000 sq. meters and a full capacity of 53,000 people, it is ready to host this magnificent competition. Accommodation options range from economic pensions through stylish boutiques to five-star deluxe ho-tels. All are close to the venue. Both public and private health services are top quality.

Puebla has an international airport, and will be offering local transpor-tation between the airport, hotels and venue, as well as transportation from Mexico City’s international airport to Puebla.

And Puebla City is considered one of the safest in the country. According to newspaper The San Francisco Chronicle, Puebla City is ranked the 4th safest place for tourists in Mexico. The authoritative travel guide, Lonely Planet, found Puebla the top of its survey “Best in Travel Readers’ Choice 2012,” and in Janu-ary 2012, The New York Times listed Puebla as one of the “Best Places to Go.”

Taekwondo - Mexican StyleTaekwondo is a modern tradition across Mexico. The father of taekwon-do in Mexico is Master Dai-won Moon, who learned taekwondo in his native Korea before emigrating to the United States for reasons of study. There he took part in the most important tournaments, always gaining good results for himself and his students. When invited to teach in Mex-ico, he accepted and arrived in 1969.

Korean by birth but Mexican by heart, Master Moon became the main reference for this discipline in Mexico and one of the main authors of the recognition enjoyed by Mexico in the international arena.

Taekwondo is today the second most popular sport in Mexico after football. Mexico has had 27 finalists and three world champions: Oscar Mendiola in Stuttgart, Germany (1979), Edna Diaz in Madrid, Spain (2005) and Maria de Rosario Espinoza in Beijing, China (2007). In the World Ju-nior Taekwondo Championships, Mexican gold medalists include Luis Osuna, Idulio Islands, Roman Cesar Ruiz and Carlos Navarro.

It was great news for Mexican sports as a whole when taekwondo was included in the Olympics. It first appeared as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where Mexico won three bronze medals. Four years later in Barcelona, taekwondo was again a demonstration sport, and Mexico won three more medals: one gold and two bronzes. In Sydney in 2000, taekwondo became a formal part of the program and since then, Mexico has won at least one medal in every Olympiad.

Victor Estrada won a bronze in Sydney; four years later the brothers Oscar and Iridia Salazar won silver and bronze in Athens. Beijing 2008 was the best ever: Maria del Rosario Espinoza and Guillermo Perez took the first golds for Mexico and more recently in the London Olympics 2012, Maria del Rosario Espinosa repeated her winning ways with a bronze. This makes Mexico the fifth taekwondo power at the Olympic level, behind Korea, China, the United States and Chinese Taipei.

Those Who Made it Possible…Today, thanks to the vision and work of Juan Manuel Lopez Del-gado, the Mexican Taekwondo Federation has become the best sports organization in the nation. In terms of technicalities, poli-cy and administration it has become an example to be followed by more than 80 federations of Sport Aztec.

Alejandro Benitez Trujillo, President of the Association of Taekwondo of Puebla, is hoping that hometown taekwondo athletes Damian and Gustavo Villa Valadez will make the team. Holding the world championships in Puebla means a great achievement on the part of local authorities, led by Mayor Eduar-do Rivera Perez and State Governor Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, as well as Ximena Mata, director general of the Municipal Institute of Sport and Jose Manuel Youshimatz Sotomayor, director of the Institute of Physical Culture in Puebla and Sport. All worked hard to bring the championships to their city.

In addition, Jose Manuel Lopez Delgado, president of the Mexican Federation of Taekwondo, and Dai-won Moon, founder of the discipline in the country, José Manuel Youshimatz Soto-mayor, director of sports in the State and the Governor of Puebla Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, hope that these championships will mark a renewed starting point for the emergence of the sport worldwide.

Finally, hundreds of other people whose names we cannot add here worked to bring the world’s finest taekwondo athletes to Puebla. To them, the global taekwondo family owes a vote of thanks.

Now, let the countdown to the 2013 World Championships in Puebla, Mexico, begin…

PART 2

Taekwondo Delivers ‘Gold Standard’ Competition at London Olympic Games

London 2012: Taekwondo Comes of Age

Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012

London Stars

Results

China’s Double Gold Medalist Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream

She’s Not Jaded


Competition Day 1 - Competition Day 4

Medals Table : 63 Qualified NOCs 2012

Medals Table : Taekwondo Medalists 2012

Olympic Medalists 2012


Photo Gallery Day 1 - Day 4

53

56

57

58

66

67

68

72

74

34

42

53

58

Part 2 Olympic Review > London Firsts

Olympic Review


Seoul-based correspondent Andrew Salmon offers us a front-row seat at the ExCel London are-na - the venue for the taekwondo competition at the London Summer Olympic Games

TaekwondoComes of Age

Part 2 Olympic Review > London 2012 Taekwondo Comes of Age

Olympic Review


It has been a long journey from its f irst appearance at the Summer Games – as a demonstration sport in Seoul in 1988, then as an official sport in Sydney in 2000 – but in London 2012, Olympic taekwondo finally came of age.

From the taekwondo athletes proudly carrying their nations’ flags into the arena at the opening ceremony, through four days of action-packed bouts showcasing new rules and equipment, to heroic welcomes of vic-torious competitors as they returned to their home countries, London 2012 proved to be the best Olympics yet for taekwondo, and a golden moment for this young, but hugely popular sport.

“ The World Taek wondo Federation could wish for no better way of promoting its sport for generations to come,” said Inter-

national Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge in a congratulatory message after the Games. “Taekwondo has shown that it is a sport which can, and does, contribute to the values and ideals of Olympism, pursuing excellence, ensuring fair play and promoting friendship.”

World Taekwondo Federation head Chungwon Choue was ecstatic. “Things could not have gone better for taekwondo in London,” he said. “From medal distri-bution to technology to rules to safety, we were delighted how everything came to-gether.”

International media - surprised by the sport’s new look, new rules, new gear and new heroes at London’s ExCeL arena - were full of praise.

“Going into the London 2012 Olympics,

few people predicted that taekwondo would be one of the hits of the Games,” noted Inside the Games. “But to anyone who witnessed the competition at ExCeL, it was a stunning triumph where competitors from 21 countries shared the 32 medals on offer to finally end doubts that this was a sport whose roots had spread beyond its birth-place in Korea.”

In an article headlined “Taekwondo: Ko-rean Martial Art Finally Gets It Right,” news agency Reuters stated, “Taekwondo has done many things wrong since becoming an Olympic sport… but the Korean martial art got most things right at the London Games.”

And UK daily The Independent praised taekwondo as, “ one of the big hits of Lon-don 2012.”

Jacques RoggeIOC President

For 2012 Taekwondo Day

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the Olympic Movement, I would like to convey my best wishes on the occasion of 2012 Taekwondo Day.

This year, this event has a special significance for the world taekwondo family as it comes just a few weeks after the London 2012 Olympic Games, during which the taekwondo tournament was very successful. Many countries won their first medals in front of packed crowds at the ExCel arena. Through their performances, these athletes certainly inspired many young people to engage in physical activity and to strive for excellence through sport while respecting the rules.

I would like to congratulate the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and its President, Dr Chungwon Choue, as well as the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, Kukkiwon and the Korea Taekwondo Association for joining forces to undertake such an initiative.

The WTF could wish for no better way of promoting its sport for generations to come. Since its official debut on the Olympic stage in 2000 in Sydney, taekwondo has shown that it is a sport which can, and does, contribute to the values and ideals of Olympism, pursuing excellence, ensuring fair play and promoting friendship.

I wish you all an enjoyable celebration and a happy 2012 Taekwondo Day!

Message from the President of the International Olympic Committee


Olympic Review


Fans in London, or watching the events unfold on TV, did not have to wait for the actual taekwondo matches to begin to spot some of their heroes and heroines: The sport’s athletes were prominent even on opening night.

Taekwondo athletes were flag bear-ers for 11 national contingents as they marched into the arena following the spectacular opening ceremony master-minded by film wunderkind Danny Boyle: Afghanistan, Armenia, Cambodia, Central African Republic, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Moroc-co and Yemen.

As the evening wore on, the crowds hushed as a competitor from the host

nation stepped forward to read out the Olympic Oath on behalf of all Olympians.

Holding a corner of the Olympic flag, she intoned the sacred words: “In the name of the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them…ensuring that the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play is fully adhered to and upheld in accord-ance with the fundamental principles of Olympism.”

It was both a proud and poignant mo-ment for the reader, who had lost both her parents the year before: 29-year-old British taekwondo athlete Sarah Stevenson.

Kicking Off

Bringing High Tech to Fair Play

As the four days of competition got underway in London, taekwondo got the chance to show the Olympic audience the tweaks it has made to equipment and rules since Beijing 2008.

Has the sport finally got it right? Pundits who attended the taekwondo competition seemed to think so.

“The next generation of taekwondo ar-rived at the London Games,” Associated Press wrote. “The ancient Korean martial art

reinvented itself for the Olympics with electronic scoring and rule changes that

favor quick action and a light touch rather than the devastating power and knockouts that used to characterize the combat sport.”

The Protector and Scoring System, or PSS – in which sensors are built into all compet-itors’ foot pads and body armor to measure impact - meant scores were collated electroni-cally, obviating human error.

Moreover, instant video replays were avail-able for close or controversial decisions.

“The response to the changes from the fighters and the 6,000 or so spectators pack-ing into the ExCeL arena for every session of the four-day competition was overwhelm-ingly positive,” noted Reuters, which quoted Chinese competitor Wu Jingyu as saying, “The introduction of PSS makes sure the games are fairer…also with the new rules, I have more confidence to use the high-skilled kicks.”

Olympic Review


The new rules – favoring faster, higher and snappier kicks, rather than the power strikes of the past - appear to have bred a new gen-eration of champs.

“It ’s the changing of the guard,” US Olympic coach Juan Moreno, a former silver medalist himself, told Associated Press. “It’s harder for the older fighters because they’ve worked their whole life to fight in a different style and breaking that habit is hard.”

Favored players such as USA’s Steven Lopez, Iran’s Yousef Kurami and GB’s Sarah Stevenson all suffered surprise eliminations.

Stevenson, recovering from the personal tragedy mentioned above, displayed consid-erable character when reacting to her loss. “This is the Olympics,” Stevenson told media. “It’s not life or death, it’s meant to be fun.”

Among the new breed in London, GB’s gold medalist Jade Jones (women’s -57 kg category) and Colombia’s bronze medalist Oscar Munoz Oviedo (men’s - 58 kg catego-ry) had both been medalists in the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore.

There was no doubt that the new rules,

which especially promote the use of high-lev-el kicks, taekwondo’s specialty, made for an exciting spectacle. “Rule changes spiced up fights, making it easier to earn points for head kicks while referees were also given the power to penalize overly defensive fighters,” Reuters reported.

“We want the fights in taekwondo to be more dynamic and fast-paced so it’s exciting to watch,” said Jean-Marie Ayer, the WTF’s secretary general.

However, the rule changes were not just about wooing spectators.

One of the reasons behind them was to promote safe scoring. In the past, “trem-bling shock” - or a no-nonsense knockdown or knockout - had to be delivered. Now, competitors only have to lightly contact the head with the foot to score.

A medical study commissioned by the WTF after the 2012 London Olympics, found that the injury rate in the sport is just 0.31 percent. For maximum credibility, the report cited independent data from French health insurance provider Mutuelle des Sportifs.

The report found that there has been a consistent drop in taekwondo injuries over the last four years – as the rules came into effect – with zero knockouts, zero serious in-juries and zero fights forfeited due to injury sustained during the competitions.

“We are delighted with the findings of this study,” said WTF Secretary General Ayer. “Overall, it proves that taekwondo is a safe sport that is getting safer by the year.”

Noting that knockouts are “not even in our competition vocabulary any more,” Ayer continued: “It is particularly pleasing to see that our rule changes have had the positive impact on athletes’ welfare that we are look-ing for now that points can be scored with just a light touch to the head, accuracy and speed are more important than impact.”

Taekwondo has customarily been clas-sified as “mild risk” by health insurers. The sport’s administrators and competitors now have grounds for hoping that its risk classifi-cation will be further downgraded.

New Competitors and a Safer Sport


Of course, safety does not mean that taekwondo is not a highly challenging athletic activity. A sport that demands speed, strength, flexibility, agility and courage, taekwondo is taught at some of the world’s most prestigious sport and fitness facilities.

However, it does not require a luxury venue - nor does it require money, or, indeed any special clothing or equipment: All that is need-ed to take up taekwondo is a human mind and a human body.

For this reason, the sport grants developing countries that may lack the high-tech sporting facilities found in the developed world a fair chance at Olympic glory.

One of the Games’ most stirring stories was that of Afghan Ro-hullah Nikpah, who won a bronze, his nation’s only medal in London. Moreover, his feat doubled Afghanistan’s historic medal tally - for Nikpah had previously won a medal in Beijing. (See separate story on this Afghan hero elsewhere in this issue.)

Six countries won their very first taekwondo golds: Argentina, Great Britain, Italy, Serbia, Spain and Turkey. And for Argentina and Serbia, taekwondo provided their only golds of the London Olympic Games.

Perhaps the only sour grapes might have come from Korea, where, on past form, local media had anticipated a larger haul than the one gold and one silver the nation eventually managed. But the inability of the Koreans to dominate just goes to show how internationalized their native martial art has become. “The rules have changed so much,” Ko-rean medalist Kyung-seon Hwang told reporters. “There is no special advantage for doing traditional Korean taekwondo.”

Finally, the results of the taekwondo competition in 2012 bear out the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity program. Out of 128 taekwondo players who competed in London, 15 athletes were recipients of the scholar-ships.

Two - Servet Tazegul of Turkey (men’s –68kg category) and Carlo Molfetta of Italy (mens +80 kg category) - took home gold.

A Diverse Medal Distribution

Then there was Anthony Obame of the African nation of Gabon. He went out to Italy’s Carlo Molfetta in the final round of the men’s +80kg division, but by taking a silver, wrote the first page of his na-tion’s Olympic history.

It was a “terrific sensation,” he told reporters. “I think it’s a good start for us,” the 23-year-old continued. “For now, it’s just me, but I hope that other people from Gabon will win medals at other Olympic Games and have the same success.”

This facet of taekwondo – equally popular in the developed and developing worlds - was reflected in a remarkably widespread medal distribution.

“The taekwondo tournament was very successful,” said IOC head Rogge. “Many countries won their first medals in front of packed crowds at the ExCeL arena.”

Of the 63 nations which participated in taekwondo, 21 took home medals. The eight golds were taken by eight different countries, five of which were in Europe, two in Asia and one in the Americas. Indeed, the 16 medals (out of a total 32) won by European nations show how strong the continent has become in this Asia-originated sport.

In medal tally, the overall winner was Spain, with one gold and two silvers, followed by China with one gold, one silver and one bronze. Turkey and Korea shared third place with one gold and one silver each.

Olympic Review


Olympic Review


One of the most eye-catching and unique sights at the London 2012 Olympic Games were the “Sport Presentations”- demonstrations of taekwondo’s most spectacular techniques, carried out by the WTF Demonstration Team between the competition bouts.

In May 2010, the IOC and London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, or LOCOG, had accepted the WTF’s request for these demonstrations. which were performed four times every competi-tion day; one each before the three daily competitive sessions and one more before final matches.

Part 2 Olympic Review > London Firsts

Olympic Review


Part 2 Olympic Review > Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012

Olympic Review


While it was left to the actual competitors to demonstrate taekwondo’s fighting techniques, the WTF Demonstration Team displayed the sport’s other aspects - such as aerial kicking, board breaking and synchronized poomsae. With music and special lighting effects adding to the ambience, the demonstrations entertained spectators and caught the eye of the media during the competitive downtime.

It is safe to say that at London 2012, an enticing new aesthetic element was added to taekwondo’s Olympic competition.

Olympic Review


Part 2 Olympic Review > London Stars > Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream

Olympic Review


Chinese super-kicker Wu Jingyu dreamed big. Now, she is kick-starting the dreams of youth from her own country and from around the world

China’s Double Gold Medalist

Wu JingyuChases the Dream

P ersistence is a dwindling quality among the young generation, but Wu Jingyu, double gold medal winner at the Beijing and London Olympics, credits her success on the competition mats

to this characteristic. “Everybody has dreams,” she said. “But few per-sist in pursuing them!”

Wu made her global debut at the 2007 Beijing World Taekwondo Championships, grabbing gold with a combination of exclusive tech-nique and dynamic power that few could imitate. That win propelled her to the forefront of international taekwondo and led to predictions of Olympic medals. She fulfilled those expectations in the same city the following year: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Wu admits to harboring dreams – but is also prepared to fight to

achieve them. Her 13 years of taekwondo training defines her per-sistence. Now, she dreams of competing in three Olympiads in a row, like her senior, Chen Zhong - and more than that, to clinch three titles. As the first Olympic back-to-back champion, Chen was Wu’s bench-mark.

“We were fighting together in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, which was her 3rd successive Olympics,” Wu said. “I learnt a lot from her, I felt her power of never giving up, and that is the power that pushes me to pursue my dreams.”

Training is tough, but Wu, to coin a Chinese phrase, “eats bit-terness” with laughter. “It’s like practicing Buddhism: You have to stay calm, ignore all disturbances and taste the bitterness as sugar,”

Olympic Review

TAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF54 55Part 1 Legacies > Wu Jin Kyu

she said. “Then, when you are looking back, all the tough experiences will become great memories and will be definitely worth everything.”Yet there was no guarantee that Wu would achieve her dreams, for between 2008 and 2012, taekwondo was in a state of flux. New com-petition rules and PSS changed the game. More speed, more combi-nations and more aggression were the new keys to victory. Would Wu be able to adapt to this scenario and defend her medal in London?

On August 8, 2012, in the ExCel London arena, Wu set foot on the champions’ podium in the women’s -49kg category for the second time. She remembers the great joy of the moment. “What is happi-ness?” she asked. “To me, happiness is that I can persist in whatever I like, and I can persist in pursuing my dreams. If one more kick will take me one step closer to my dreams, why should I stop? My body may feel exhausted, but my heart is delighted.”

Today, Wu, an Olympic taekwondo heroine, is sharing her dream and inspiring the young generation in China, where she has been in-vited to schools and universities to share her story.

“Youngsters nowadays meet with few setbacks when they are growing up, so may not have courage and resolution when facing troubles,” she mused. “I hope they can be stronger, not only physical-

ly but more mentally. I would like to share my experience with them so they can learn that there will be no success if you are only waiting, instead of fighting.”

The 2014 Youth Olympic Games will be held in Nanjing, China and the Games’ organizing committee has invited Wu to participate in the event’s promotion. Wu, greatly honored, felt a strong sense of calling to help youth from different cultures get together to communicate and interact with each other. Her mission began on the occasion of the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Culture Festival and the un-veiling of the event’s official mascot.

Today, Wu is ensuring that she has the right skills to do what she feels compelled to do: In between kicking practice, she is enrolled in higher education.

“I’m now continuing my college education in Suzhou University and my major is English,” she said. “Language is the most effective way to exchange your opinions with others. With proper communi-cation, I can learn more from athletes and coaches from other coun-tries. This is a great opportunity to me, and I can help young people in China to be more independent, more confident and more inclusive in their way of pursuing dreams.”

‘You have to stay calm, ignore all disturbances and taste the bitterness as sugar’

Olympic Review


She’s Not Jaded

An Olympic gold medal, media recog-nition and a royal award made 2012 a spectacular year for 19-year-old Welsh taekwondo athlete Jade Jones. In 2013, her challenge is to regain her appetite for success.

“I haven been as motivated as I used to be,” she confessed to UK me-dia outlet Wales Online at year’s end. “It was that hunger that made me win the Olympics, so I need to get that back.”

Her motivation will hopefully re-turn in the near future, as Jones will be fighting at the World Taekwondo Championships in July. Although Jones has a 2010 Youth Olympic Games vic-tory under her black belt, she lost out at the 2011 World Taekwondo Champi-onships to China’s Hou Yuzhou.

Still, the competition at the 2013 Worlds is not likely to be any more intense than it was in London in 2012.

There, in the -57kg slot, Jones beat World No. 1 Li-chen Tseng of Chinese Taipei in the semis, 10-6. Then, with the gold up for grabs, she stepped onto the mats to take on the world No. 2 - none other than Hou, who had beaten Jones at the 2011 Worlds.

It was a classic match-up. As the bout got underway, Jones looked nervy compared to her more experi-enced and relaxed rival, but her work rate was higher from the get-go, and knowing Hou from their previous match, her tactics were spot on.

Although she is sometimes known as “The Headhunter” for her flamboy-ant high kicks, Jones was playing a craftier game in London: From a side-on stance, she used a combination

of front leg side and round kicks as her main scoring implements, varied with a strong rear leg turning kick. Her jackhammer side kick, jamming her opponent, keeping her on the back foot and at a distance, clearly discomfited Hou, who was unable to unleash a high-scoring head kick and who was taking too long to rev up her game as Jones’ constant hits racked up the points.

Desperate to get ahead, Hou went for broke in the third round’s closing seconds, but could not pen-etrate Jones’ defense. It was too late to equalize. The moment time was called, Jones dropped into a stance, thrust her fists skyward and hurled her headgear into the air as the hometown crowd exploded.

