TAEKWONDO IN THE OLYMPICS
Universality means that all taekwondo athletes can dream of an Olympic medal and have a real chance of bringing home their first ever Olympic medal for their countries.
Taekwondo first appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. On September 4, 1994 during the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, Taekwondo was accepted as an official medal sport for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Taekwondo was then included in the official programme at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Taekwondo has been continuously evolving into a fair, exciting and media-friendly sport with all the demands and expectations associated with any Olympic sport. Taekwondo has continued to show progress in both its technical and its operational aspects. During London 2012 Olympic Games, the Taekwondo competition was staged successfully with the participation of 128 athletes from 63 countries – the largest number of participating countries in Taekwondo's Olympic history.
WTF has introduced a series of major changes in its competition rules to further ensure complete fairness and transparency in the judging and enhance its dynamism to make it more appealing to the general audience by adopting cutting edge technologies and reinforcing the education of its referees and judges.