End score? Jones 6, Hou 4.Every inch the golden girl - blond-

haired and fresh-faced - the Welsh rose has since proven a media fa-vorite. Following her Olympic gold, Jones was named BBC Wales “Sports Personality of the Year” after beating out rugby star Dan Lydiate and Olym-pic cycling gold medalist Geraint Thomas in a public vote.

And to cap it all, her success on the mats led to an award from Queen Elizabeth II: Jones can now put MBE (“Member of the British Empire” ) af-ter her surname.

However, she is not the first fe-male taekwondo athlete to receive the honor: As evidence of the sport’s high profile in the UK, her team mate Sarah Stevenson was similarly award-ed in 2011.

Jade Jones (Great Britain)

He may be a hairdresser by day, but taek-wondo athlete Rohullah Nikpah fought like a warrior to bring home Afghanistan’s only medal of the London Olympics.

The Olympic team from the impover-ished, war-torn country went to London without even a physiotherapist, and Nikpah and his fellow taekwondo player Nesar Bahawi both suffered injuries. That did not stop them from fighting their hearts out.

Nikpah went through to the bronze standings in the -68 kg by repechage to face Great Britain’s Martin Stamper. Both men clearly wanted the medal. From the opening seconds, the action was fast and furious with both contestants unleashing multiple, rapid fire kicks; the match was replete with jumps, spins and falls.

Nikpah’s decisive move came halfway through. Hand parrying a kick from Stamper, he responded with a scorching turning kick

to the head that staggered his opponent. From then on, despite a flurry of techniques, Stamper could not catch up.

When he realized he had won, an exult-ant Nikpah leapt up with a split kick and a roar of victory.

Halfway across the world, his country-men were transfixed: International media re-ported that most of Kabul stayed up late to watch Nikpai’s whirlwind of a match. When a power cut temporarily killed TV coverage, people streamed out of their homes to ice cream stalls and other shops with genera-tors to see how the competition ended.

As Nikpah - a former refugee and mem-ber of the Hazara ethnic minority who had started taekwondo after watching martial arts movies - won the bronze, the strife-torn and deeply divided country was united.

Apparently, the only group in Afghan-istan not feting the new national hero was

the Taliban. According to British newspaper The Guardian, the insurgent group’s spokes-person did not take a position on the issue.

Nikpah had previously won a bronze in Beijing in 2008, but in a different weight class. That was the first medal Afghanistan had won in its (then) 72-year-long Olympic history, and won Nikpah plaudits and, re-portedly, the gift of a home from President Karzai. Nikpah’s feat in London in 2012 dou-bled his country’s overall medal count.

While much of the credit for this must go to the Afghanistan National Taekwondo Federation, the IOC can also claim a hand in his success: Nikpah was a previous recipient of an Olympic Solidarity scholarship.

Nikpah reportedly said before the Lon-don Games, “As long as taekwondo stays an Olympic sport, Afghans can keep dreaming.” The dream continues.


Rohullah Nikpah (Afghanistan)

Part 2 Olympic Review > Results

Olympic Review


AUGUST 8, 2012

The first day of competitions was successfully organized, with all con-tests being played on schedule. The day’s competitions were memorable for the following achievements

1. World No. 1 in the women’s -49kg, Jingyu Wu of China won the Olympic title for the second consecutive time after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. She won all four matches comfortably by 10-2, 14-0, 19-7 and 8-1.

2. The world No. 1 in the men’s -58kg, and the highest ranking points holder, Joel Gonzalez Bonilla of Spain, became the first ever gold medal winner produced by Spain in Olympic Games taekwondo when he defeated Dae-hoon Lee of Korea in the final by 17-8.

3. Colombia’s Oscar Munoz Oviedo became the first ever Olympic taekwondo medalist from his country, winning a bronze in the men’s -58kg. He also became one of the two athletes in London to win an Olympic medal who had also won a medal at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games taekwondo competition.

4. It was Panama’s first ever appearance in Olympic taekwondo as Carolena Cars-tens competed in the women’s -49kg. She was also the youngest taekwondo athlete in the taekwondo event, as she competed at the age of 16 years and 7 months. She was invited by the Tripartite Commission.

5. This was Central Africa’s first-ever participation in Olympic taekwondo competi-tion, and Katherine Seul-ki Kang achieved 11th place in the women’s -49kg.

6. It was the first appearance of Algeria in Olympic taekwondo as El-Yamine Mok-dad competed in the men’s -58kg.

7. Yemen’s Tameem Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kubati participated through TripartiteCommission Invitation. He was also an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder.

Men’s Under 58kg & Women’s Under 49kg

COMPETITION DAY

1


Olympic Review


AUGUST 9, 2012

The second day of competitions was organized smoothly with all contests on schedule. The following were the highlights of the day

1. The host country’s Jade Jones, fighting in the women’s -57kg, wrote history by presenting GB with its first ever gold medal in Olympic taekwondo competition. That made her a gold medallist in both the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games. She defeated the world No. 1 Li-Cheng Tseng of Chinese Taipei in the sem-ifinal by 10-6 and the world No. 2 Yuzhuo Hou of China in the final by 6-4.

2. Afghanistan’s Rohullah Nikpah won a bronze for the second consecutive time af-ter Beijing. As in 2008, Nikpah’s was the only Olympic medal achieved by the NOC of Afghanistan. He won the medal in the men’s -68kg, while his bronze in Beijing had been in the men’s -58kg.

3. The most dazzling taekwondo competitor and world ranking No. 1 in men’s -68kg, Turkey’s Servet Tazegul, finally became an Olympic champion after he de-feated his arch-rival Mohamed Bagheri of Iran in the final by 6-5. Tazegul is also an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder.

4. This was the first Olympic taekwondo competition in which twins were compet-ing. One of the twins, Lucija Zaninovic of Croatia, had won the bronze medal in the women’s -49kg on the previous day, but her twin sister, Ana Zaninovic, went out in the round of 16.

5. Serbia appeared in Olympic Games taekwondo competition for the first time with three athletes. Of them, Dragana Gladovic won the 7th place in the women’s

-57kg while Damir Feijic won 9th place in the men’s -68kg.

6. Three other IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holders competed on this day: Andrea Paoli of Lebanon and Bineta Diedhiou of Senegal and David Boui of Cen-tral Africa.


COMPETITION DAY

2


Olympic Review


AUGUST 10, 2012

The following were the highlights as the taekwondo bouts entered the penultimate day of competition

1. Sebastian Crismanich earned the gold medal in the men’s -80kg for his country, Argentina, by defeating Nicolas Garcia Hemme of Spain in the final by 1-0. It was the first Olympic taek-wondo gold for Argentina and would prove to be the only gold medal achieved by the NOC of Argentina at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

2. Korea’s Kyung-seon Hwang became one of only three athletes to win medals at three dif-ferent Olympic Games, the others being Hadi Saei of Iran and Steven Lopez of USA. Hwang won the gold in the women’s -67kg by comfortably defeating Nur Tatar of Turkey in the final by 12-5. Tatar, who went home with a a silver medal, is an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder.

3. Lutalo Muhammad of Great Britain, who had replaced the world ranking No. 1, Aaron Cook, in GB’s national selection, won a bronze medal after defeating Arman Yeremyan of Arme-nia in the bronze medal contest in the men’s -80kg. The unlucky loser, Yeremyan, is an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder; his place on the mats marked the first appearance of the NOC of Armenia in Olympic taekwondo.

4. It was the first appearance of Grenada in Olympic taekwondo. Andrea St Bernard compet-ed in the women’s -67kg and won 7th place.

5. Farkhod Negmatov of Tajikistan was also an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder. He won 11th place in the men’s -80kg. It was also the first appearance of Tajikistan in Olympic taekwondo.


COMPETITION DAY

3


Olympic Review


AUGUST 11, 2012

It was ‘last but not least’ as the taekwondo competitons entered its final day of the Lon-don 2012 Olympics

1. Probably the most dramatic moment of the competition was the final in the men’s +80kg, which was also the last taekwondo match of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Italian po-liceman and IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder Carlo Molfetta defeated Anthony Obame of Gabon by decision after a 9-9 draw. Molfetta’s gold medal was a first for Italy in Olympic taekwondo, while the silver won by Obame was the first ever medal achieved by Gabon since its first participation in the Olympic Games in 1972. It was also the only medal achieved by Gabon at London 2012.

2. The final match of the women’s +67kg was also memorable when Milica Mandic presentedgold to her country, Serbia, which was making its first appearance in Olympic taekwondo. This was the only gold medal won by Serbia in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

3. This day also marked the first appearances of Cambodia, Jamaica and Samoa on Olympictaekwondo mats. Talitiga Crawley of Samoa won 7th place in the women’s +67kg while Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga of Samoa placed 7th in the men’s +80kg. Cambodia’s Davin Sorn, an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder, participated with Tripartite Commission invi-tation and won 11th place in the women’s +67kg. Jamaica’s Kenneth Edwards came in 11th in the men’s +80kg.

4. Other IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holders also competed on this day: Slovenia’sNusa Rajher won 9th place in the women’s +67kg, Khaoula Ben Hamza of Tunisia won 11th place in the women’s +67kg and Mali’s two-times world champion Daba Modibo Keita fin-ished in 5th place after an unfortunate injury.

Men’s Over 80kg & Women’s Over 67kg

COMPETITION DAY

4

Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Medals Table

Olympic Review


63 Qualified NOCs 2012Medals Table

New Entry in Olympic TaekwondoQualified via World Qualification Tournament Wild cardsHost NOC

Nation TOTALMALE FEMALE

-58kg -49kg-68kg -57kg-80kg -67kg+80kg +67kg

ASIA (16 NOCs)

Afghanistan

Cambodia

China

Chinese Taipei

Iran

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Korea

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Tajikistan

Thailand

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Yemen

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

3

3

3

2

3

3

4

1

1

2

3

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1



PAN AMERICA (15 NOCs)

Argentina

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Grenada

Guatemala

Jamaica

Mexico

Panama

Peru

USA

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

3

1

1

1

3

1

1

1

1

4

1

1

4

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1



OCEANIA (4 NOCs)

Australia

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Samoa

1

1

2

3

1

2

1 11

1

1 1



EUROPE (18 NOCs)

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Croatia

Finland

France

Germany

Great Britain

Greece

Italy

Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

Ukraine

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

1

2

2

4

1

2

1

1

4

3

3

3

2

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1



AFRICA (10 NOCs)

Algeria

Central African Rep.

Cote d’lvoire

Egypt

Gabon

Mali

Morocco

Nigeria

Senegal

Tunisia

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

4

1

1

3

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Qualified via Continental Qualification Tournament

Taekwondo Medalists 2012

DENJSENKO Alexey

MUNOZ Oscar

MUHAMMAD Lutalo

SARMIENTO Mauro

JENNINGS Terrence

NIKPAH Rohullah

DESPAIGNE Robelis

LIU Xiaobo

under 58kg

under 80kg

under 68kg

over 80kg

GONZALEZ BONILLA Joel

CRISMANICH Sebastian Eduardo

TAZEGUL Servet

MOLFETTA Carlo

GOLD

GOLD

GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

Spain

Argentina

Turkey

Italy

Korea

Spain

Iran

Gabon

Russia

Colombia

Great Britain

Italy

United States

Afghanistan

Cuba

China

LEE Dae-hoon

GARCIA HEMME Nicolas

BAGHERI MOTAMED Mohammad

OBAME Anthony

ESP

ARG

TUR

ITA

KOR

ESP

IRI

GAB

RUS

COL

GBR

ITA

USA

AFG

CUB

CHN

SONKHAM Chanatip

ZANINVOIC Lucija

FROMM Helena

McPHERSON Paige

HARNOIS Marlene

TSENG Li-Cheng

BARYSHNIKOVA Anastasia

ESPINOZA Maria del Rosario

under 49kg

under 67kg

under 57kg

over 67kg

WU Jingyu

HWANG Kyung-seon

JONES Jade

MANDIC Milica

GOLD

GOLD

GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

China

Korea

Great Britain

Serbia

Spain

Turkey

China / CHN

France

Thailand

Croatia

Germany

United States

France

Chinese Taipei

Russia

Mexico

YAGUE ENRIQUE Bregitte

TATAR Nur

HOU Yuzhuo

GRAFFE Anne-Caroline

CHN

KOR

GBR

SRB

ESP

TUR

CHN

FRA

THA

CRO

GER

USA

FRA

TPE

RUS

MEX

Men’s Division

Women’s Division

Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Olympic Medalists 2012

Olympic Review


Women’s

GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

Jingyu Wu (China)

Joel Gonzalez Bonilla (Spain)

Brigitte Yaque Enrique (Spain)

Dae-hoon Lee (Korea)

Chanatip Sonkham (Thailand)

Alexey Denisenko (Russia)

Lucija Zaninovic (Croatia)

Oscar Munoz Oviedo (Colombia)

Under

49kg

Men’sUnder

58kg

O L Y M P I CMEDALISTS

2012

GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

Terrence Jennings (USA)

Mariene Hamois (France)

Rohullah Nikpah (Afghanistan)

Yuzhuo Hou (China)Li-Cheng Tseng (Chinese Taipei) Jade Jones (Great Britain)

Servet Tazegul (Turkey)Mohammad Bagheri Motamed (Iran)

Women’sUnder

57kg

Men’sUnder

68kg

Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Olympic Medalists 2012

Olympic Review


GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

Kyung-Seon Hwang (Korea)

Sebastian Eduardo Crismanich (Argentina)

Nur Tatar (Turkey)

Nicolas Garcia Hemme (Spain)

Paige McPherson (USA)

Lutalo Muhammad (Great Britain)

Helena Fromm (Germany)

Mauro Sarmiento (Italy)

Women’sUnder

67kg

Men’sUnder

80kg

Maria del Rosario Espinoza (Mexico) Anastasia Baryshnikova (Russia)

GOLD

GOLD

SILVER

SILVER

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

BRONZE

Robelis Despaigne (Cuba) Xiaobo Liu (China)

Anne-Caroline Graffe (France)

Anthony Obame (Gabon)

Milica Mandic (Serbia)

Carlo Molfetta (Italy)

Women’sOver

67kg

Men’sOver

80kg


Olympic Review



Part 2 Olympic Review > Photo Spread

Olympic Review


Photo Gallery

Day 1

Part 2 Olympic Review > Photo Spread

Olympic Review


Day 2

Part 2 Olympic Review > Result > Photo Gallery

Olympic Review


Day 3

Part 2 Olympic Review > Result > Photo Gallery

Olympic Review


Day 4

PART 3

84

88

Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: WTF World Grand Prix Series

Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training

86

92

94

Armor: No Longer Just for Protection

Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs-upSetting a New Standard


Innovation

Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You:

A WTF World Grand Prix series of tourneys is in the final stage before implementation. Here are the latest developments

ollowing the visibility taekwondo gained at the London Olympics in 2012, a WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series of

matches is set to follow up on this success and grant more athletes more frequent opportunities to compete at world-class championships.

“The Olympic Games in London triggered a surge in international interest in taekwondo and there is now a real appetite for more regular, top-class taekwondo on the global stage,” said WTF President Chungwon Choue.

The idea of a Grand Prix Series was first float-ed in 2012 before the London Olympics, and the plan was approved by the WTF General Assem-bly in December. The rationale is simple: With World Championships running every two years, and the Olympics every four, the Grand Prix – a three-match, annual series – will fill the holes in taekwondo’s international event calendar.

“The aim of the Grand Prix Series is to give athletes better exposure and to continue to raise the standard of competitions worldwide,” said Jean-Marie Ayer, the WTF’s secretary general.

The series is expected to be funded through a combination of sponsorship and the sale of me-dia to key markets. This is, in turn, will raise tae-kwondo’s visibility as a spectator sport, and offer its athletes more opportunities for advertising and endorsements.

“It will allow the sport greater media expo-

sure, and the athletes more of a public voice,” added Choue.

The last meeting of the Grand Prix Working Group in Lausanne, Switzerland was in February 2013. The group decided that the top-ranked 35 athletes (as per WTF world rankings) in each weight and gender category will be invited. A maximum of two athletes will be allowed in each category from any single country per weight category. There will also be a wild card for the host country.

The first tourney will take place in December 2013. Assuming that passes off successfully, the Grand Prix Series will get into full swing in 2014, with the first event in July, the second in Octo-ber and the final in December. In the final, only the top-ranked eight athletes in each weight and gender category will be invited to compete for the Grand Prix itself.

The 2014 host cities have yet to be decided. The working group suggested the creation of

a steering committee including experts in TV, me-dia and marketing; the development of standard Grand Prix procedures; amendment to ranking bylaws and Olympic standing procedures; and an orientation meeting with MNAs during the 2013 World Championships in Puebla to give them full information on the series.

All the above is subject to approval from the WTF Council, while matters related to Olympic qualification should be approved by the IOC.

WTF World Grand Prix Series

‘The aim of the Grand Prix Series is to give athletes better expo-sure and to continue to raise the standard of competitions worldwide’

-Jean-Marie Ayer, WTF secretary general

Part 3 World Championships > Grand Prix Series


Innovation

From time immemorial, in cultures as diverse as ancient Greece and medieval Japan, fighters have worn armor for protection. Now, millen-nial taekwondo is upgrading the use of armor in sport, by embedding it with high technology and integrating it into the scoring process.

Since taekwondo’s earliest days as a competitive sport, head and body armor has been worn to permit the use of forceful blows while simultaneously protecting fighters from the resultant impact. Now, the armor is itself becoming part of the scoring system.

Thanks to advances in electronic impact measurement technol-ogy, the use of a Protector and Scoring System, or PSS, is perfectly feasible. Given that this technology embeds impact sensors in the armor, so the force of a blow can be electronically measured, the PSS has the potential to obviate human error in refereeing and judging: There can no longer be any argument about whether blows deliv-ered “trembling shock.”

Following the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the WTF worked on the development of relevant competitive protocols to bring the nascent system into operation. It was first introduced at the WTF World Cup

Team Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2009, and subse-quently at the WTF World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October of the same year.

In February 2010, revised rules related to the PSS were intro-duced to introduce consistency in scoring. By March of that year, the WTF was confident enough with the PSS to announce its use at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, and the system was successfully in-tegrated with the Swiss Timing system.

In the glare of the global spotlight, the system proved equal to the stresses of Olympic competition. Even so, in recognition of the fact that no technology is perfect, a PSS working group meeting was held in February at Lausanne’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lau-sanne, or EPFL.

Professors Jan-Anders Manson and Kasper Schadegg from EPFL joined representatives of PSS manufacturers and members of the WTF to work on the next stage of the PSS evolution – proof positive that the WTF is transferring a piece of fighting equipment from an-cient battlefields to the sporting arenas of the modern world.

Taekwondo is pushing the barriers of sportive technologywith the use of electronic impact sensors in body armor

No Longer Just for Protection

Part 5 Innovation > Protected by Technology - PSS


Innovation

Pressure Testing: WTF Referee TrainingAthletes get the spotlight, but joining them on the mats is a fellow taekwondo practitioner – one who shares the pressure of competition, but has no chance for medals or glory

In the months leading up to the London Olympics, there had been some concerns that the significant tweaks made to the rules to make bouts ever-more exciting could confuse athletes. But if there

was pressure on the athletes, imagine how much more pressure fell on the shoulders of the rules’ enforcers – the referees.

Not to worry. London 2012 proved to be taekwondo’s golden hour, with the “new look” sport being widely feted by spectators, in-ternational media and Olympic officials. The new rules were widely cited as being behind this stunning success - and the referees en-forced them with a minimum of controversy: There were no hecklers in the stands yelling, “Oi, ref! Are you blind?”

These results were a direct result of a long and sometimes ardu-ous training process instituted by the WTF in the runup to the Games, in which 260 hopeful referees participated. The main events were three four-day training camps for referee selection: Camp One was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from January 14-17, 2011; Camp Two was in Guangzhou, China, from March 2-5, 2011; and Camp Three was held in Mexico City, Mexico, from April 7-10, 2011.

The camps were grueling, covering: competition rules review,

scoring criteria, penalties, emergency situations, and - last but not least - ethics, always a strong point of taekwondo. Over the course of the camps, all potential referees were judged by a five-member ad hoc committee on a range of selection criteria: state of health, phys-ical abilities, scoring test (by Swiss Timing), game management test, written test on competition rules, oral English test, and Instant Video Replay (IVR) test.

As part of the training process, the Olympic referees-in-training were given “on the job training” to ensure their lessons were fully ab-sorbed. “We were also required to officiate at high-level events lead-ing up to the Olympics such as the World Championships in Gyeo-ngju, Korea in 2011 and the World Juniors in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in April 2012,” recalled Australian Kerry Ann Maynard-Lister.

Eventually, 30 referees were appointed: 10 from Europe; nine from Asia; six from Pan America; three from Africa; and two from Oceania. Those chosen recognized that they had been forged in a special pro-cess. “The training and support given to me and my colleagues has been outstanding on every level,” said Maynard-Lister, one of the 30. “There has never before been such intense development of WTF ref-

Part 3 Innovation > Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training

erees as I have experienced over the past few years.”Moreover, by the time the Summer Olympics came around, the

referees had bonded. “All of my colleagues felt that we were part of a unique group that were single minded in our purpose and goal of ensuring that these were the best Olympics ever for taekwondo,” said Maynard-Lister. “We truly felt prepared and positive that we would do a good job and were very comfortable together as a team.”

In London, to prevent conflict of interest, referees were not per-mitted to adjudicate bouts in which an athlete of the same nationality was competing, nor from the same continent. Certain political, reli-gious and ethnic sensitivities were also taken into account in assign-ing referees. And given the stress of the job, and the intense concen-tration required, no referees were assigned to oversee consecutive bouts.

When it came time to step on to the mats, the referees were as ready to get it on as the athletes.

”About the training courses, there were a lot of innovations that were very useful,” said Roland Gayo Campos, a three-time Olympic Games referee from the Philippines. “I was personally one of the re-cipients of that kind of training and I am very happy for it: I was able to be at the top of my game.”

Even so, both referees quoted in this article reckon that the rules will continue to evolve.

“In London, the Olympic Games were the best taekwondo tourna-ment ever to date, because of the commitment and the pursuit of ex-

cellence and the collaboration of a lot of people behind it,” said Cam-pos. “We are just touching the “tip of the iceberg” so to speak; there will still be changes that will happen to further enhance the game.”

What those changes may be remain to be seen, but Maynard-List-er said that the PSS “still has a few areas that could be improved.” Both Campos and Maynard-Lister were full of praise for the Instant Video Replay system. “It eliminates any form of protest, therefore the true winner is always declared,” reckoned Campos, but Maynard-List-er said she would like to see “Even better cameras in the future that can capture all the action and all the angles.”

In its post-Olympics evaluation, the WTF notes that there need to be numerous selection camps for Rio 2016, and there needs to be a strengthened course for the review jury.

Naturally, this year, training continues apace. A range of referee courses for both kyorugi and poomsae were being held throughout the year.

But given the time and monetary commitments required to at-tend training camps, not to mention the stresses of the task – for which no medals are given, and no glory won – who would want to be a referee?

“Sharing your personal experiences is one way to motivate future referees: Especially how you started, your failures, your hardships so that you can relate it to referees who shared the same passion as you,” said Campos.“I hope I will be given the opportunity to teach future referees around the world to impart my knowledge and experiences.”


Innovation

WTF S-Class International Kyorugi Referees (as of March 31, 2013)

Continent Country IR Number Pro Date Birth Date GenderName

Brunei

Chinese Taipei

Hong Kong

Indonesia

Iran

Korea

Asia

PanAmerica

Europe

Africa

Oceania

MalaysiaNepalSingaporeCroatiaFranceGermanyItalyNetherlandsRussiaSwedenTurkeyArgentina

Canada

Costa Rica

Mexico

Panama

U.S.A.

Egypt

Libya

AustraliaNew Zealand

015-0687

010-0568

010-0570

010-0560

006-0257

024-0987

018-0852

018-2053

025-0002

001-0154

001-0155

002-0070

002-0083

002-0086

002-0088

002-0118

002-0282

016-0737

016-0750

016-0752

016-0753

016-0766

025-0004

015-0692

015-0685

006-0594

021-0952

013-0623

013-0640

008-1034

001-0170

030-0002

029-0134

013-0632

015-0712

001-0162

008-0572

015-0684

029-0045

020-0938

012-1061

015-0703

013-0604

001-0175

002-0281

002-0069

002-0072

002-0100

005-0225

013-0625

019-0861

019-0866

019-2059

018-0848

018-1082

013-0634

013-0633

029-0123

020-0939

Kalanayagam A.R. Nadarajan

Sung Kuang Sen

Mao Kee Lung

KIM Sa Ok

Charles Mok Hung Fai

MOON Myoung Gon

Acen Tanuwijaya

Herman Andikara

Mojtaba Nazmdeh

MOON Chang Nam

HONG Jeong Boo

KANG Sun Jang

KIM Kang Ein

LEE Sang Hyun

LEE Kyu Hyung

KIM Ki Yong

PARK Hyun Sup

OH Soo Gon

CHANG Myeong Soo

HAN Sang Jin

CHOI Jung Ho

KIM Kil Lae

KIM Hwa Ryong

Tai Loke Woon

Deep Raj Gurung

Teong Chin Lim

Miroslav Brezan

Benjamin John

BAEK Jin Kun

Tricoli Lorenzo

SEO Myung Soo

Sergey A.Danilov

Chakir Chelbat

Galip Ziya Yalginkaya

Maria Andrea Mancuso

LEE Byung Kyu

Ken Wai-Kin Cheung

YU Myung Ok

Linda Kwan

Nelson Brizuela Cortes

Sergio Chavez

Rafael Jesus Ruelas Reyes

Varo Barragan

LEE Young Keun

KIM Young Sam

LEE Eui Bin

PARK In Kon

KIM Dong Sup

KIM Koang Woong

Gregory S. Kailian

Bruce C.K.W. Harris

Leon T. Preston

William Sullivan

JEONG Ki Young

Mohamed Riad Ibrahim

KIM Yong Kwang

Snosy A. Mohamed

Samuel Michael Loiacono

Stephen Liu

2008/12/31

2000/12/31

2004/06/30

2002/12/31

2002/06/30

2010/06/30

2011/12/31

2012/12/31

2010/12/31

1994/09/10

1994/09/10

2003/06/30

2001/12/31

2003/12/31

2000/12/31

2002/06/30

1998/06/30

2008/12/31

2009/12/31

2008/06/30

2000/12/31

2008/06/30

2012/12/31

2008/12/31

2010/12/31

2001/06/30

2011/12/31

2008/12/31

2008/06/30

2000/12/31

1998/12/31

2010/12/31

2011/12/31

2009/12/31

2012/12/31

1994/09/10

2002/12/31

2007/06/30

2012/12/31

2011/12/31

2005/12/31

2010/06/30

2006/08/02

1994/09/10

2000/12/31

2000/12/31

2006/06/30

2000/12/31

1996/01/01

2010/06/30

2000/12/31

2012/12/31

2011/12/31

2006/12/31

2010/12/31

2007/06/30

2009/06/30

2010/12/31

2011/12/31

1949/12/19

1946/04/27

1951/03/10

1944/04/24

1948/10/09

1957/02/05

1944/08/23

1954/12/24

1957/03/23

1942/05/26

1943/03/03

1947/01/15

1948/07/18

1942/03/05

1945/09/01

1948/03/15

1946/03/02

1956/01/12

1959/09/15

1954/09/14

1954/09/22

1943/08/20

1949/03/24

1961/02/06

1959/09/15

1948/02/14

1951/02/12

1953/03/31

1947/08/24

1951/10/05

1939/12/05

1951/06/09

1964/08/28

1950/06/27

1965/12/04

1944/10/25

1950/07/03

1952/08/21

1960/03/23

1953/05/26

1955/09/08

1952/09/25

1955/09/24

1939/06/17

1942/11/25

1941/05/03

1945/04/04

1943/02/03

1937/07/10

1946/05/23

1951/05/11

1947/02/18

1950/06/13

1946/06/08

1955/10/26

1948/04/23

1953/05/08

1952/12/10

1957/12/13

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

FeMale

Male

Male

Male

FeMale

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

Male

The Lucky 30: Olympic Referees for London 2012

Olympic Referee Statistics, 2012

No. Age Name Continent NOC Remarks

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Liang Si

Shahram Arbabi

Young Hwan Choi

Abubakr Kordi

Julie Dib

Roland Gayo Campos

Shu hua Dai

Kwang Cheol Oh

Renata Crkvenac

David Coupar

Carmen Navarro Ingles

Hlynur Gissurarson

Mohammed Argoubi

Stig Ove Ness

Andrey Khegay

Predrag Tesovic

Ahmed El Mofty

Moshoeshoe Mokake

Alioune Badara Traore

Kerry Ann Maynard Lister

Stanley Dennis Wagner

Jose Eduardo Cornelio

Song Chul Kim

Nelson Brizuela Cortes

Jorge Reynoso Cruz

Neydis Tavarez

Myung Chan Kim

Teong Chin Lim

Xuan Thanh Vu

Denis Odjo

32

46

47

50

35

50

40

42

35

54

45

39

56

41

33

32

34

39

50

59

50

53

44

59

51

47

52

64

42

59

Asia

Asia

Asia

Asia

Asia

Asia

Asia

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Africa

Africa

Africa

Oceania

Oceania

Pan Am

Pan Am

Pan Am

Pan Am

Pan Am

Pan Am

Asia

Asia

Europe

CHN

IRI

KOR

KSA

LIB

PHI

TPE

AZE

CRO

DEN

ESP

ISL

NED

NOR

RUS

SRB

EGY

LES

MLI

AUS

NZL

ARU

CAN

CRC

MEX

PUR

USA

SIN

VIE

FRA

Female

Female

Female

Female

Female

Female

Review Jury

Review Jury

Review Jury

2012 London

30

30

6 (20%)

9

10

6

3

2

46

Event

No. of Referees :

No. of NOCs :

Female :

Asia :

Europe :

Pan Am :

Africa :

Oceania :

Average Age :

Part 3 Innovation > Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training


Innovation

Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs-upCan a sport in which the ultimate technique is a spinning kick to the head truly be safe? The answer…surprisingly…is ‘yes’

It is a sport in which power is tested by smash-ing boards with first and feet, in which kicks are delivered with lunges and jumps, and in which the top technique is a spinning kick to the head – yet taekwondo is one of the safest events in the Olympic program, a report has revealed.

The injury rate of the contact sport in France was at an all-time low of just 0.31 percent, the report by Dr. Paul Viscogliosi, chairman of the WTF Medi-cal Committee and a doctor in the Department of Orthaepedic Surgery in Centro-Hospitalo-universi-taire de Lyon Edouard Herriot, France, found.

The sources for the report, which was com-pleted in 2012, were health insurance providers Mutuelle de Sports, and the French Taekwondo Federation. Statistics cited covered 52,397 regis-tered insurance policy holders, aged between 5 and 65, over the years 2008-2012.

The research found that although rule chang-es now reward difficult kicks to the head with maximum points, the implementation of im-pact-measuring devices embedded in the armor means that it is no longer necessary for fighters to strike with maximum force.

As the electronic sensors will pick up even moderate hits, fighters are encouraged to pull off the most difficult and athletic techniques, but without having to impress referees and judges by delivering maximum power.

Due to this, the injury rate in the sport in France plummeted 16.2 percent in 2011-2012, and 18.4 percent in 2008-2009, resulting in an overall injury ratio of just 0.31 percent.

Dr. Viscogliosi noted: “Now that points can be scored with just a light touch to the head, athletes’ focus is primarily on agility, accuracy and speed of movement, rather than generating maximum force.”

The key finding was clear:“This in turn has re-sulted in fewer impact-related injuries,” he said.

The report was enthusiastically received by WTF Secretary General Jean-Marie Ayer.

“Overall, it proves that taekwondo is a safe sport that is getting safer by the year,” he said. “It is particularly pleasing to see that our rule changes have had the positive impact on athletes’ welfare that we were looking for. Now that points can be scored with just a light touch to the head, accu-racy and speed are more important than impact.”

Moreover, knockouts – a common feature of the early, rough-and-ready days of taekwon-do competition – are now rarities. “We have all but eliminated knockouts,” Ayer continued. “The phrase is not even in our competition vocabulary any more.”

Dr. Viscogliosi indicated that the increasing safety of the sport may not only encourage more people to take it up, but might even make their insurance premiums cheaper.

“Taekwondo has traditionally been classified as a ‘mild risk’ sport by health insurers, but that has not stopped the WTF from constantly inno-vating and evolving the sport to improve the welfare of our athletes,” he said.

The full medical report is available to down-load on the front page of the WTF Web site.

‘Now that points can be scored with just a light touch to the head, ath-letes’ focus is primarily on agility, ac-curacy and speed of movement, rath-er than generating maximum force’

- Dr. Paul Viscogliosi, Chairman, WTF Medical Committee


Innovation

World Poomsae Champion Charlie Chong is dancing to his own drum as he leads taekwondo’s innovative new competitive format into the future

It was late in the day at the 7th WTF World Taekwondo Team Championships in Tunja, Colombia, but the packed stadium was humming with repressed excite-ment. Word had spread. Audience members already present were staying on, while, despite the late hour, more seats were filling with additional spectators who had heard about the first performance of the young man who now stood at center court, waiting quietly for his 90 seconds to begin.

Charlie Chong’s performance in the qualifying round had overcome all com-petitors. The Canadian’s final performance was now just moments away. In the eye of the storm, he waited quietly for his cue to take position. The clock ticked.

The signal came. He bowed and paced to the center of the competition area. The music began. As Chong exploded into his choreography of kicks, leaps and spins, the entire audience roared its excitement.

In just a minute-and-a-half, it was over. Chong, panting, waited as the scores were collated. Minutes later, the decision was declared: The Canadian was crowned the WTF’s first-ever world freestyle poomsae champion.

Freestyle poomsae is the newest addition to the repertoire of competition formats at the world championship level. It incorporates the traditional forms

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30CM

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of poomsae with music, acrobatic skills, and artistic interpre-tation. The new format has grown in popularity in many WTF Member National Associations and was adopted as the newest competition discipline at last year’s World Championships in Colombia after debuting as a demonstration event in 2011 in Vladivostok, Russia.

Chong had been excited to learn about the addition of a freestyle division to poomsae competition.

“I have always been fascinated by that precision and power in the moves of poomsae, so to now be able to take that to the next level was really exciting for me,” he said. “When my mas-ter and I heard of the news, we got to work trying things out and seeing what we could put together.”

It was no easy task. The master-student duo agonized so much over Chong’s routine that they were tweaking it in the wee hours on the eve of the world championships.

“When we started training sessions and we saw the level of competition that I would face, we knew everyone had come prepared,” Chong recalled. “My master and I decided we need-ed to up my level of difficulty, so three days before the compe-tition, we revamped my routine.”

That revamping went down to the line.


Innovation

“Obviously the changes were worth it in the end, but it did mean a lot of late night training back at the hotel!” Chong said. “The night before competition I was training until after midnight.”

The WTF’s first ever world freestyle poomsae cham-pion is not your typical 20-year-old. He is a focused and determined individual who speaks deliberately, with care-ful consideration of the words he chooses. The discipline visible in his daily routine portrays a champion in training - not only in his sport but in his wider life as well. He is up at around 9 a.m. and at the dojang by 2 p.m. where he pre-pares for his own training, as well as teaching the young kids that inspire him to forge ahead with his own dreams. In fact, his training takes a backseat to his teaching, which he does not complete until around 10 p.m.

When asked about coaching he said, “The kids are re-ally a driving force for me in my training: They remind me of me when I was their age, so full of dreams of being a champion and so eager to train,” he said. “Actually, I guess I am still that way, but the young students really keep me that way.”

Is there pressure to be a role model for the students at his own dojang? “I don’t know if the kids look at me that way; maybe they do,” he replied with his character-istic quiet modesty. “I mean, they do know that I went to the World Championships, but I don’t know if they give any meaning as to what it could mean. But there already is a kind of pressure to just be a good teacher. I hope I can have a positive influence in my life the way that my father did when I was growing up and that he and my coach have had in recent years.”

Part 3 Innovation > Setting a New Standard

Chong had two dreams when he was younger: being an Olympian and joining S.W.A.T., the elite police squad. He has clearly made his mark in the poomsae world and also competes locally in kyorugi. Meanwhile, alongside his training in taekwondo, he is working to-ward a career in law enforcement, having finished a two-year course in Police Foundations at Seneca College King Campus in King City, Ontario.

As fast as his kicks and spins may be, Chong chooses his words slowly and carefully before delivering them in a soft voice that is un-like that of many young men. He is a deliberate individual who is still

planning his future.He began taekwondo at the age of four when he was introduced

to the sport by his father, a taekwondo master who helped to spread taekwondo at the grassroots level in Canada. When he was 13, his father moved the whole family to Toronto from Cambridge, Ontario, so that Charlie could have better training and his father could further develop his business. The decision to move paid off when he tasted gold last December.

So who is Charlie Chong? He is the standard that all others in the future of freestyle poomsae now have to live up to...himself included.

Around the

PART 4

Taekwondo News, Personalities and Developments from across the Globe

100

110

116

117

120

122

124

130

131

132

134

144

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

Sky-High Demonstration Takes Taekwondo into StratosphereTaekwondo has raised its visibility in Dubai with a spectacular demonstration on the helipad of one of the Middle East’s most iconic buildings

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

On March 3, 2013, in Dubai, UAE, the World Taekwondo Federation Demonstration Team was afforded the extraordinary op-portunity to perform on the helipad of the spectacular Burj Al Arab Hotel.

They may have been the highest kicks in the history of taekwondo.

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

The iconic hotel is considered by some the world’s only “seven-star” hotel, but its helipad is not just a location for the world’s rich and powerful to drop into and take off from; the platform has been used as an unusual venue for the world’s top athletes to show off their moves. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Roger Federer played a highly publicized match up there, and Tiger Woods teed off and drove golf balls from the helipad toward the desert horizon.

The WTF Demonstration Team was offered this coveted chance after their perfor-mance during the opening ceremony of the inaugural 2013 Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships on March 1 impressed the Dubai Sport Council.

WTF President Dr. Chungwon Choue was delighted at the unusual honor.

“I think that this deomnstration on the Burj Al Arab clearly shows how big out sport has become in this region and around the world.” Choue said, “ I think that it sets a great example for the athletes at this year’s Fujairah Open.”

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

The three-day Fujairah Open International Tae-kwondo Championships are one of a number of international taekwondo events taking place this year as the sport’s popularity continues to accelerate around the world.

The taekwondo demonstration took place before the commencement of the Open, which included a senior competition, involving 147 athletes from 20 counties, a junior competition, involving 72 athletes from 15 countries, and a cadet competition, involv-ing 60 athletes from 11 countries.

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

“The variety of nationalities participat-ing within each age category at these championships demonstrates the universality of taekwondo,” Choue added. “2013 continues to be a year of great success for the WTF as we extend the arms of the federation out to the rest of the world and offer them hope and dreams.”

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

World Taekwondo Peace Corps:

In the interest of helping the less fortunate, the WTF has instituted a corps of taekwondo volunteers. This is their story

Hope and Dreamsto Youth of World

Part 6 News Briefs > Etc.

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

The program was institutionalized by the creation of the World Taekwondo Peace Corps Foundation in 2009. WTF President Choue serves as chairman of the foundation.

As recently as January this year, a total of 124 university students in 33 teams vol-unteered in 27 countries on short-term win-ter Taekwondo Peace Corps activities.

Among the 27 dispatched countries, Taekwondo Peace Corps members were sent to five countries for the first time: four African countries - Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Sierra Leone - and the Latin Amer-ican country of Colombia.

Some Taekwondo Peace Corps mem-bers are willing to continue their volunteer work abroad, if further opportunities arise.

As part of its efforts to spread hope and dreams to the youth of the world through taekwondo, the World Taekwondo Federa-tion established the WTF World Taekwondo Peace Corps in 2008.

Since then, a total of 830 members of the Taekwondo Peace Corps, mostly uni-versity taekwondo students, have been dispatched in 210 teams on 10 occasions to 93 different countries around the world. Most teams consist of four members and the short-term period of dispatch is one to two months.

The WTF has also dispatched 38 mid-term Taekwondo Peace Corps members on three occasions to over 10 countries for a period of three to six months. It plans to send more short- and mid-term teams to Africa, Oceania and Pan-America this year.

The WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps project started as a pilot program following WTF Pres-ident Chungwon Choue’s proposal for a joint U.N. and IOC Sport Peace Corps program.

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

Countries for Winter 2012 Taekwondo Peace Corps Taekowndo Peace Corps Short-Term Projects

Part 4 Around the WTF > World Taekwondo Peace Corps

8th Jan.-Feb.

2012 102 members, 26 teams in 22 countries

9th July-Aug.

201280 members, 20 teams in 17 countries

10th Jan.-Feb.

2013124 members, 32 teams in 27 countries

Total 830 members, 210 teams in 93 countries

TermPeriod ofDispatch

No. ofDispatched Members, Teams & Countries

1st July-Aug.

200827 members, 7 teams in 5 countries (China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Paraguay)

2nd Jan.-Feb.

2009 32 members, 8 teams in 8 countries (Greece, Russia, Morocco, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, China, Kyrgyzstan)

3rd July-Aug.

200948 members, 12 teams in 12 countries (El Salvador, India, Isle of Man, Bhutan, Samoa, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Poland, Angola, Philippines, Azerbaijan)

4th Jan.-Feb.

2010 98 members, 27 teams in 24 countries (Angola, D.R . Congo, Egypt , Cambodia, I ran, Laos, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Greece, Poland, Russia, New Zealand, Samoa, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Surinam)

5th July-Aug.

2010110 members, 25 teams in 20 countries(South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, C a m b o d i a , I n d o n e s i a , L a o s , M o n g o l i a , T h a i l a n d , Uzbekistan, Philippines, Belarus, Finland, Sweden, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago)

6th Jan.-Feb.

2011 107 members, 25 teams in 25 countries(Nepal, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Cambodia, Libya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroon, D.R. Congo, Tunisia, Greece, Russia, Belarus, Sweden, Croatia, Tonga, Fiji, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua)

7th July-Aug.

2011106 members, 27 teams, 19 countries(Cambodia, Nepal, Laos, Barbados, Poland, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Macao, Senegal, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand, Congo, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Lesotho, Mauritius)

Continent

Asia(11)

Africa(9)

Oceania(3)

Total 27 123

Europe(2)

Pan America

(2)

CountriesPeriod ofDispatch

No. ofMembers

Thailand

Cambodia

Laos

Singapore

Malaysia

Indonesia

Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

Myanmar

Kazakhstan

Uzbekistan

Ethiopia

Sudan

Senegal

Cote d’lvoire

Togo

Sierra Leone

South Africa

Ruanda

Micronesia

Fiji

Greece

Sweden

Colombia

Brazil

D.R. of theCongo

Papua NewGuinea

2012.1.25 - 2.28

2012.2.5 - 2.28

2012.2.1 - 2.29

2012.1.15 - 2.29

2012.2.5 - 2.25

2012.2.8 - 2.29

2012.1.15 - 2.26

2012.1.15 - 2.27

2012.1.15 - 2.27

2012.1.15 - 2.26

2013.2.1 - 3.5

2012.1.19 - 2.24

2012.1.21 - 2.26

2012.1.16 - 2.26

2012.1.16 - 2.26

2012.1.10 - 2.27

2012.1.20 - 2.29

2012.1.20 - 2.29

2012.2.3 - 2.26

2012.2.3 - 2.26

2012.1.15 - 2.19

2012.2.1 - 2.29

2012.2.4- 2.28

2012.2.3 - 2.26

2012.2.1 - 3.1

2012.1.17 - 2.26

2012.1.15 - 2.19

8

7

6

4

4

4

4

3

8

4

1

8

4

4

4

4

4

4

8

4

4

4

4

3

4

4

4

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

CHOI Dae-ho, a Korean taekwondo instructor, found himself at the center of an online buzz in Singapore, where he was holiday-

ing, after a kind-hearted gesture he made hit the media.

On February 2, 2013, the 22-year-old was taking a bus in Singapore when he saw an old lady travelling barefoot. In an impromptu gesture, he knelt in front of her and gave her the flip-flops he was wearing.

A Taekwondo Peace Corps instructor has won Singaporeans’ hearts with a gesture that put the shoe on the other foot…

The old lady resisted, but then, teary eyed, accepted the gift. A fellow member of the Taekwondo Peace Corps photographed Choi kneel-ing in front of the lady and posted the picture online. From there the picture went viral, and Singaporeans posted questions online, won-dering who the kind-hearted young man was, and why he had done what he did.

Choi was tracked down by local media and though he expressed sur-prise at the attention, granted interviews.

“It was a small gesture on my part, but it was something I felt I should do,” the Incheon native, a student of Jeonju University, said.

He explained that he had always felt close to his grandmother, but she had passed away when he was 15. Since then, he had always had an affinity for women of his late grandmother’s age.

Choi credited his taekwondo training for his manners.

“I have learned taekwondo since I was five and met many good mas-ters and seniors,” he said in interviews. “I have learned a lot from them on how to be a good person. Learning taekwondo helps develop not only the body, but also the character.”

The young athlete also got a bit of exercise out of the event, when, having given away his shoes, he had to return to his hotel barefoot.

“The pavements were scorching,” he told local media, “So I sprinted the eight minutes back to my hotel!”

Part 4 Around the WTF > Bare Feet, Kind Heart

Disability has not prevented a Ukrainian girl from overcoming a tragic past and winning gold at the Aruba World Para-Taekwondo Championships. But her joy

was short-lived. Today, as her coach Yuliya Volkova writes, she needs help

My name is Yuliya Volkova. I am 33-years-old, and am a Ukrainian athlete and coach. I love taekwon-

do, a sport I had dreamed of since I was seven, but I was not able to start practicing until I was 21.

Even so, I have been fortunate to compete in a number of tournaments, and won a bronze medal at the Euro-

pean Championships in 2010.

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

My coach is my husband, Yuriy Babak, who was the national female team coach from 2001-2007. He is currently secretary general of the Ukraine Taekwondo Federation. As I am a graduate of Zaporizhzhya University in sport, we coach together.

Three years ago, not far from our dojang, we met a boy with a disabil-ity: He only had one arm. His name is Anton, and he is today 12. We asked him and his mother if he would like to take up taekwondo. He agreed, and is now a blue belt, who competes across Ukraine.

He was our dojang’s first para-athlete. We decided to look for more such children, and offer them taekwondo. This made us the first (and so far, the only) dojang offering taekwondo training to the disabled in the country. Now we have seven such children, aged from six to 14, training with us.

We also have one senior. Her name is Vika. She is our champion and this is her story.

In December 2011, Viktor Shavlo, a sport teacher at Zaporizhzhya , told us of a girl he knew who was disabled, but seemed a promising potential taekdondo student. That is how we met Vika, or, to give her full name, Viktoriia Marchuk.

When we first talked to her she was very quiet and shy and was not sure whether she wanted to take up taekwondo – a sport she had never even seen. So we invited her to a New Year’s party at the do-jang, and showed her some pictures and video from the World Pa-ra-Taekwondo Championships. She took some time to think about it.

In January 2012, she decided to accept our offer. I was immediately impressed by her leg strength and flexibility: She was a natural! As I taught her the kicks and footwork, I really found myself enjoying the teaching. And her talent was not just physical, it was mental, too. From the first, Vika told me that she was there to be a winner. We told her about the upcoming para-championship in Aruba in 2012. She said she would do any necessary training to become a champion.

Perhaps her determination was rooted in her past – for Vika’s past is a heart-breaking story. After being born with disabilities in Kiev in 1990 - she has Holt-Oram syndrome and only one arm - the baby Vika was abandoned by her parents. She spent her childhood in an orphanage, a place with terrible facilities.

Today, Vika does not like to remember or even talk about her lost childhood. She is currently a student at Zaporizhzhya College and is planning to go to Zaporizhzhya National University this summer in order to become a coach in her future. Before coming to taekwondo, she specialized in track and field.

We knew that she had had a heart operation, and that before she started training, she was under medical supervision. We checked with her doctors; they said that everything was OK. When she started, she was doing taekwondo three times weekly, two hours each session. Then she upped her training to six times a week. Soon, she was train-ing twice a day, for two hours per session. In June 2012, she took part in the first-ever Ukrainian Para-Taekwondo Championships, an initia-tive of my husband.

Special Appeal

As her coach, I make this plea for help to the global taekwondo family. If anyone knows of any way we can obtain specialized medical treatment for Vika, please contact me, Yuliya Volkova, at:

In August, we held a training camp in the mountains on the Black Sea coast. It was hard, but Vika did her best. She was motivated to be a champion - a world champion. She spent that summer in our house. I noticed that she did not sleep well. The problem was her shoulder. In September – just two months before the championship - she had an operation. Within two weeks, although heavily bandaged, she was back in training. This was true force of character.

By now, Aruba was looming. There is no governmental support in Ukraine for para-taekwndo. The trip would be expensive: We need-ed around US$5,000. I looked for sponsors for two months – nothing, not even any interest. Mercifully, we have friends, who gave us some money for flight tickets. Even so, it was not enough.

Fortunately, I had a friend in Germany. In July I had been invited to Germany for two training camps to help the female athlete Sümeyye Manz to prepare for the Olympics. At that time, I spoke with her un-cle, Özer Gülec, about my training of children with disabilities. He said then, that if I needed help, to ask him. So I did…

And in November, I competed at the Swiss Open, where I was fortu-nate enough to win a bronze. Athletes from Nuremburg Taekwondo Club Özer, hearing Vika’s story, generously donated some of their own money.

With all this assistance from friends and fellow athletes, our Aruba dream could be realized.

The flight was a long one – and the first overseas trip for Vika. I wor-ried about her shoulder, but she looked confident. Aruba proved beautiful. The hotel was excellent, all the people were very kind. Next morning we had training, then weigh-in and registration. I was very nervous, but tried not to show it to Vika. I had a bad night...

The big day arrived. Vika seemed even more focused than usual. The opening ceremony was hot and loud. I could hear Vika whispering to herself, “I must win, win.”

Her first match was easy enough and by 3 p.m, she was ready for the final. Then we heard that her match had been put back: It would be

the last bout of the day. Finally, the hour arrived. Vika stepped onto the mat. Could a girl with only nine months of training fight at this level of competition?

She rose to the occasion. Gold! The disabled girl who had been aban-doned at birth was at last a champion.

It was Ukraine’s first-ever medal in para-taekwondo, and the first-ever medal for Ukraine in a Senior World Championship. We were ecstatic and all our friends shared our delight. I had never seen Vika looking joyful. Now, at last, I did. Sport – in this case, taekwondo – truly has the power to realize dreams and to change lives.

Back home, the euphoria soon evaporated. In Ukraine, we were told that it was a “random gold medal.” Moreover, the ministry told us there were few athletes and few countries competing in Aruba. So – no. There would be no prize money. No training grants. No financial support for the next world championships.

We were unhappy, but got back into training. That is when even worse news hit us. Vika’s shoulder was in pain. We found that her operation had been unsuccessful. Her condition deteriorated; she has cysts on her shoul-der and is in constant pain. Ukrainian doctors are unable to help her.

This is Vika’s story, up to 2013. She is a fine student, a gifted athlete, a tribute to our sport. Life has not been kind to her. She deserves bet-ter…hence this story.

I speak Russian, Croatian, German and English. I can send computer scans and detailed information of Vika’s shoulder to anyone who may be able to assist. Moreover, Vika was greatly impressed by the Koreans in Aruba. If anyone can help bring her to Korea to see taekwondo in its home country, this would be a great encouragement. I thank – in ad-vance – anyone who is able to help change a fellow taekwondo athlete’s life for the better.

[email protected]

00380993848825

Part 4 Around the WTF > Vika’s Story

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Around the WTF

T he World Taekwondo Federation has been nominated for Inter-national Sports Federation of the Year at the Peace and Sport In-

ternational Forum in Sochi, Russia for the outstanding contribution to communities in developing nations made by its groundbreaking WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps initiative.

The WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps was founded in 2008 to help promote peace, understanding of cultures and Olympic values through taekwondo. The initiative operates in all five Olympic conti-nents, with active involvement across the WTF’s 204 member nation-

al associations. To date, nearly 900 taekwondo volunteers have been dispatched to 93 countries.

The WTF president and founder of the WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps, Chungwon Choue, commented on the importance of the work.

“It is a real honor to be nominated for such a prestigious award, and the global taekwondo family should be proud to be recognized for the contribution we are making to the Olympic movement,” he said. “The WTF Peace Corps does some great work in providing resources for children to enjoy and play in communities where, sometimes, the

The WTF has been shortlisted for the International Sports Federation of the Year Award for its global Peace Corps initiative

World Taekwondo Federation Nominated for Peace and Sport Award

chance to play is limited. The program aims to teach understanding and friendship to the youth of the world through taekwondo training, while simultaneously encouraging cultural exchange and bonds be-tween different corners of the world.”

The next phase in the development will be to create regional and local taekwondo peace corps, in order to increase the fre-quency and reach of programs and ensure each is finely tuned to the individual needs of communities in the developing world.

Jean-Marie Ayer, WTF secretary general, said:

“The WTF has always been very active in promoting sport, healthy lifestyles and Olympism in the developing world, and over the last four years we have seen just what a powerful tool taekwondo can be,” he said. “It is a sport with minimal equipment and space require-ments, so our WTF Peace Corps volunteers can bring young people

together even when there is little or no permanent sports infrastruc-ture in place. That has helped the WTF take the Olympic values to some of the most deprived communities in the world.”

The WTF Peace Corps initiative was pre-sented by President Choue to the UN-IOC Sport for Development and Peace Confer-ence in Geneva in 2010. In response, the forum recommended “to commend the achievements of the WTF Peace Corps in its successful outreach to young people and its aims of building a better and more peaceful world; and to advocate the consideration of

its global expansion, in close cooperation with key stakeholders, in-cluding the IOC, the UN, national and international federations and NOCs, firmly believing that together, we have the ability to promote global peace and harmony through sport.”

Part 4 Around the WTF > Peace and Sport Award

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

The 4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp wrapped up its six-day event with resounding success in Seoul,

Korea on June 24, 2012. The annual event, jointly organized by the World Taekwondo Fed-

eration and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, attracted a total of 210 young taekwondo practitioners from 33 countries.

The camp, which opened in Muju, Korea on July 19, was held days before the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games. The purpose of the camp is to provide high-level taekwondo training and educa-tion on the Olympic values to the youth from all over the world at-tending the camp.

Among the participants was U.S. para-taekwondo athlete Sheila Radziewicz, a female black-belt holder, who was invited to the camp as a special lecturer. “I am happy to be part of this camp and I am hon-ored to be invited as a special lecturer,” Radziewicz said. The 34-year-old, who lives in Massachusetts, the United States, was born without arms and knee cartilage. She took up taekwondo in 2001 and four years ago she earned a black belt to become the first female para-tae-kwondo practitioner in taekwondo history to earn it solely by kicking.

Also attending was Vietnamese national taekwondo coach Ms. Tran Hieu Ngan, the silver medalist in the female -57kg division at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, who became the first Vietnamese Olympic medal winner.

New Caledonia and Seychelles, two of the WTF’s newest member countries, dispatched young taekwondo practitioners to the camp. Two Thai youths from the Thai Free Orphanage Taekwondo Training Pro-gram were also given the opportunity to participate in the annual camp.

During the opening and closing ceremonies of the camp, all par-ticipants read the Creed of Taekwondo Practitioners, which reads: “I will keep both my body and mind strong and lead a righteous life. I will serve my parents and love my family. I will respect the people including my teachers and elders and be faithful to my friends. I will help my neighbors, serving my community and country. I will live in

harmony with nature and contribute to the peace and prosperity of mankind.”

“Our goal for this year, and every year, is to spread hope and dreams to the youth of the world. The youth that are the future of our sport and the champions and Olympians of tomorrow are waiting for their chance,” said WTF President Chungwon Choue. “You can help spread these hope and dreams by sharing the values of sportsman-ship and the spirit of Olympism here with your campmates and when you return home.”

Jhong-shin Bae, chairman of the Taekwondo Promotion Foun-dation, said, “I would like to welcome all of you to Muju, where Tae-kwondowon, the hub and training complex of taekwondo, is under construction... At this Youth Camp, you will be able to upgrade your taekwondo skills at the birthplace of taekwondo, and learn from the experiences of Olympic medalists and senior taekwondo figures who have made great achievements.”

Dr. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Com-mittee, said in his congratulatory message for the camp, “You will have the opportunity to learn more about the Olympic values through the Olympic Values Education Program, discover other cultures, and build friendships with young people from other countries... By taking part in this camp, you will be well equipped to live a healthy and sporting life, and be able to contribute to improving your communities, coun-try and the world.”

Dae-soon Lee, vice president of the WTF, addressed his welcom-ing message on behalf of WTF President Choue.

During the camp, participants received special lectures on the Olympic Values Education Program and the WTF Competition Rules and anti-doping education, as well as having the first-hand stories of Olympic medalists. They also visited the Taekwondowon in Muju and the Kukkiwon in Seoul, and had various camp activities, including a folk costume and talent show competition, and a poomsae demonstration and breaking event at the Peace Plaza in the Olympic Park in Seoul.

4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp210 young people from 33 countries, including orphans and para-athletes, had a ball in Muju, Korea

Part 4 Around the WTF > 4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp

Around the WTF


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Participants’ Reflections: WTF-Kyung Hee CourseThe WTF runs a Partnership Taekwondo Training Program with Kyung Hee University, the first four-year university in Korea to include taekwondo as an academic subject. The program, which started in 2005, has lured scores of coaches and athletes. The following are selected reflections from participants in the 2012 program

One year ago, when I was told that a scholarship might be waiting for me to be present at Kyung Hee University in Korea in 2012, my expectations were not very encouraging. But with the help of many, with personal effort and with the guarantee and the help of the Costa Rican Federation of Taekwondo, this opportunity became a reality. The university kindly gave scholarships for two persons per country, but in my country’s case, on this occasion, I came alone.

For me it was a trip into the unknown. A trip to a distant country with a different culture and different language was a challenge. But the desire to improve taekwondo in my country gave me the force to tackle the trip. The trip was really exhausting; it was two days of travel. Thrilled? Not really, particularly given the suspense of not knowing what was waiting for me. Good? Bad? Only time would tell.

I was received very well on arrival and taken out to eat. The guide in charge of our group chose a very good place to eat. I had never tried a Korean meal, it was a different but very agreeable experience; in general I found the Korean meals very good. And the people in Korea were always very kind, with smiles and with kind gestures. For this country, with its re-markable infrastructure, I do not have another word to describe it but “incredible!”

From the first day, I began to realize that some-thing very big and good was waiting for me, since in my country taekwondo is not studied as profes-sion. To know and to see that in Korea it is taught in the universities as a career was remarkable. From the first class I realized that in Korea taekwondo is

another world, the level and depth with which it is analyzed is impressive. In every lesson at which I was present I learned something new. This is what excites me about this art, one is always in constant learning.

It was very interesting to see and to get to know the different aspects of Korean culture, to feel the pride of the people, their roots and their history of hundreds of years. For me, this was very interesting.

Moreover, to share different points of view on taekwondo with people of different countries is something that has value - countries like Myanmar, Russia, Italy, Israel, Malta, and many other places in the world. Thanks to courses such as this one, people practicing taekwondo can meet and experiment.

And I received a great deal of knowledge on the different aspects of taekwondo. Really, I hope that life will reward me by allowing me to return to this country and this university, where I will be able to share again with the persons that I met and who were so kind in receiving this humble servant, so that he was learning not only about taekwondo but also about a very impressive country. Everything learned will be transmitted to my partners and friends so that the taekwondo of my country grows every day.

My gratitude goes to the university for this pro-gram that is ensuring that taekwondo grows on a glob-al scale for all of its brothers and sisters. And also my thanks go to the Costa Rican Federation of Taekwondo for giving me the guarantee and economic support to be able to be present at this course, and also to the persons who in one way or another made this dream - although at first it seemed unlikely - a reality.

Prof. Renzo Ramírez NCosta Rica

Part 4 Around the WTF > Participants’ Reflections: WTF-Kyung Hee Course

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

Hi, I’m Gwi Kim Hwa from Malaysia, 30-years-old, this was my first time to Korea, it was really nice to see something new here, especially Korean culture which I had never seen before, I’d never gain so much knowledge if I didn’t come here. I have seen a lot of new things here which I had never seen in my home country, like the Seoul Lantern Festival. Thanks for the field trip and the Seoul trip.

Thanks to Master Jung for teaching us a lot of things and for taking care of us all the way. I’ll bring back the demonstration skills that I learned here and make our demonstrations even better. Namsan Tow-er’s live taekwondo show was awesome, it was the first time for me to watch so good a live show, their performance was amazing.

Thanks to Min-yong Oh who took care of us, teaching us sparring skills, techniques and kicks with

Kevin Na and Suk Bum, he worked very hard.Thanks to the poomsae master for recording our

poomsae on video and correcting our mistakes. His students worked very hard to teach me, sorry that I’m not good in poomsae and gave them a hard time, I’ll work hard to improve after I get back.

Thanks to Alex Jeon for being a very good trans-lator and other friends who joined this program, I had a very good experience with everyone from dif-ferent countries.

Thanks to Carol Kim who took care of us, prepar-ing everything that we needed, she is a very nice lady.

Finally very big thanks to WTF-KHU for giving me this chance. I hope that I can teach my students what I learned here.

Thanks!Gwi Kim HwaMalaysia

Jeng Yen LeeMalaysia

My heart was filled with joy to be chosen to join this course on poomsae and demonstrations and this is just a small letter of the love and gratitude that I wish to convey to the organizers.

The consistent feedback and support I got from you all has helped me scale new heights in improv-ing the quality of my poomsae movement. Without doubt, it’s the best course that I had ever been on. In the two weeks, I did so much training in so many dif-ferent types of classes.

Not to mention that the organizers arranged tours to Seoul Tower on Namsan mountain, the arts and crafts district of Insadong, and many places that introduced Korean culture as well as Korean food. It was all amazing and the food was so delicious.

I will take this program and information back to my country and hopefully help our athletes to reach new heights. Other than that, I wish to come back here soon for the next course organized by WTF-KHU.

Thank you again for the support and love.

First of all, may I kindly thank the WTF and Kyung Hee University for accepting me on this program. I consider this program a gift from the WTF and KHU and it will be my duty as well as my pleasure to share the fruits of this gift with all my fellow taekwondo practitioners at home.

The scientific approach shown throughout the program, the warm welcome, care and diligence shown by the program director, teachers and vol-unteers as well as the friendly atmosphere created within this group are what impressed me the most.

The scientific approach was evident in all of the subjects covered. It reminded me of my own uni-versity days, some 20 years ago. Particularly, one noticed this approach in the lectures relating to the biomechanical analysis of movement in taekwondo kicking techniques; the body movement and vol-ume of technique for maximum impact and accura-cy adopted in modern competitive poomsae; proper jumping and landing in order to protect one’s joints in demonstrations; the agility, footwork, fast com-binations and explosive drills practised in the spar-ring area; the taping of body parts for protection or recovery purposes; and so on and so forth. The list never ends!

The warm welcome and competence of the or-ganizers and teachers was crucial to the success of this program. People attending this course travelled

from various parts of the world, some coming alone and without knowing what and whom to find. The warm welcome and care shown by the program di-rector, teachers and volunteers was impressive and put one’s mind at rest as soon as one got to meet them. I also greatly appreciated the field trips. They have given me a better understanding of - and in-deed more appreciation for - Korean culture.

Finally, one cannot fail to mention the atmo-sphere created by this relatively big group of around 40. The spectrum of countries represented was in-deed very wide; we even had countries with some political tensions represented in this program. At first, I thought there could be some issues between these practitioners - but no. Nothing was allowed to affect the friendly atmosphere created within this group. I was happy to witness the positive develop-ment of a friendly relationship even between these practitioners. Taekwondo prevailed! And perhaps the unification of peoples around the world is not a coincidental effect of the practice of taekwondo, but rather one of its intended goals.

Once more: Thank you for giving me the op-portunity to live this experience. Taekwondo is my passion and with such passion I will pass on this experience to my students and fellow taekwondo practitioners in Malta and in Luxembourg.

Christopher VellaMalta


Around the WTF


Around the WTF

My name is Joseph Chuwa from Tanzania. I work at a gym where I have a big taekwondo club and I am also vice president of the Tanzania Taekwon-do Federation. I hold a Kukkiwon-certified 2nd dan black belt, and have more than 17 years of taekwondo training so far.

This was my first time to visit Korea and also my first flight! I have a long story about that, but the important thing was that I arrived and that’s enough. In Korea, I got the surprise of my life.

We say, “taekwondo is life.” In taekwondo you will find all about life - how to care, how to work hard, to love, to help, to calm down after a big reaction, togetherness. And many more things. There are a million reason why taekwondo is life.

The program conducted with the collabo-ration of the World Taekwondo Federation and Kyung Hee University was great, with creative professors and masters from the WTF and KHU. We learned many details about demonstrations, self defense, sparring, poomsae movement, poomsae, philosophy, taekwondo aerobics, bio-mechanics, K-pop, Korean language, analysis of sparring and rules, first aid and taping, nutrition for taekwondo players, and measurement and evaluation of taekwondo.

I also had a great time on the different trips, leaning about the history of Korea and the most

attractive places in Seoul and other areas, such as the Namsan mountain tour, the Lantern Fes-tival, the Kukkiwon, the Folk Village and Everland Amusement Park. But it was the unexpected things that surprised most of us.

In Korea, when you talk to most Koreans, they always smile and give you a chance to continue to talk to them. Always they smile; even if they don’t know English, they do some things to make sure you understand them or they can help you. I vis-ited cultural sites where I was so surprised about how Koreans keep their past and make these ar-eas attractions.

When I return home, I will go back to my country with a lot of knowledge to develop Tan-zanian taekwondo. I am sure that through this program, taekwondo will develop not only in Korea but all over the world. I am sure that a revo-lution in sport will occur as taekwondo becomes one of the strongest sports worldwide.

My special thanks to the Republic of Korea, the WTF and KHU, the Republic of Tanzania and the Tanzanian Taekwondo Federation, and also all professors and masters of KHU who were very good to all of us. And also thanks to the partic-ipants from different countries as all were my friends. God bless Tanzania, Korea and the world.

“Taekwondo is life.”

Joeseph ChuwaTanzania

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Srilanka

Srilanka

Srilanka

Srilanka

Siti Rochmah

Kumari A. S. G.

Tharushi H. K. G

Diumini K. L. D.

Ushani U. D. P.

Thilini H. L, A

Gayathrie S. P. M. A

Randini N. K. A. G

Wimaladarma A. G.G.S.

Ko Chan Ul

Lee Ki Soo

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Bulgaria

Costa Rica

Ghana

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hungary

Indonesia

Iran

Israel

Italy

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malta

Myanmar

Myanmar

New Zealand

Palestine

Palestine

Puerto Rico

Russia

Russia

Slovakia

Slovakia

Tanzania

USA

USA

USA

USA

Egypt

Pakistan

Pakistan

USA

USA

Mariya Blagoeva Marcheva

Renzo Ramirez Nunez

Martin Prince Oppan

Chi Ying Yeung

Chun Fai Wong

Eva Fabian Sobotkane

Billy Aprilsya

Ali Nadali

Alex Fuks

Rosario Tetamo

Gwi Kim Hwa

Tsan Hwa Seng

Goh Kee Wei

Yong Jia Lee

Zarul Akmal Bin Roslan

Chui Yong Long

Lee Jeng Yen

Clara Tang Xin Yu

Christopher Vella

Aung Naing

Soe Soe Thin

Sonja Sahbzad

Tahseen Omar Abuzaideh

Wisam M.T Seder

Gilbert H Serrano

Alexander Sergeevish Lisin

Vasily Andreevich Palmov

Kristina Kokoskova

Gabriel Hiczer

Joseph John Chuwa

Michael Couloucoundis

Alexander Jeong

Matthew Mooers

Dylan Kader

Emad Eldin Mahmoud

Haroon Anwar

Syed Waseem Raza

Kim Yong Bum

Kim Yeong Gil

Nation Name

2012.11.12~25(Poomsae & Demonsrtarion Coach Course)

21 Nations / 39 Members

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Mauritius

Norway

Norway

Canada

Italy

Indonesia

Indonesia

India

Hungary

Iran

Srilanka

Srilanka

Srilanka

Canada

Monaco

Sheldon Kim Xiung Yan Too Sang

Nina Bansal

Joachim Wien

Kayla Elizabeth Chow

Kang Hyeon Wook

Siti Intan chintya

Jhon Junior Mandagi

Pankaj Kumar

Marcell Kenez

Ahmad Hossein Ali

A·P·D Maduhusanka

S·W·M·K·S Fernando

Dilan Sanjeewa Sayakkara

Lim Seung Min

Angelo Spataro

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Jordan

Srilanka

Srilanka

Lalu Dedy Rahman

Darren Clark Stokes

Yosif Mohamed Yosif

Ayman Hassan Allusami

Sampath P. P

Pradeepnandana G. G.

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2012.10.8~21(Refresher Course)


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Romania

Italy

India

Indonesia

Indonesia

Newzealand

Pakistan

France

USA

Korea

Korea

Korea

Korea

China

China

China

China

China

China

China

China

China

China

China

Marius Nicolae Muti

Francesco Chisari

Tufan Kumar Poddar

Mishbahuddin Bin Badarali

Reza Pahlavi Saktiavia

Matthew Aclrian Cui

Zaheer Syed Shah

Lim Selgi

Micheal

Lee Tae Won

Kim Min Jae

Jeon Eun Su

Choi Kwang Min

Xu hang

Liu Ya Kun

Jiang Jing Yi

Huang Wei Chen

Ji Yu Xing

Ji Yu Yang

Wu Hao

Wang Yi Xuan

Bi Zhi Yuan

Kim Won Ki

Kwon soon

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2012.8.6~12(Taekwondo Camp)


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Sweden

Sweden

Italy

Italy

USA

Newzealand

Newzealand

Canada

Canada

Canada

India

India

India

Monaco

Monaco

Guam

Guam

Slovakia

Hungary

Jacob Karl Anders Soderblom

Karolin Sara Monika Karlsson

Licia Martignani

Lorenzo Zicarelli

Christy Jiyoung Quintanilla

Isaac Dwyer Jellyman

Matthew Aclrian Cui

Alysha Anne McCheyne

Shayla Breanne Beauchamp

Emily Skye Beauchamp

Gajendra Singh Panihar

Saurabh Mohan Kadam

Mahendra Singh Parihar

Doria Anouk

Platto kelian

Alexander Xavier Allen

Jae Heung Abando Ho

Tomas Kaliska

Andras Szabo

Nation Name

2012.7.16~7.29(Sparring, Poomsae & Demonstration Athletes)


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Nigeria

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Israel

Russia

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine

Cambodia

Cambodia

Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon

India

Oman

Oman

Sudan

Sudan

Srilanka

Srilanka

Srilanka

Pakistan

Pakistan

Slovakia

Slovakia

Mounir Nouioui

Hichem Ayouni

Mehrez Hiraoui

Abdelhamid Benzahia

Benjamin Chuks Eneh

Abdul Malik Mohammed

Yuri Aharon Grossman

Vladimir Vladimirovich Kurkin

Stanislav Valerievich Nagornov

Stanislav Vladimirovich Babxhenko

Dmmytro Leonidovich kriachok

Nguon Navy Sok

Sarath Chea

Kaissar Antoine Homsi

Mark georges rjeily

Ali Loutfi Raad

Balasubramani Haribabu

Khalid Mohamed Albusafi

Jasim Mohamed Alrashdi

Omer Mohamed Bello

Ismail Abakar Ismail

Ranjith Muramudalige

Romesh rathnasekara menikdivela

Tharaka Ruwansiri Katururnde Kalu Arachchilage

Syed Waseem Raza

Haroon Anwar

Peter UREK

MAREK mikos

Nation Name

2012.6.18~7.1(Sparring Coach Course)


2012 WTF-KHU PartnershipTaekwondo Training Program


Around the WTF


Around the WTF

Royalty Visits WTF

Lebanese Leaders Granted Olympic Positions

His Royal Highness Prince Rashid bin El Hassan, president of the Jor-dan Taekwondo Federation, visited the headquarters of the World Taekwondo Federation on March 25, 2012 to talk with WTF President Chungwon Choue.

Along with his Royal family members, the Jordanian prince came to Korea on the occasion of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit, which kicked off in Seoul on March 26 for a two-day run.

“The popularity of taekwondo is rapidly growing in Jordan as we clinched three tickets to the taekwondo competition of the 2012 Lon-don Olympic Games,” HRH Prince Rashid said in a meeting with WTF President Choue.

He said, “Excluding wild cards, Jordan earned a total of four to five London Olympic tickets through qualification tournaments and three

of them are from taekwondo.”Jordan won three Olympic taekwondo berths, one in the men’s

-68kg category and two in women’s categories (-49kg and +67kg), through the Asian Qualification Tournament held in Bangkok, Thailand.

In a meeting with WTF President Choue, the prince asked for WTF support in Jordan’s hosting a WTF-promoted event, saying the popu-lation of taekwondo practitioners stands at about 100,000.

“Together with Iran, Jordan has strong female athletes and has very good records at international competitions,” he said, showing a strong interest in taekwondo education at schools in Korea.

On March 26, HRH Prince Rashid bin El Hassan visited the Kukki-won in Seoul to watch a taekwondo demonstration.

Carine Lahoud, president of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation, has been appointed to the women’s committee of the Lebanese Olympic Committee.

Lahoud, a WTF council member and vice president of the Asian Taekwondo Union, has also been selected to represent Lebanon at the Leadership Seminar for Women in Sport, to be jointly organized by the IOC and AOC on April 24-25, 2013.

And there is more good news: Georges Zeidan, secretary gener-al of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation, has been selected as vice president of the Lebanese Olympic Committee.

Jordan Taekwondo Federation President HRH Rashid bin El Hassan took time to visit the WTF headquarters during a recent trip to Seoul

Two Lebanese taekwondo heads have been invited onto prestigious Olympic committees

Part 4 Around the WTF > Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader

Singapore Taekwondo Chief Joins NOC

Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader

Milan Kwee, president of the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF), has been elected as an Executive Committee, or Council, member of the Singapore National Olympic Committee (SNOC).

The election of Kwee marked the first time in the history of the SNOC that a taekwondo or a martial arts member has been included in the council.

Five candidates from taekwondo, bowling, fencing, swimming and canoeing vied for the three coveted positions at the SNOC’s an-nual meeting held on June 29, 2012 at Raffles Town Club in Singapore.

The taekwondo community in Singapore was elated on learning of the successful election of Kwee.

“I am grateful to those who have supported me and will do my best to share my time and experience for the benefit of all sports,” Kwee said immediately after the meeting.

“However, I am also prepared to be guided my more established colleagues in the council,” Kwee added.

Michael Fysentzidis, secretary general of the Hellenic Taekwondo Federation and ETU vice president, has been elected vice president of the International Olympic Academy and dean of the Panathenaic Stadium - the most ancient stadium in use in the world.

This is the stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and is the starting point of the journey of the Olympic torch relay to all cities which hold the Olympics - be they the Winter, Summer or Youth Games.

His appointment to these honorary and major offices confers recognition upon the Greek taekwondo family, while reinforcing the presence of our be-loved sport in the Olympic Movement across the world.

Milan Kwee has been elected as an executive committee member of Singapore’s NOC

Taekwondo’s man in Greece has been elected IOA vice presi-dent and dean of the Olympics’ most iconic stadium

Around the WTF


Around the WTF

African Honor for WTF HeadWTF President received the Commander of Merit Sport in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire at the 8th Francophone World Cup

WTF President Chungwon Choue received the Commander of Merit Sport of Cote d’Ivoire during the opening ceremony of the 8th Franco-phone World Cup Taekwondo in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on June 16, 2012.

The award was presented by Cote d’Ivorie Sport Minister Philippe Legre. Roger Piarulli, president of the French Taekwondo Federation, was also awarded the Official Order of Merit Sport.

On June 15, WTF President Choue along with other WTF lead-ers visited the National Assembly of Cote d’Ivoire to meet with Cote d’Ivorie President Alassane Ouattara. The two exchanged opinions on how to promote taekwondo in Cote d’Ivoire in a cordial atmosphere.

At the meeting, WTF President Choue presented the Cote d’Ivoire president with a taekwondo uniform and a black belt.

The 8th Francophone World Cup Taekwondo, which took place on June 16 and 17 at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan, attract-ed 116 athletes from 25 French-speaking countries around the world.

The opening ceremony featured a performance by the WTF Tae-kwondo Demonstration Team, drawing big applause from the jam-packed arena.

France won the overall title with three gold medals, two silver med-als and one bronze medal, followed by host Cote d’Ivoire and Tunisia.

Cote d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara (right) in taekwondo uniforms talks with WTF President Chungwon Choue at the National Assembly in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on June 15, 2012. Also on hand is WTF Secretary General Jean-Marie Ayer.

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Part 4 Around the WTF > African Honor for WTF Head

Around the WTF


Around the WTFAround the Continental Unions

ATU Activities

2013 is already looking like a vintage year for taekwondo. Coming so soon after the remarkable success of taekwondo at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the WTF’s 40th birthday could not have had a bet-ter gift than the news that taekwondo has been confirmed by the IOC Executive Board as a core Olympic sport for the 2020 Olympic Games. I think these results, un-der the WTF’s leadership, were driven by the entire taekwondo family across the world regardless of age, gender or race.

Our efforts to promote the value of taekwondo globally have worked out very well, the clearest evidence being that taekwondo has truly helped the life style and well-being of mankind, espe-cially youth.

2012 saw a number of meaningful ATU events. “Kicking for Miracles” and the 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships were successfully con-ducted and contributed to promote the value of taekwondo training.

The major ATU activities for the year included:

the 4th Bahrain Open International Championships from February 9-11 in Manama, Bahrain; ATU Council Meeting and ATU General Assembly on May 3; the

1st Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships on May 4; the 2nd Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships on May 5; the 6th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships from May 6-8; the 20th Asian Taekwondo Championships from May 9-11 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; the 12th FISU World University Taekwon-do Championships from May 25-30 in Pocheon, Korea; the Taekwondo Day event “Kicking for Miracles” on Septem-ber 4 in ATU member nations; the 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships on October 12 in Mos-cow, Russia; the 20 CISM World Military Taekwondo Championships from Octo-ber 19-26 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; the 7th Korea Open International Tae-kwondo Championships from October 25-30 in Gyeongju, Korea; and the 24th Fajr Cup Open from December 21-22 in Tehran, Iran.

The year 2012 was very fruitful for ATU member nations, which clinched eight medals at the London Olympics: two gold medals by Wu Jingyu (China, women’s -49kg division) and Kyung-seon Hwang (Korea, women’s -67kg division), and three silvers and three bronzes.

The ATU has planned a range of up-

Dear Members,

coming cooperative continental activities, such as seminars, training camps, workshops for instructors, etc. In this regard, the ATU promis-es to work collaboratively with regional unions and national associa-tions to promote taekwondo across the continent and to support and promote all types of taekwondo activities, especially for the newly joined and less promoted countries.

Besides the event calendar list, we will have an“International Kyo-rugi and International Poomsae IRS & IRRC” from May 18~21 and from May 23~27, respectively, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Taekwondo has become an Olympic core sport, pending the final approval of the IOC Session in September, and this shows that the value of taekwondo training has been acknowledged, and the efforts to make taekwondo competition fair, transparent, and exciting have

been achieved by us and proven to the IOC and the world. Taekwon-do truly showed its best face, applying the most advanced competi-tion operations and demonstrating the most respectful manners at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The ATU is on the leading edge of promoting taekwondo and we promise that our continuous efforts and sincere commitments to pro-mote the sport in Asia, thereby supporting WTF activities, will never end.

Dr. Dai-soon LeePresident, Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU)

Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > ATU Activities

Date Place 2013 ATU EVENT

March 1~3

March 28~30

June 13~17

June 19

June 20

June 21~23

July 4~9

Oct. 6~15

Oct. 31 ~ Nov. 3

Dec. 11~22

Fujairah, UAE

Manama, Bahrain

Pekan-Baru Riau, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia

Chuncheon, Korea

Tianjin, China

Bali, Indonesia

TayPyiTaw, Myanmar

1st Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships

5th Bahrain Open International Championships

3rd Islamic Solidarity Games

ATU Council Meeting / ATU General Assembly

2nd Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

7th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships

2013 Chuncheon Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships

6th East Asian Game (Taekwondo Competition: Oct. 7~9)


27th SEA Games (Taekwondo Competition: Dec. 18~21)

2013 ATU Event Calendar

Around the WTF



AFTU Activities

TAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF136136

Dear Taekwondo Fans,

On behalf of our African Continental Taekwondo family, which is in-creasing every year with new members to cover almost every corner of Africa, I hope for the continuance of mutual cooperation with the World Taekwondo Federation bodies and leadership, and the other continental bodies and taekwondo fans everywhere in the world. Our African will and desire is for the development, spread and improve-ment of our beloved sport of taekwondo, which successfully contin-ued in the Olympics, while some other, older sports went quiet. And that was a result of the efforts by each body, organization and individu-al in our taekwondo community. We have upgraded the rules and per-formance of the art to be strong and attractive for all parties – the ath-letes, coaches, referees, administrators and spectators of taekwondo.

Best regards to you all,

Gen. Ahmed Fouly President, African Taekwondo Union (AFTU) Vice President, World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)

Date Place RemarksEVENT

Feb. 24~27

March

Sept.

Oct. 10~12

Nov.

Alexandria - Egypt

Libreville - Gabon

Alexandria - Egypt

Alexandria - Egypt

Cotonou - Benin

Serjaco for Sports Services : approved G1 event

Para African event

AFTU Continental event

Egypt Fed. open applied for G3 event

AFTU Continental event

5th Alexandrias Int. Taekwondo Championships

1st African Para Championships

African 12th Senior, 1st Junior, 2nd Teams, 3rd Poomsae

6th Egypt Open Taekwondo Championships

African Cup Championships 2013

AFTU Official Event Calendar for 2013

Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > AFTU Activities

Around the WTF



The year 2012 was a great one! Under the leadership of Dr. Chungwong Choue, we celebrated a very suc-cessful Olympic Games in London. With the media attention, the visitors at the venue during the com-petition days and the amazing competitions, I am convinced that taekwondo will stay in the Olympic program for years to come.

Next to the Olympic Games, the ETU’s member national associations organized different events for athletes in Europe. I am proud to say that we had 18 high-level ETU A-class tournaments in 2012 organized across Europe. At both the kyorugi and poomsae championships, highly skilled athletes competed for the highest honors. Next to these events, the ETU also organized the European Qualification Tournament in Russia, the European Senior Championships in the United Kingdom and the European 16-21 Champion-ships in Athens.

With regard to solidarity, the ETU organized an intensive program in Moldova, in order to stimulate taekwondo in the region. Different experts on tae-kwondo contributed to the program, which ranged from referee training and kyorugi to poomsae train-ing. It was a valuable week for instructors and tae-kwondo practitioners in Moldova.

In cooperation with the Asian Taekwondo Union, and supported by the Russian Taekwondo Union, the ETU organized a great event in Moscow: the 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Champi-onships. During this one-day event, teams from the ETU and ATU fought against each other in different competition formats. The public was very enthusias-tic and the event was a huge success. In the future, we hope to plan a similar event together with one of the other continental unions.

Besides these important milestones, the ETU or-

ganized the 1st European Club Championships. Here, clubs could participate at the highest European level and the first reactions were very positive. Upcoming events in 2013 are the European Poomsae Champi-onships, the European 16-21 Championships, the European Cadet Championships and the European Junior Championships. I am convinced that the orga-nizing MNAs will make sure these are great events.

With regard to international sports events, I am proud to announce that taekwondo will be in the program of the Mediterranean Games in 2013 in Tur-key. In addition, taekwondo will also be added to the program of the European Games which will be held in 2015 in Azerbaijan. These developments would not have been possible without the continuing ef-forts made by members to add taekwondo on the lists of sports for these events.

In 2013 the WTF Global Athlete License will be in-troduced at ETU-sanctioned events. This means that all participants at European Championships and oth-er ETU activities and events will have to obtain the license.

Also in 2013 we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the World Taekwondo Federation. The ETU will con-tinue to support the WTF and President Choue in his effort to develop and promote taekwondo over the world. I would like to thank him and all volunteers, referees, organizers, executives and those who spend their time contributing to our beloved sport. Without your valued and committed contribution, none of the events and activities that took place in the past and will take place in the future would be feasible. Thank you!

Yours,

Sakis Pragalos

President, European Taekwondo Union (ETU)

ETU Activities

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > ETU Activities

Jan. 9~13

Feb. 9~10

Feb. 9

March 8~10

March 15~17

April 5~7

April 6~7

April 18~21

April 27~28

May 25

June 1~2

June 8

June 8~9

June 15

June 21~30

July 21

July 27~29

Aug. 8~9

Aug. 17~18

Aug. 20~24

Sept. 26~29

Oct. 3~6

Oct. 18~26

Oct. 26~27

Nov. 9~10

Dec. 7~8

European Team Championships

Trelleborg Open

German Open Poomsae

German Open

Dutch Open

Belgian Open

Belgian Open Poomsae

European 16 / 21 Championships

Spanish Open

Danish Open Poomsae

Austrian Open

4th WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

Swiss Open

Austrian Open Poomsae

Mediterranean Games

19th Maccabiah Games Taekwondo

2013 Summer Deaflympics Taekwondo

2013 World Masters Games Taekwondo

Finnish Open Poomsae

European Cadet Championships

European Junior Championships

Ukrainian Cup

Sportaccord Combat Games

Galeb Belgrad Open

Croatian Open

Paris International

Greece

Sweden

Germany

Germany

Netherlands

Belgium

Belgium

Moldova

Spain

Denmark

Austria

Switzerland

Switzerland

Austria

Turkey

Israel

Bulgaria

Italy

Finland

Romania

Portugal

Ukraine

Russia

Serbia

Croatia

France

Athens

Trelleborg

Ingolstadt

Hamburg

Eindhoven

Gent

Gent

Chisinau

Alicante

Kolding

Innsbruck

Lausanne

Lausanne

Vienna

Mersin

Jerusalem

Sofia

Torino

Turku

Bucharest

Porto

Kharkov

St. Petersburg

Belgrade

Zagreb

Paris

Activities in Europe 2013

Around the WTF



Dear PATU Family and Friends,

On behalf of the PATU, I would like to wish you and your family happiness, health and prosperity.

2013 will be without a doubt another busy year for all PATU family. Beginning with the Central American Games to be held in Costa Rica in March, we will have the WTF World Championships in Puebla, Mexico, the Pan Am Open in Queretaro, Mexico in September, the Pan Am Junior & Cadet Championships in October and the WTF World Poomsae Championships in November.

We must continue to work together to maintain the value and the integrity of our sport to international sports communities. I would like to urge you to continue your efforts to promote our sport to your NOCs and honorable IOC members in the Pan American region. Through your dedication and hard work, I am confident that our sport will gain a renewed recognition among international sport leaders.

As we initialize our new PATU leadership for the next five years, the following list of newly elected and appointed PATU EXCO and Council members will be at your service to continue our cooperatively progressive development of our sport in the Pan Am continent.

Sr. Vice President: Dr. Helder Navarro Carriazo / Colombia

Vice President / North America: Mr. Simon Su Hwan Chung / Canada

Vice President / Central America: Mr. Frank Silva Urbina / Nicaragua

Vice President / South America: Dr. Alejandro Mansilla Arias / Bolivia

Vice President / Caribbean: Mr. Francisco Camacho / Dominican Republic

Secretary General: Mr. Roberto Beltran Ramonetti / Mexico

Treasurer: Mr. Sejin Park / USA

Auditor: Mr. Raul Pinzon Salamanca / Colombia

Council: Mr. Ricardo Torres / Argentina

Council: Mr. Eduardo Labadie / Uruguay

Council: Mr. Chuong Pham: USA

Council: Mr. Younggi Jeon: Peru

Executive Director: Mr. Rick Shin / USA

Please refer to the following tentative schedule for this year and make your participation plans for your team accordingly.

Thank you again for your continued support for the PATU leadership and I look forward to successfully completing all WTF and PATU business together in 2013!

Sincerely,

PATU Activities

Grand Master Ji Ho Choi President, Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU)Council Member, WTFExecutive Board Member, ACODEPA

Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > PATU Activities

Las Vegas, U.S.A.

San Jose, Costa Rica

TBA

Toronto, Canada

TBA

Medelin, Colombia

TBA

Puebla, Mexico

TBD

San Jose, Costa Rica

Queretaro, Mexico

TBD

TBD

Sogamoso, Colombia

TBA

U.S. Open

X Central American Games

PATU Technical Seminar / Caribbean

Canada Open

PATU Technical Seminar / Central

Medelin Open Poomsae Championships

PATU Technical Seminar / South

2013 WTF World Taekowndo Championships

Caribbean Championships

Costa Rica Open

2013 Pan Am Open

Pan Am Jr. & Cadet Championships

Pan Am Junior & Cadet Open

South American Championships

PATU Technical Seminar / Caribbean

Feb. 18~23

March 13~16

April

May 2~5

May

June 2~3

July

July 15-21

Aug.

Aug.

Sept. 12~15

Oct.

Oct.

Nov.

Nov.

Tentative PATU Schedule for 2013

Around the WTF



2012 was another milestone year in the development of the Oceania Taekwondo Union and concluded with the 2012 Oceania Championships held in Australia on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in December 2012.

The Oceania region is seeing rapid growth in the develop-ment of athletes who continue to show great skill in competi-tions, and we are eternally grateful for the support the OTU has received from our member nations who remain loyal, enthu-siastic and passionate despite the adversities that they face in terms of resources, finances, expertise and opportunity. None-theless, the OTU is confident that the lead up to Rio 2016 will be successful for the OTU, its athletes and its member nations.

The next three years are vital in the development of our ath-letes and it is imperative that they be exposed to as much elite-level international competition as possible. Of course, this requires substantial financial resources and the OTU is commit-ted to doing whatever it can to secure those resources over the next three years to ensure that our development and represen-tation at future Olympics continue to grow.

MALE

-58kg Safwan Khalil (AUS) -68kg Logan Campbell (NZL) -80kg Vaughn Scott (NZL) + 80kg Kaino Thomsen (SAM)

OCEANIA OLYMPIC ATHLETES LONDON 2012

London 2012 Two athletes from Samoa, two from Australia, three from New Zealand and one from Papua New Guinea made up Oceania’s eight-athlete contingent and all performed remarkably. In partic-ular, the two Australian athletes made the quarterfinals and just missed out on bronze medals. Like all Olympics, they are a learn-ing curve for our athletes and a stepping-stone to future success.

Congratulations to all our Oceania Olympic representatives and to their respective member associations who have provid-ed guidance and support on their Olympic journey.

FEMALE

-49kg Theresa Tona (PNG) -57kg Robin Cheong (NZL) -67kg Carmen Marton (AUS) +67kg Talitiga Crawley (SAM)

Dear Members and Friends,

OTU Activities

Mr. Phil Coles President, Oceania Taekwondo Union (OTU)

The first WTF-sanctioned Open championships in the history of the OTU were held in Australia’s Gold Coast, Queensland, in September 2012 with over 600 athletes competing over two days. Our sincere thanks and appreciation is extended to the WTF for sanctioning this important event, which enabled Oceania athletes to compete in a WTF-sanctioned event within their region. More than 15 different countries participated in this historic competition - which also welcomed many athletes from outside of Oceania, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Iran, Greece, Turkey, the USA and many more.

Australia continues to lead the way in the expansion and development of the WTF’s GMS system, having piloted the GMS project as early as 2011. The pilot means that the system has been developed with regard to the needs and aspirations of MNAs and now reflects improvements that have resulted from nearly two years of testing. The OTU is now committed to expanding the GMS to all member nations in 2013 as it provides all of our MNAs with a valuable membership management tool, which has enormous benefits to our individual clubs and MNAs.

The 2013 Mini Pacific Games, which is a WTF-sanctioned, multi-sport event, are scheduled to take place in Wallis & Futuna from Septem-ber 6-9, 2013. Taekwondo has been included as a medal sport for the games, which is an important lead-up event to the Pacific Games in 2014, to be held in Papua New Guinea.

The OTU welcomes the following new MNAs to the OTU:

• CookIslands• Tuvalu• Micronesia• Nauru• Palau

This now takes the OTU’s total MNA members to 19, with more to come in 2013.

The 2012 Oceania Taekwondo championships were held in Australia on the Gold Coast, Queensland, and were an enormous success. Athletes from New Caledonia, Tahiti, Guam, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Wallis & Futuna, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu took part in the championships in both senior and junior divisions between December 1-2, 2012.

The 2012 Oceania Championships

2012 Australian Open

WTF Global Membership System

Mini Pacific Games

2012 was not without sadness with the news that our beloved Papua New Guinea President, Ower Illa, suddenly passed away in late 2012. He left a strong legacy in PNG, having secured Olympic qualifications for PNG athletes in 2008 (Beijing) and again in 2012 (London).

PNG President

New OTU Members

Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > OTU Activities

Around the WTF



Iraqi Taekwondo: Troubled Past, Bright Future

Iraq has suffered three major wars in the last two decades, but despite this, taekwondo is firmly planted in Iraqi soil.

The sport started as a committee of the Martial Arts Federation in 1979 but was established as an independent federation in 1983. The first president of the Iraq Taekwondo Federation was Fallah Has-san Jedo who filled the position for two years. Since then, eight other men have filled the presidency slot.

2005 marked a tragic year for Iraqi taekwondo, when all members of the Iraqi national team were killed in terrorist attack when they were returning from a tournament in Jordan. More atrocities were to come. The then-president of the Iraq Taekwondo Federation, Jamal Abed Al Kareem, was gunned down in his office in the National Olym-pic Committee building. A month later, an executive member of the federation and the treasurer were murdered in their offices.

Fortunately, there is a brighter side to Iraq’s taekwondo story.In 2009, Dr. Mahmood Shukur Saleh Al Khalaf, a university pro-

fessor holding a Ph.D. in taekwondo, became the 10th president of a very troubled federation. He is not only a scholar but a taekwondo man himself: He was a member of the first Iraqi national team to par-ticipate in a WTF World Championships in 1985.

Since he took over the position, he has tried to improve the tech-

nical level of Iraqi taekwondo by organizing numerous training cours-es for coaches and referees: Iraq has never had any international ref-erees but he hopes he can change that in 2013. He has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kukkiwon to organize the chaotic situation regarding black belt grades in Iraq, where certain people were actually selling Kukkiwon dan certificates

Iraq was one of the first countries to sign up for the Global Mem-bership System of the WTF, and today there is a branch of the Iraq Tae-kwondo Federation in every major city in the nation. Taekwondo has even bypassed football in popularity, according to a media survey. This is a major success considering the popularity of football around the world.

Iraq has over 200 taekwondo clubs that compete in four leagues; the number of practitioners has risen to over 500,000. Taekwondo has also grown in popularity among women, and there are six cities with 12 teams playing in a league.

Dr. Mahmood hopes Iraq will qualify for the Olympics in 2016 and hopes further that under his leadership, an athlete will achieve a feat that no Iraqi has yet managed - to win a gold medal in an international championship.

After a series of terrorist attacks that wiped out the national team and senior officials, Iraqi taekwondo is now in recovery mode - and has even overtaken football in popularity

For the first time in Iraq sport, taekwondo has been able to overtake tradition-ally more popular sports such as football and wrestling, in terms of the number of people who practice it.

At present, there are over 500,000 taekwondo practitioners aged between 6 and 60, including over 100,000 female practitioners, nationwide.

Young people have shown great interest in the sport and the Iraq Tae-kwondo Federation hopes to leverage this surging interest and qualify for the next Youth Olympics in 2014 in China.

(Translated from Iraq’s Almezan newspaper)

The popularity of taekwondo is going through the roof in the Middle East nation, knocking football off the top spot

Taekwondo Overtakes Football as Top Sport in Iraq

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Iraqi Taekwondo

Around the WTF



WTF taekwondo is currently one of the fastest growing martial arts in Uzbekistan. The Uzbekistan Taekwondo Association was founded in 1991 with its main office in Tashkent. The popularization of taekwon-do in Uzbekistan took off in 1994, when regional federations were founded. Nowadays, all regions and cities of Uzbekistan have their own taekwondo federations, under the national association. In 2009, the Uzbekistan Taekwondo Association’s building was constructed in Tashkent. It includes modern training gyms, swimming pools, medi-cal centers, mini stadiums and a dormitory.

The association carries out significant work to promote the devel-opment of taekwondo. The organization of taekwondo departments in specialized Olympic youth schools is underway. The country’s first taekwondo-specialized school operates in the city of Fergana, and others are planned to open in the coming years. At present in Uzbeki-stan there are about 20,000 athletes, 50 national team members and 36 juniors, as well as four coaches and experts from Korea. The asso-ciation employs 85 coaches including one honored coach of Uzbeki-stan, 53 national referees and two international referees.

The success of athletes would not be possible without quality coaching staff. The main foundry where these coaches are forged is the Uzbekistan State Institute of Physical Culture, which has had a tae-kwondo department functioning since 2009. Over the years, Uzbek taekwondo has developed greatly and is now recognized by the tae-kwondo community as among the best. From October 8-10, 2010, Uz-bekistan was entrusted by the WTF with the hosting of the WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships. The event was successful, with

the participation of more than 450 athletes from nearly 62 countries. On the occasion of the championships, an extraordinary general as-sembly and an extraordinary council meeting were also held.

Uzbekistan’s taekwondo community would like to invite the en-tire Asian taekwondo family to join us. Following the decision of the Executive Council of the ATU on May 3, 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Uzbekistan will host the 21st Asian Taekwondo Champion-ships and the 3rd Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Tash-kent in 2014.

Uzbekistan Takes to Taekwondo

Sarvar Shamusarov, Head of the International Department of the Uzbekistan Taekwondo Association, briefs us on the leaps and strides made by taekwondo in his country

On the tails of our National Championships in January, and looking to-ward the upcoming 2013 Canada Open in Toronto, it is a very exciting time of year for taekwondo in Canada.

Over the last 12 months we have put significant efforts into solidi-fying the strategic direction of our organization and aligning all of our activities and efforts with our vision to “Enable the ethical pursuit of personal growth and competitive excellence.“

One of the major changes in pursuit of this vision, has been cen-tered on the governance structure of Taekwondo Canada. The associ-ation updated its bylaws in 2010, which included a major shift in the governance structure. Taekwondo Canada is now governed by a pol-icy board of directors, which puts the organization in line with mod-ern governance practices in non-profit sport. The sport leaders within Taekwondo Canada are confident that this positions the association to better serve the Canadian taekwondo community and to enable the achievement of the full potential that exists within taekwondo in Canada.

These refinements to the governance and structural integrity of Taekwondo Canada will support the development of a professional taekwondo sport system that is accountable and efficient in the deliv-

ery of programs and services at every level of taekwondo in Canada. Another major commitment over the last year has been the devel-

opment of a national strategic plan that included specific high-per-formance objectives to deliver world-class results in 2015 and 2016. A key component of the implementation of this plan was the appoint-ment of Master Shin Lim as the national coach for Taekwondo Can-ada. As a dedicated coach of some of Canada’s premier taekwondo athletes, and a pioneer in the design of modern skill development programs, we are confident that the global taekwondo community will see the impact of these efforts.

With our refined and more collaborative structure, and this commit-ment to high performance, we are well on our way to demonstrating our leadership on the global taekwondo stage here at home in 2015.

Over the next two years, as we prepare to welcome the world to Toronto for the 2015 Pan Am Para-Pan Games, our efforts are being directed towards communication and engagement with the national and international taekwondo communities to increase the visibility of, and enthusiasm for, our sport, and position Canadian Taekwondo as a solid partner in the global development and promotion of taekwondo.

Northern Exposure: Canadian Taekwondo

Taekwondo Canada has made a series of gold-standard organi-zational efforts to give the sport the finest possible foundation and governance

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Northern Exposure

Around the WTF



Despite being a young sport, taekwondo in Singapore has a long history: It was in-troduced to the island republic in 1962, the fourth country in the world after Korea, Vietnam and Malaya (now Malaysia) to experience this amazing martial art.

In the early days, it attracted a core group of members who trained simply for self-defense. The number increased with the years as more people became in-trigued by the ability of practitioners to execute high-kicking techniques not only with one foot on the ground, but also with both feet in the air.

Interest grew. More clubs were formed by local black belts to provide the public the opportunity to take up martial arts. They joined by the hundreds. It was not uncommon to see an enrollment of more than one hundred members in one re-cruitment exercise.

But as clubs proliferated, so did problems. There were no standard assessments of grades among the clubs. In some clubs, black belts could be obtained with rela-tive ease. In others, the grade could only be achieved after passing some grueling tests. Dissension among clubs was rampant as they fought for the right of authority over the running of the martial art in the country.

The government resolved the issue effectively by establishing the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) and recognizing it as the national sports association for taekwondo in 1974, a year after the formation of the World Taekwondo Federa-tion (WTF).

Fast forward 39 years, and the STF has become a well-recognized and vibrant taekwondo organization with links to, among other organizations, the Singapore Sports Council, the Singapore National Olympic Council, the Asean Taekwondo Fed-eration, the Asian Taekwondo Union and the WTF. It organizes multiple activities – for example, tournaments, courses, shows and gradings – for a following of over 25,000 members training in 270 clubs all over the island.

What’s more, it has localized taekwondo by introducing programs which are uniquely Singaporean. These include Taekwondo for Character, Taekwondo with a Heart and Taekwondo for Life.

Island of Innovations: The Singapore Story

Milan Kwee and Lim Teong Chin tell us about Singapore’s unique programs, which provide benchmarks for those federations taking taekwondo beyond sport, and enriching society as a whole

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Island of Innovations

The STF promotes taekwondo as a character development sport for the making of better persons and citizens as a priority over sports ex-cellence. In the program, it provides experiences which teach lessons that can transfer into life-enhancing skills and qualities such as integ-rity, respect, commitment, perseverance, selfless service, teamwork, self-discipline and resilience.

Members are reminded to embrace the values of taekwondo through the recitation of the STF pledge in all corporate events and before the start of every training session. Cards, with the pledge printed on them in the form of bookmarks, are distributed to help members internalize the values. Coaches are also taught ways to en-trench the values in their students.

It is the obligation of coaches to bar members who do not express

the values during training, from participating in grading. For pro-motion to poom or black belt or higher, candidates have to demon-strate understanding of their responsibilities in their home, school or workplace and society in the interview segment of the promotion test. If they fail the interview, they will be denied the promotion even though they have done very well in the sparring and poomsae tests. Moreover, all members are aware that the STF has very low tolerance for misconduct in any form.

As coaches play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the pro-gram, the STF requires all coaches to serve as role models for their students. The STF will not hesitate to take severe disciplinary action against coaches who fail to observe the STF coaching ethics, regard-less of their position in taekwondo or their status in society.

Taekwondo for Character

Many people have a misconception that taekwondo is for the young. They believe that taiji or yoga is more suited for the old. In order to change this notion, the STF launched the TEAMgOLD program in 2008. As the name suggests, it is for the “not so young” – those above 50 years old.

The primary purpose is to encourage older taekwondo practi-tioners to continue training and evolving in the sport as competitors, coaches or officials. The program provides them an avenue to renew their interest in taekwondo, stay fit through the sport and practice it as a lifestyle. More importantly, their active participation will portray an image that taekwondo is not only for the young but also for life.

Members of TEAMgOLD do not have to pay any fees for the train-ing conducted specially for them every Sunday at the STF National Training Centre. Courses are also held regularly to qualify them as coaches or officials. For those who love to compete, the STF has in-cluded categories for them in the national poomsae, national kyorugi and national demonstration tournaments.

The program started with a handful of members. Today it has

grown to more than 50 members with four of them above 70 years old. The oldest male, Johnny Ang, is a 76-year-old “born-again” tae-kwondo exponent who is able to put some of the younger partici-pants to shame with his skills. Sister Linda Sim, a 59-year-old Catholic nun, has the distinction of being the oldest female in the group. She is also an outstanding poomsae athlete who has participated in the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships and won many titles in national competitions.

The STF is proud that it is able to elevate the profile of taekwondo in Singapore through its numerous innovative programs. It is, howev-er, cognizant that its efforts have been made that much easier owing to the outstanding success of the WTF, under the astute leadership of Dr. Chungwon Choue, in the propagation and development of the sport worldwide.

The president and management of the STF would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the WTF on its 40th anniversary. We are confident that the WTF will grow from strength to strength in the years to come.

Taekwondo for Life

Under this program, the STF undertakes projects to demonstrate its corporate social responsibility by bringing taekwondo to charitable organizations and donating to charities.

Since the program was launched in 2006, the STF has brought the sport to children with life-threatening illnesses, deaf children, orphans and children from dysfunctional or disadvantaged families. Under this adoption scheme, the STF sponsors the activities fully by providing, among other things, uniforms, training and gradings. Transport is also provided by the STF to those who require it.

The program has produced nine poom and black belts. One of them, Nicholas Tang, a cancer survivor, went on to represent Singa-pore in the Asian Cities Gold Cup Taekwondo Championships in 2010. Two other cancer survivors, Soh Hong Ray and Inshera Lim, carried the Singaporean flag at the 2011 World Taekwondo Youth Camp, or-

ganized by the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation and the WTF.The most inspiring of them all must be Ng Wei Hau who now holds

a black belt. He was stricken with cancer and wheelchair-bound but that did not stop him from learning taekwondo. As he moved up the ranking ladder, he performed his skills in the presence of none other than the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. More importantly, to-day he is able to walk without a walking aid.

Members of the STF, through this program, also support various charitable causes by raising funds, helping the needy or providing en-tertainment for fund-raising projects. When members of the national squad went to Cambodia for the 2011 Asean Taekwondo Champion-ships, they collected cash and used clothing and donated them to one of the orphanages there.

Taekwondo with a Heart

Around the WTF



Facing the Challenge:Taekwondo in Uganda

Simon Peter Komakech, secretary general of the Uganda Taekwondo Federation, briefs us on the various challenges Ugandan taekwondo has overcome as it has gravitated from the country’s prisons to its sporting populace

Special Appeal

The UTF would like to take this opportunity to make an appeal to the international taekwondo community:

If you can assist us with any cash donations to help us renovate our National Training Center – please see picture in this article - it would be greatly appreciated.

The UTG Bank account details are:Account Holder: MS Uganda Taekwondo FederationAccount Number: 6001104533Swift Code: BARCUGKXBank: Barclays Bank Uganda

And if you opt to send us uniforms, used or new, our members would greatly appreciate it. Likewise, any equipment - punching bags, kicking targets, body and head protectors, etc - would be gratefully received. Please contact me, Simon Peter Komakech at [email protected]

Uganda was one of the first African countries to embrace taekwondo, but those who learned it in the early days had a very specific reason for doing so: Ugandan taekwondo started among prison wardens! However, the sport has gradually spread out to wider society.

The Uganda Taekwondo Federation, or UTF, first started as the Uganda Taekwondo Association, or UTA, in the 1970s. It was founded by Mr. Etima, the then-Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Services. Etima was succeeded by Ephraim Kamuntu as the chairman; after his term in office expired, he was succeeded by David Mutazind-wa as the president of the new Uganda Taekwondo Federation. He was later succeeded by Kato Hakim Ahimbisiwe, who served for only two years before being impeached for abuse of office. His vice-pres-ident took over and completed his remaining two years. Finally Paul Emwodu handed power over to Roger Hanns Ddungu, the current president of the UTF, who has been in office for one year and three months.

The Uganda Taekwondo Federation has 25 affiliate clubs spread all across the country. These clubs have an average of 50 members each, giving the federation roughly 1,250 active members, though that number is growing. The first Ugandan National Team participat-ed in its first international competition in Korea, where the country’s first medal was won by Oduttu Fredrick. Uganda continues to per-form in African tournaments.

Still, the UTF is faced with a range of challenges. First and foremost, the lack of funds and lack of an office prevent

the smooth running of activities. Federation members have over-come the lack of an office by doing a lot of work out of Internet cafes, but record keeping, in particular, is problematic.

Although the first Ugandan National Team participated in its first international competition in Korea, and Uganda competes actively around Africa, the lack of a national training center has been a prom-inent problem. The UTF also suffers from minimal equipment. Some-times the WTF sends us equipment but some of this has ended up in the hands of unscrupulous members who keep it for their own use.

But we have been doing our best to store the remainder and keep it for the benefit of all.

Moreover, there has been discrimination in selections for inter-national tournaments and this served to discourage some athletes who feel they were left out deliberately. Currently, the UTF is trying to streamline procedures, so many members who had left are returning. But partly because of this problem, some members migrated to other combat sports like kickboxing, karate and boxing which have been able to offer more incentives.

Still, things are improving. The UTF has managed to acquire an office - a very big milestone. This has enabled us to start keeping re-cords. And in June 2012, we acquired a National Training Center. This was given to the UTF by the sport’s original custodians, the Uganda Prisons Service, after we made an official request. Although it requires significant renovation, we have been able to conduct some training and tournaments there as at least it is spacious.

We have set minimum standards which every club should meet to be recognized: This has encouraged seriousness in the clubs. The numbers of our members with dan certificates has also increased greatly. And we are now able to give some incentives to our athletes whenever they perform exceptionally. Incentives includes uniforms, cash and certificates.

These efforts are paying off. In 2012 we managed to send a team to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to participate in the 9th WTF Junior World Championships. This was a precondition for us to be recognized by the WTF, after we had consecutively missed two world champion-ships.

Now, we are working on our vision for the future. The UTF is look-ing at becoming a full-fledged federation with improved administra-tive structures in the next seven years, with better organized contests. We are seeking competent administrators and sponsors. And we sin-cerely hope that the Korean government, as well as the WTF, will do more to help promote taekwondo in Uganda: It is a beautiful sport which helps to export Korean culture all over the world.

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Facing the Challenge

Around the WTF



Emerging from decades of bloodshed and terrorism, Somalia is cele-brating its first ever taekwondo medal, gained during the recent 5th Alexandria International Open, an unprecedented victory which the Somali National Olympic Committee termed a “symbol” for the recov-ery of Somalia.

“Following Somalia NOC’s new development strategy with Somali athletes living abroad, we are happy to inform the world of sport that the Somalia Taekwondo Federation won its first medal in the country’s history,” Somali NOC Secretary General Duran Ahmed Farah said in a press statement in Mogadishu.

The statement noted that two Somali athletes living in Switzerland and their Brazilian coach, Elton De Souza, accompanied by Somalia NOC Vice President Ibrahim Shamo, took part in the 5th Alexandria International Open that took place from February 20-27, 2013 in Alex-andria, Egypt.

“Thanks to their success they will be able to take part at the up-coming Taekwondo World Championships to be held in Mexico from July 15-21, 2013, and Somalia is very hopeful of more tangible achieve-ments,” the Somali NOC secretary general emphasized.

“The achievement of the first ever taekwondo medal for Soma-lia and the wonder that the Somali basketball men’s national team showed in January’s Africa Zone 5 Basketball Tournament were clear signals of the return of a full Somalia,” he added. “We believe that the new development strategy of our NOC, in collaboration with its affiliat-ed national federations, will bring the nation of Somalia great joy and satisfaction.”

In January, Faisal Adan, a Somali national basketball player living in the United States, broke a record in terms of points scored in interna-tional matches during the Africa Zone 5 Competition, scoring 59 points in the semis against Rwanda.

“We count on collaboration and contribution from the IOC and from Olympic Solidarity which helped us promote sport in the war-devastated country,” Farar said, adding he was very hopeful that the world of tae-kwondo will give particular consideration to reviving the sport in Somalia.

Somalia Celebrates1st Taekwondo Medal

Promising results in taekwondo and basketball competition indicate that this chaos-wracked nation is getting back on track

Emerging from decades of bloodshed and terrorism, Somalia is cele

The Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation was established in 1990. The very same year it was accepted as a member of the World Taekwondo Federation and the European Taekwondo Union, and in 1996, became one of the founding members of the Balkan Taekwondo Union.

During years of social transition and despite strained political rela-tionships in the country, taekwondo enabled practitioners to develop their physical fitness, health and fighting spirit, and provided a place for competitive expression.

The federation is headed by a board of directors, chaired by Andrey Georgiev, 5th dan Kukkiwon, and a member of the board of the ETU.

The national team participates in many European and world championships, as well as international tournaments in Europe. The most prominent international achievements of Bulgarian taekwondo athletes are: the 3rd place of Iliyana Eneva at the 2008 European Senior Championships; the 1st place of Vladimir Dalakliev and the 3rd place of Mihail Mihaylov at the Athens 2012 Junior (16-21) European Champi-onships; the 1st place of Spasiana Grigorova, the 2nd place of Kaloyan Binev, and the 3rd places of Viktoriya Kostadinova, Alexandrina Rizova

and Ivona Tsintsarska at the 2013 European Clubs Championships; and the 3rd places of Vladimir Dalakliev at the Palermo 2005 Cadet Euro-pean Championships, the 2007 Baku Junior European Championships and the Kharkov 2010 Junior European Championships.

In recent years, Bulgarian taekwondo has been taking its rightful place among the traditionally strong European federations. Our sport is gaining popularity among children and adolescents and is also win-ning the support of the government. The Bulgarian Taekwondo Feder-ation is an active participant in the programs of the WTF and the ETU. Since 2011 Bulgaria has been organizing international tournaments with increasing participation from nearby countries such as Serbia, Greece, Romania and Macedonia.

The primary goal of the BTF is not just the development of superior sports performance and elite athletes. The other critical aspect of our work is to popularize taekwondo among young people - as a way of life, as a source of physical fitness and personal will and as an activity that cultivates important character traits such as self-discipline, cour-tesy and respect.

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Bulgarian Taekwondo

Bulgarian Taekwondo Raises its Game

Bulgaria is one of the younger of the European federations, but is also becoming one of the strongest

Around the WTF



Innovative Philippine League Enjoys Successful Run

Short, snappy matches, team bonding and a high public profile provided the keys to success for the Philippines’ innovative new league

The Philippine Taekwondo League, or PTL, successfully held its second season in 2012. The brainchild of Grandmaster Sung-chon Hong, the father of Philippine taekwondo, the PTL was initiated on April 1, 2011, to promote the sport in the country, thereby developing high-caliber taekwondo players for the na-tional team and international competitions.

Top players, including national team mainstays representing their school teams from two of the most prestigious collegiate leagues in the land - the University Associa-tion of the Philippines (UAAP) and the Nation-al Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) - took part in the four-month long competition which was launched during the 35th National Taekwondo Championships on July 28, 2012 and culminated on November 18, 2012 during the National Age Group Championships.

The PTL kyorugi fight divisions includ-ed senior men and women, junior men and grade school boys. Fifteen teams partici-pated in the senior men’s division, 14 teams in the senior women’s division, 14 teams in the junior men’s division and 12 teams in the grade school boy’s division. Each team was composed of a maximum of 10 black belt players in the different categories.

With a format of a first-round single knock-out elimination system, the winning team proceeded to the next round of single round-robin matches with the remaining teams. The team with the most wins became

overall champion.The fight format is a first round of five

players playing two-minute-long match-es and the second round is a non-stop, five-minute bout with a tag-team format in which any of the 10 players can come on, de-pending on the call of the coach. The team’s goal is to accumulate the highest team score to win the match.

The competition venue rotated around different SM Malls, the biggest mall operator in the country, which promoted taekwondo to the public. The games were held during the weekends with an average duration of two hours with a team competing one or two matches per outing. Supporters including parents, relatives and friends found the short duration of the games convenient, unlike major tournaments which last entire days.During the four month period, a total of 117 matches ran.

A cash prize of approximately $1,250 for scholarships was awarded to the winning senior men and senior women teams, while a mobile phone gift from the PTA’s major benefactor, Smart Telecommunications, was awarded to the over-all champion in the ju-nior men and grade school boy’s divisions to-gether with their gold medals, trophies and certificates. Best player, best coach and best referee awards were also given.

Former international champions and Olympians served as officers with Monsour-

del Rosario serving as commissioner while Stephen Fernandez was tournament direc-tor. The matches were thrilling due to the use of Daedo PSS and Instant Video Replay procedures, calibrating the league with WTF global standards.

“The PTL serves as a venue for our teams and players to have more games aside from the regular championship circuit of the PTA spanning the year,” said Fernandez. “The ob-jective of the league is to develop excellent players and promote taekwondo.”

The champion teams in the 2012 season were De La Salle University in both the senior men and women’s divisions, University of the East in the junior men division and Diliman Preparatory School in the grade school boy’s division. The winning senior division men and women division coach of DLSU, Roberto Cruz, a former two-time world champion silver med-alist and Olympian said, “The PTL is a good idea since the players cannot afford to relax, they have to always be in good condition.”

The PTL is now being set up in different provinces in the Philippines, aside from Met-ro Manila. In 2012, Cebu City in the Visayas Islands held its PTL maiden run and the 3rd Season of the PTL in 2013 is much anticipat-ed by all the teams and players. Overall, the league is helping the PTA maintain the status of taekwondo as the most popular martial art practised in the country.

The Romanian Taekwondo WTF Federation, particularly through its president, Constantin Apostol, has enjoyed continuous and ev-er-growing support from national members as well as internation-al partners, friends and supporters, as it strives to promote a clean, proud, drug-free, violence-free and education-rich environment for taekwondo athletes, their families and everyone in the community willing to listen to this strong message: ”Drugs kill people, we choose taekwondo.”

This has been the message under which the very successful 2010 Balkan Taekwondo Championships took place in Bucharest, Romania.

The message was disseminated via several campaigns that have been run not only during taekwondo competitions since 2010, but also as a social catalyst to accept and educate people of all origins on the importance of a stable and strong mind and body, for both present and future generations.

The movement has brought many countries and people together through sports competitions and has been publicized through audio, television and print media. We hope it will continue to be a beacon of sportsmanship, social values and intercultural exchange, bringing a brighter future to all.

Addicted to Taekwondo,Not to Drugs

The Romanian Taekwondo Federation is urging youth to take up the sport rather than falling victim to drug abuse

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Addicted to Taekwondo, Not to Drugs

Around the WTF



In Finland, a wind of change has been blowing through the field of sport for the last few years, with the Finnish Olympic Committee lead-ing a nationwide project to create a new sport culture.

The key idea is that all solutions should be made from the ath-letes’ perspective instead of from the organizational perspective. Communication and cross-talk between different sports have been encouraged and local centers of excellence called Sport Academies have been built all over the country. Taekwondo has been in the front line of this development, conducting several reforms in terms of coaching, training facilities and organizational structures.

The Finnish Taekwondo Federation, together with the Turku Sport Academy, opened a Taekwondo National Training Center in Turku in early 2013. After a careful application procedure, 30 athletes were selected. They were further divided into three groups - a “Top Team,” a “Challenger Team” and a “Basic Team” - according to their previous achievements and their level of commitment. Around 10 volunteers are involved in the coaching work of the center, alongside the full-time coaches Jesus Ramal (Olympic coach) and Jarkko Mäki-nen (Youth Olympic coach). The training center offers 17 training ses-sions of various themes and difficulty level every week.

All athletes are entitled to weekly training sessions, additional training camps and basic testing services. Members of the Challeng-er Team have regular personal meetings with the coach in order to foster optimal planning between training, studying and other things. Interaction between the coach and the athlete aims to be ath-lete-centered, as stressed by the National Olympic Committee. The Top Team athletes practice very individually and enjoy a large num-ber of support services. For instance, they can utilize the services of medical doctors, physiotherapists, sport psychologists and nutrition therapists free of charge. The above-mentioned services are carried out in close cooperation with the Sport Academy.

One of the main ideas of the training center is to facilitate study-ing during a sporting career. As only a few taekwondo athletes make

a living solely through taekwondo, it is crucial to gain a degree and prepare for future working life. Several schools in the Turku area are committed to the program, allowing students from 14 years and up to take part in taekwondo training when their classmates are studying. In high school, it is possible to collect study points by training tae-kwondo and in higher education, athletes are privileged to be absent more than regular students. The Sport Academy has hired two full-time coordinators to communicate with the schools.

Interaction with athletes from other sports is realized by a project called “Athlete to Athlete.” This project consists of monthly meetings of the athletes with one invited speaker every time. After the invita-tional speech, the athletes discuss freely with each other about the common issues faced in athletes’ everyday lives. These meetings seem to greatly promote the feeling of belonging to an athletes’ community, which is especially significant in individual sports such as taekwondo.

The goal is to develop the Taekwondo National Training Center to the top, international level. The first international training camp will be organized for three days in April. Then, the official Olympic Proj-ect Camp will be held together with the International Cadet Camp. In addition to Finnish athletes, teams from Spain and Russia have con-firmed their participation. International camps and exchange pro-grams will be a fantastic opportunity for young talents to become international athletes.

Finland’s Training Center Aims High

Jarkko Mäkinen briefs us on the ongoing Finnish efforts to create a cutting-edge facility and organizational structure for taekwondo training

WTF taekwondo was introduced to Uruguay in 1976 by Grandmaster Byung Sup Lee Kang, who, in 1981, co-founded the Taekwondo Feder-ation of Uruguay (FUT), which has been a recognized member of the WTF since 1982. From being the only academy in the whole country at that time, there are now official centers nationwide where WTF tae-kwondo is taught by recognized instructors of the FUT to thousands of students.

Taekwondo as a sport has spread to each department of Uruguay and has become one of the most popular and practiced martial arts. Taekwondo sport technician courses are coordinated by the FUT, which aims to turn out more qualified instructors to spread WTF taekwondo practice. In 2012, 15 new instructors graduated from a course that has the distinction of being mixed with a virtual campus platform that man-ages theoretical information. This course will run again in April 2013.

At least three local official championships take place every year in Uruguay. Last year the 5th Paysandu Open welcomed over 200 com-petitors from all over the country and Argentina; the 26th Lee Cup saw more than 250 competitors from Uruguay and Argentina; and the XXX National Championship had about 300 competitors. There, for the first time in South America, a TK5 competition was performed between Argentina and Uruguay. Also last year, the Festival of Korean Culture took place with the support of the Korean embassy, where the FUT displayed kyukpa, hosinsul and poomsae exhibitions, and a Korean congregation performed a “Gangnam Style” show. This year we plan to have the same three championships and the first national poomsae championships.

In order to carry out competitions with transparency and fairness, we hold courses for the education of referees. Last year, 20 new kyo-rugi referees graduated from the course, raising to more than 40 the number of home-grown referees. This March, a new course began. Every year, national referees have to attend refresher courses to input the updated rules and this year we aim to form a national referee as-sociation to regulate the grade and competence of referees. This year, the first edition of the poomsae referee course is also being delivered by instructors who went last year to Argentina to get trained.

From its earliest beginnings, Uruguay has been participating in-ternational events, like the ODESUR Games, the Pan American Cham-pionship, the U.S. Open, etc. We intend to develop taekwondo to the highest professional level and for this we train our team selection with both local and foreign competitors – the latter, mainly from Ar-gentina. Last year we had three friendly events with academies from Buenos Aires and provinces, and this year at least four training meet-ings are planned.

In 2012, for the first time, Uruguay was present at the World Poom-sae Championships in Tunja, and in the Argentinian National Poom-sae Championships. We won a gold and a silver medal. This year we will attempt to hold an official poomsae selection to participate in international events.

Uruguay is a small country, but the Taekwondo Federation of Uru-guay works hard to put taekwondo practice within the reach of any citizen, and aspires in the near future - via professors, authorities and competitors - to have a representative competing in the Olympics.

Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Small Country, Great Ambitions

Small Country, Great Ambitions:Uruguay Taekwondo

Cristina Rufener fills us in on the activities of the Uruguayan taekwondo community

Around the WTF

TAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF158


“Dreams come true” could be the 2012 motto for the Ital-ian Taekwondo Federation, or FITA. It was a campaign made of gold – like the medal

awarded to Carlo Molfetta at the London Olympic Games, and it was a destination reached after a long and difficult journey – like the rocky road Italian taekwondo has travelled.

In the 1960s, taekwondo, a then-unknown martial art, stepped uncertainly onto the global sports field. The odds were stacked against it and for decades, it was considered a “minor” discipline in Italy, where sport is all about football and F1. Nonetheless, it grew, year by year, and now that the public has recognized our London re-sults – well, taekwondo is poised to enter the privileged “inner circle” of Italian sports.

Today, the Italian Taekwondo Federation can look back with a smile, strong and confident after our London success, where two athletes competed and two athletes came home with medals. Mauro Sarmiento, who had won silver in Beijing four years earlier, earned a bronze medal in London, and Molfetta took the gold, indicating that the potential in Italian taekwondo exists, 100 percent. The public now know, and talk about our Olympic champions, Molfetta and Sarmiento.

Based on these wins, our federation President Sun-jae Park and Secretary Angelo Cito, have been encouraged to accelerate their ef-forts. Associations are in full bloom, very young athletes are getting involved, and popularity is growing.

However, not many people know that behind the Olympic medals lies a great deal of hard work. The hidden work of regional associa-tions, backed up by the national federation, has included a number of campaigns and projects. One of these was dedicated to children, who became taekwondo athletes thanks to inspiration from the popular

comic strip characters “Kim & Liu.” Following the success of this strip, every year FITA organizes a tournament: About 1,000 kids gather in Rome and wear the clothes of their little heroes.

And that’s not all. Administrative staff have expanded. Day after day, our administrators use their experience and professionalism so that FITA can reach the same level as bigger federations, which, due to their number of athletes and their better resources, we used to take as role models. Today, FITA counts 20,000 individuals and 500 associa-tions as full members. Our members, from the youngest to the oldest, are our biggest incentive to go on and reach further, both on the na-tional and international levels.

The WTF has acknowledged our results and honored the fed-eration with the assignment of responsible roles in its institutional structure. Sun-jae Park is a WTF vice-president, while Angelo Cito is a member of the Executive Committee and chairman of the Technical Committee of the European Taekwondo Union (ETU).

Believing our best times are still to come, we have set a new goal and challenge: to break through at the very highest levels. From the Olympic perspective, our work is already focused on the next Sum-mer Games in Rio in 2016, but we can’t forget international contests where the Italian team have obtained brilliant results, allowing the federation to become a main actor in the different categories at the global level.

Our secret for success is, above all, a great deal of passion, espe-cially at a time when all Italian sports are being buffeted by the eco-nomic crisis. There’s a new desire to win, and as Giovanni Malagò (who succeeded Gianni Petrucci as president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, the federation of all federations) put it when elected: “The sport of the future should act as a guide for the whole country.”

Taekwondo claims to be that guide.

Italian Passion

As Marco Alcini writes, 2012 was a golden year for Italian taekwondo, with Olympic success paving the way for taekwondo to break into the inner circle of the nation’s sports

PART 5

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Championships


9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships

Korea won both overall men’s and women’s titles at the 9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships, which concluded its five-day event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on April 8, 2012.

In the men’s division, Korea grabbed four gold medals and three silver medals for a total of 89 points. Iran came next with two gold medals and two silver medals for 62 points, followed by Russia with one gold and two bronze medals for 44 points. Spain came next with one gold and one bronze medal for 38 points, followed by Chinese Taipei with one gold for 37 points.

In the women’s division, Korea won four gold medals for 73 points, followed by Russia with three gold medals and one bronze medal. Turkey came next with two silver medals and two bronze medals for 45 points, followed by Chinese Taipei with two silvers and two bronzes for 38 points, and Germany with one gold and two bronzes for 37 points.

The biennial championships, which took place at the Sharm El Sheikh Covered Hall, attracted a total of 753 athletes, including 424 males from 90 countries. The championships were a great success for many reasons, especially in terms of fair judging and refereeing.

The Best Male Athlete honors of the championships went to Korea’s Yeong-seok Kim, the gold medalist in the men’s -55kg cat-

Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptApril 4-8, 2012

egory, while Korea’s Byeol Choi, the gold medal winner in the women’s -44kg division, was se-lected as the Best Female Athlete.

The Best Referee Awards of the champion-ships went to Azerbaijan’s Kwang-cheol Oh, Norway’s Stig Ove Ness, Mexico’s Jorge Reynoso Cruz, Vietnam’s Vu Xuan Thanh and Georgia’s Maria Merkouri.

Chung-won Choi was selected as the cham-pionships’ Best Coach in the men’s division, and Russia’s Igor Lazarev the Best Coach in the wom-en’s division.

The fifth and final day of the championships

featured four weight categories.In the men’s -48kg division, Iran’s Abolfazl

Yaghoubi Jouybari brushed aside a stiff chal-lenge from Jordan’s Almuatasembellah Abuzaid to win the final match 7-5 for the gold medal. The bronze went to Turkey’s Ibrahim Ethem Pak and the Philippines’ Matnew Muhael Padilla.

In the men’s -68kg category, Spain’s Daniel Quesada Barrera needed a fourth sudden-death round to clinch the gold medal against Korea’s Dong-yun Shin. Portugal’s Andre Magone and Jordan’s Zaid Abuzaid each took home the bronze medal in the same weight division.

In the women’s -44kg division, Korea’s Byeol Choi needed only two rounds to clinch the gold medal with a point-gap victory against Chinese Taipei’s Shiao-Pei Wong. The score was 26-3 at the end of the second round. Mexico’s Les-lie Torres Nava and Turkey’s Fatma Saridogan shared the bronze medal.

In the women’s -59kg category, France’s Magda Wiet Henin beat Sweden’s Nikita Glas-novic in the final match 5-3 to earn her country the gold medal. The bronze went to Germany’s Celik Yonca and Russia’s Aleksandra Dementeva.

Part 5 Championships > 9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships

Championships


Azerbaijan clinched six gold, six silver and three bronze medals to defend its overall title at the 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships, which took place in Santa Cruz, Aruba on November 22, 2012.

Russia took two golds, four silvers and five bornzes for the second place, followed by Spain with two golds and one bronze in the overall medal tally. Iran came next with two gold medals, Canada with one gold and one bronze, and Ukraine with one gold.

A total of 53 athletes from 14 countries competed at the 3rd World Pa-ra-Taekwondo Championships, which took place at the Centro Deportivo gymnasium in Santa Cruz, Aruba. Twenty-one countries earlier sent their entry lists of athletes and officials to the Aruba Organizing Committee for the 3rd World Para-Taekwondo Championships.

The participating countries were Azerbaijan, Spain, Mongolia, Bra-zil, Russia, France, Guatemala, Iran, Croatia, Canada, Finland, Australia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The inaugural World Para-Taekwondo Championships were held in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 10, 2009, drawing a total of 36 athletes and 18 of-ficials from 16 countries. France took the overall title, followed by Azerbai-jan and Turkey. The 2nd championships were held in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 11, 2010, which attracted 65 athletes from 21 countries. Azerbaijan clinched the overall title, followed by Turkey and Spain.

The one-day event featured 10 male and four female categories. The Olympic weight divisions applied to the championships: -58kg, -68kg, -80kg and +80kg for male contestants and -49kg, -57kg, -67kg and +67kg for female athletes.

A Daedo Protector and Scoring System (PSS) and an Instant Video Re-play system were used for the Aruba championships.

Modified competition rules applied to the championships. Attacks to the head were banned and the duration of the contest was three rounds of one minute each with a one-minute break between rounds.

Weight categories were modified as follows: amputation with both limbs above elbows (A5), amputation of one limb above the elbow (A6), amputation of both limbs below the elbows (A7), and amputation of one limb below the elbow (A8).

An opening ceremony was held at the venue for the 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships and the 2012 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships scheduled for Nov. 23-25, 2012 at the same venue. The World Cup event has drawn 90 male athletes from 13 countries and 69 female athletes from 10 countries.

The opening ceremony drew high-ranking officials, including Aruban Health and Sport Minister Richard Visser and Aruban Infrastructure Minis-ter Oslim Servinger.

Also at hand were WTF President Chungwon Choue and Jose Cornelio, president of the Aruba Taekwondo Association, along with WTF Council members.

WTF President Choue said in his speech during the opening ceremo-

ny, “The spirit of Olympism inspires generations, young and old to aspire to their dreams. We can see here today, through the bright eyes of these athletes, that taekwondo embodies every aspect of the spirit of Olympism. The dreams that taekwondo brings to so many is felt throughout the world.”

“The hope that taekwondo brings is limitless. It knows no boundaries and is hampered by no disability,” Choue continued. “There is no gender that it favors or age that it discriminates against. Taekwondo truly is a sport for all that inspires and embodies anyone that experiences it. I know from these athletes here today, there is still much more to come.”

Dr. Choue concluded his speech by saying, “The London 2012 Olympic Games were the greatest competition of our history. Rio 2016 will be even greater, but I say to you athletes here in Aruba, your road to the Olympics, and hopefully soon the Paralympics, begins here today. Faster, higher, stronger. Fairer, more dynamic, spreading hope and dreams to the world. This is taekwondo! You are taekwondo!”

The opening ceremony featured a variety of Aruban cultural perfor-mances and a WTF taekwondo demonstration.

Early in the morning, the WTF held an Extraordinary Council Meeting at the Holiday Inn in Aruba.

The council gave Indonesia the right to host the 2013 WTF World Tae-kwondo Poomsae Championships in Bali. It also approved the establish-ment of WTF Grand Prix series.

Pending the WTF’s final approval at the General Assembly, the WTF Council also approved membership for three countries – Curacao, South Sudan and Sierra Leone - to increase its overall membership to 204.

3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

Santa Cruz, ArubaNov. 22, 2012

Part 5 Championships > 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

Competition Results of the 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships:

Championships



Part 5 Championships > 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

Santa Cruz, ArubaNov. 23-25, 2012

Korea and China grabbed the men’s and women’s titles, re-spectively, at the 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Cham-pionships in Santa Cruz, Aruba on November 25, 2012.

In the men’s division, Korea showed its supremacy as it de-feated Iran 27-11 in the final match for top honors, drawing big applause from spectators. Korea reached the final round as it beat Spain 21-18 in a semifinal match, while Iran came from be-hind to beat China 19-18 to advance to the final round.

China needed a third sudden-death round to brush aside a stiff challenge from France in the final match for the top hon-ors. China advanced to the final match as it beat Croatia 17-15 in a semifinal match. France reached the women’s final match by beating Russia 21-9 in a semifinal match.

Championships


Zhang Hun of China was chosen as the female MVP and Young Jin Kim of China was named as the best coach in the women’s division. Korea’s Kyeo-re Han was picked as the male MVP and Kye Hee Park was chosen as the best coach in the men’s division.

Best Referee Awards went to Jorge Reynoso of Mexico, Mokake Moshoeshoe of Lesotho and Renata Crkvenac of Croatia.

At the three-day World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships, which took place at the Centro Deportivo gymnasium in Santa Cruz, a Daedo Protector and Scoring System (PSS) was

used. The team competition was composed of two rounds of five minutes. The second round was a tag match. A team consisted of five ath-letes and one substitute.

The event drew 90 male athletes from 13 countries and 69 female athletes from 10 coun-tries.

The 13 countries were host Aruba, Iran, Ko-rea, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Venezuela, Chinese Tai-pei, Dominican Republic, the United States, Bra-zil, Uzbekistan and China. The male teams were divided into four groups, of which the best two teams from each group advanced to the quar-

terfinal round after round-robin preliminaries. Host Aruba, Iran, Korea and Spain were seeded.

The 10 countries which sent their female athletes to Aruba were Korea, China, France, Venezuela, Brazil, Croatia, Russia, Colombia, Chi-nese Taipei and the United States. The female groups were divided into three groups. Korea, China and France were seeded.

At the same venue, the 3rd WTF World Pa-ra-Taekwondo Championships were held on Nov. 22, 2012 to a great success, drawing 53 pa-ra-athletes from 14 countries.

Part 5 Championships > 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

Championships



The fourth and final day of the 7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships finished in Tunja, Colombia on Dec. 9, 2012 in front of yet another packed-to-the-brim crowd. Athletes and fans, young and the young at heart gath-ered at the San Antonio Coliseum to celebrate the outstanding championships.

The conclusion of the action-packed four-day event came with a huge celebration of ath-letes as members from every nation took to the floor with the WTF Taekwondo Demonstration Team, local Tunja taekwondo youth, and vol-unteers and all danced to the global sensation “Gangnam Style.” The fiesta ended the final day saw pairs under 29, male and female team over 29, and freestyle team competitions.

Photographed byYoung-Kul Kim

Tunja, ColombiaDec. 6-9, 2012

Championships


In the pairs under 29, China sneaked past Viet-nam to claim the gold. Vietnam’s silver was closely followed by Ecuador’s and Chinese Tai-pei’s bronzes.

It was the Germans who prevailed in the female over 29 team competition. Colombia stepped up for the silver as Chinese Taipei and Russia stood strong with bronze.

The host nation added a second medal of the day with a bronze in the male over 29 team category, sharing the hardware with Chinese Taipei. Iran was the team scored gold in the men’s team competition and Egypt won silver.

A Vietnamese squad nailed their routine to become the best freestyle team in the world. The Philippines were on par to win their silver medal. China and the United States held out strong performances to take home the bronze.

Korea finished the competition with a total of 12 medals and finished as the top nation, but Iran was not far behind with an impressive 10 medals to place second. The United States had a tremendous showing during the tournament with a total of six medals, and also received an additional reward for the most improved team.

Other honorary awards were given to host nation Colombia for outstanding organization

and attraction of spectators. Indonesia was hon-ored for being the next host nation for the WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships.

MVP awards went to Jeong Cheol Kim of Spain and Su Ji Kang of Korea. Mikaela Calam-ba of the Philippines and Karen Suache Arias of Colombia were recognized for “best performanc-es.“ Top honors for coaching went to Jae Jin Kang from Korea and Le Minh Khuong from Vietnam.

Trophies for Best Referees went to Dan-iel Khorassandjin (Lebanon), Johanna Bliem (Austria), Jun Cheol Yun (USA), Wolfgang Bruck-el (Germany), and Tem Igor Buenconsejo (Phil-ippines). Norway, Malaysia and Brazil were awarded for “best fighting spirit” and Ukraine, Serbia, and Uruguay stood out for their “active participation.”

The championships as a whole found near-ly half of the participating countries winning at least a medal. The 16 medals up for grabs on the last day alone were distributed among 11 nations.

WTF President Dr. Chungwon Choue, her-alded the success of the 7th edition of the cham-pionships saying:

“Without the athletes, coaches, and officials, these championships couldn’t be. The tremen-dous hard work and dedication to the sport of

taekwondo has made them role models to the youth of their nations to look up to. And, the wonderful spectators, organizers and volunteers of the city of Tunja, were the heroes and hero-ines of these championships. They really creat-ed the best atmosphere for our very exceptional athletes to compete to be the ‘world’s best.’”

Speaking on the growing popularity of the sport of taekwondo around the world, Dr. Choue said:

“Taekwondo has always been, and will con-tinue to be a sport for all. Any athlete is welcome to participate, regardless of their background or affiliation of any sport or organization, as long as they are willing to follow our rules. We have a lot of athletes competing that have a back-ground in other martial arts like karate, judo, wushu, and jujitsu. The taekwondo family is open to any and all who want to join.”

As the WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Tunja were declared closed, the WTF flag was handed from the Colombian Taekwondo Federation to a delegation from In-donesia.

The next 8th edition of the championships will be hosted by Bali, Indonesia.

Part 5 Championships > 7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

Championships


1st Europe-AsiaIntercontinental Taekwondo Championships

The 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Champi-onships took place on Oct. 12, 2012 at the USZK in Moscow, Russia. Asia beat Europe 13-3 on aggregated points at the inaugural championships, which featured eight individual and four team competitions.

Each continent sent eight individual Olympic-category athletes and two six-member teams to the championships. For team competition, Europe was represented by a Rus-sian team and a European squad, while Asia was represent-ed by Jordan and Iran. The Jordanian team was composed of five Jordanian athletes and one Thai athlete.

One point was given to the continent for an individual victory, while two points were awarded to the continent for a team competition win.

The countries that participated in the championships were Chinese Taipei, Iran, Jordan, Thailand and Uzbekistan from Asia, and Armenia, Croatia, Great Britain, Greece, Ita-ly, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine from Europe.

An opening ceremony and commemorative perfor-mances were held before competitions. WTF President Chungwon Choue delivered an opening speech, while Mr. Anatoly Terekhov, WTF council member and president of the Russian Taekwondo Union, delivered his welcoming speech.

The Europe-Asia championships started with a team competition between Jordan and Russia. The Jordan team defeated a six-member Russian team 37-34.

In the following team match between Iran and Europe, Asia continued its lead over Europe as a six-member Ira-nian team edged a six-member European team, with one athlete each from Ukraine, Luxemburg, Great Britain, Croa-tia, Armenia and Russia, 35-31.

Eight individual matches, four female and four male, followed the two team competitions.

In the women’s under 49kg division, Siriporn Buabsod of Thailand defeated Ioanna Koutsou of Greece 3-2. In the

Moscow, RussiaOct. 12, 2012

men’s under 58kg category, Uno Sanli of Sweden needed a sudden-death round to beat Cheng-Ching Huang of Chinese Taipei 1-0 after a 9-9 tie.In the women’s under 57kg category, Li Cheng Tseng of Chinese Taipei won the match against Malina Mihaila of Romania with a 12-0 point gap victory. In the men’s under 68kg division, London Olympic silver medalist Mohammad Bagheri of Iran defeated Filip Grgic of Croatia 7-4.

In the women’s under 67kg category, Petra Matijasevic of Croatia defeat-ed Yann Yeu Chen of Chinese Taipei 6-1. In the men’s under 80kg category, Farzad Abdollahi of Iran defeated Arman Yeremyan of Armenia 6-2.

In the women’s over 67kg division, Reshmie Oogink of the Netherlands

beat Rima Ananbeh of Jordan 5-1. In the men’s over 80kg category, Jasur Baykuziyev of Uzbekistan crushed Leonardo Basile of Italy 11-7.

Two team competitions followed the individual matches.In the team competition match between Jordan and Europe, the Jor-

danian team outpointed the six-member European team 38-28.In the last team competition match between Iran and Russia, the Ira-

nian squad brushed aside a stiff challenge from the six-member Russian team 20-17.

After all matches, Asia defeated Europe 13-3 based on aggregated points.

Part 5 Championships > 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships

Dec. TBD 2013 WTF World Grand Prix TBD

Oct. 31-Nov. 3

Nov. (TBD)

Bali, Indonesia

Cotonou, Benin


African Cup Taekwondo Championships 2013

N/A

N/A

2013-2015Event Calendar

Date Place Event Contact G

2013

Feb. 19-23

Feb. 25-27

March 1-3

March 28-30

March (TBD)

May 2-5

June 8

June 8-9

June 13-17

June 20-30(TKD 21-23)

July 4-9

July 15-21

June 20

June 21-23

Las Vegas, USA

Alexandria, Egypt

Fujairah, UAE

Manama, Bahrain

Libreville, Gabon

Toronto, Canada

Lausanne, Switzerland

Lausanne, Switzerland

Pekan Baru-Riau,Indonesia

Mersin, Turkey

Chuncheon, Korea

Puebla, Mexico

Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia

(T) 1 719 866 4632 (F) 1 719 866 [email protected] | www.usa-taekwondo.us

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(T) 90 324 2802013 (F) 90 324 [email protected]

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(T) +52 222 [email protected]

2013 US Open Taekwondo Championships

5th Alexandria International Open

Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships

5th Bahrain Open Taekwondo Championship

1st African Para-Taekwondo Championships

2013 Canada Open

4th WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

2013 Swiss Open

3rd Islamic Solidarity Games

17th Mediterranean Games

2013 Chuncheon Korea OpenInternational Taekwondo Championships

2013 WTF World Taekwondo Championships

2nd Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

7th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships

G-2

G-1

G-1

G-1

N/A

G-1

N/A

TBD

TBD

TBD

G-2

G-7

N/A

N/A

July 21

July 26-Aug. 4(TKD Jul 27-29)

Aug. 8-9

Sept. 2-12 (TKD 6-9)

Sept. (TBD)

Sept. (TBD)

Sept. (TBD)

Sept. (TBD)

Oct. 6-16(TKD 7-9)

Oct. 18-26

Nov.

Jerusalem, Israel

Sofia, Bulgaria

Torino, Italy

Wallis and Fortuna

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria, Egypt

Tianjin, China

St.Petersburg, Russia

TBD

(T) 972 3671 5726 (F) 972 3677 [email protected] | www.maccabiah.com

http://www.torino2013wmg.org/?lang=en

(+681)72.16.58 [email protected]

19th Maccabiah Games Taekwondo

2013 Sofia Summer Deaflympics

2013 World Masters Games Taekwondo

9th Pacific Mini Games

12th African Senior Taekwondo Championships

1st African Junior Taekwondo Championships

2nd African Taekwondo Team Championships

3rd African Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

6th East Asian Games

2nd Sportaccord World Combat Games


TBD

N/A

N/A

TBD

G-5

N/A

TBD

TBD

TBD

N/A

N/A

WTF Event Calendar


2015

TBD

TBD

June (TBC)

July (TBC)

July 10-26

July (TBC)

Sept. (TBC)

Oct. (TBC)

Dec. (TBC)

TBA

TBD

TBD

Baku, Azerbaijan

TBD

Toronto, Canada

Gwangju, Korea

TBD

TBD

Brazzaville, Congo

TBD

2015 WTF World Taekwondo Championships


2015 European Games

2015 WTF World Grand-Prix Series 1

Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade



2015 WTF World Grand-Prix Final

2015 All Africa Games

TBD

N/A

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD


2014

March 23-25

March 26-29

TBD

TBC

May (TBD)

June 8-14

July (TBC)

Aug. 16 - 28(TKD 17-21)

Sept. 19 - Oct 4

Oct. (TBC)

TBA

New Taipei City,ChineseTaipei

New Taipei City,ChineseTaipei

TBD

TBD

Botswana

Hohhot, China

TBD

Nanjing, China

Incheon, Korea

TBD

WTF Qualification Tournamentfor Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games

10th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships


1st WTF World Cadet Taekwondo Championships

All African Games for Juniors

13th World University Taekwondo Championships


Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games

2014 Incheon Asian Games


2014 Oceania Taekwondo Championships

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

TBD

TBD

N/A

TBD

TBD

TBD

The World Taekwondo Federation Expresses its Gratitude Toward our

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