Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics

Governing body

Events

8 (men: 4; women: 4)

Games

1896	•	1900	•	1904	•	1908	•	1912	•	1920
1924	•	1928	•	1932	•	1936	•	1948	•	1952
1956	•	1960	•	1964	•	1968	•	1972	•	1976
1980	•	1984	•	1988	•	1992	•	1996	•	2000
2004	•	2008	•	2012	•	2016
Note: demonstration sport years indicated in italics

Medalists

Taekwondo made its first appearance at the Summer Olympic Games as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison. Taekwondo was again a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were no demonstration sports at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, USA.^[1] Taekwondo became a full medal sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and has been a sport in the Olympic games since then.

Background

The quest to bring taekwondo to the Olympics began in 1974 when taekwondo was admitted into the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).^[2] One of the AAU's primary roles is to establish standards for various sports nation-wide. The World Taekwondo Federation's technical standards were adopted by the AAU Taekwondo group.

In 1975, taekwondo became an affiliate of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).^[2] The GAISF promotes cooperation among various international sports federations and works closely with the Olympics movement. Five years later, in 1980, the WTF was granted recognition by the IOC.^[2] The following year, taekwondo was one of the primary events in the World Games,^[2] an international competition specifically for non-Olympic events. In 1982, taekwondo was designated an official demonstration sport for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, and for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.^[2]

In 1986 and 1987, taekwondo was included in the following international sporting events: World Cup (1986), Asian Games (1986), All-Africa Games (1986), and the Pan American Games (1987).^[2] In 1994, the IOC adopted taekwondo as an official Olympic sport for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.^[2]

Olympic Competition Format

For Olympic competition, there will be a single elimination tournament for each of the weight categories. Repechage competition will occur for the bronze medal contest, while the winner of the tournament will receive the gold medal, and the loser will receive the silver medal. Anyone who loses in the single elimination competition enters the repechage. "In the repechage, the losers of the semifinals during the elimination phase will be seeded directly to each of repechage finals, but on the opposite side of the bracket. Other losers will advance to the repechage unseeded, at the same side of the bracket in which they contested during the elimination phase." The two finalists of the repechage will receive bronze medals.^[3] Up until the 2012 Summer Olympics, a National Olympic Committee could only send a maximum of two men and two women competitors, without regard whether it is the host nation.^[4] This restriction has been lifted for the 2016 Summer Olympics, so each National Olympic Committee may now qualify one athlete per weight category. ^[5]^[6]

Events

Medals are awarded in four different weight classes for both men and women.

Event	Men	Women
Flyweight	–58 kg	–49 kg
Featherweight	58–68 kg	49–57 kg
Middleweight	68–80 kg	57–67 kg
Heavyweight	+80 kg	+67 kg

Medal table

Updated until 2012 Olympics

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	South Korea (KOR)	10	2	2	14
2	China (CHN)	5	1	2	8
3	United States (USA)	2	2	4	8
4	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	2	1	5	8
5	Mexico (MEX)	2	1	3	6
6	Iran (IRI)	2	1	2	5
7	Turkey (TUR)	1	3	2	6
8	Spain (ESP)	1	3	0	4
8	Greece (GRE)	1	3	0	4
10	Cuba (CUB)	1	2	2	5
11	Italy (ITA)	1	1	1	3
12	Australia (AUS)	1	1	0	2
13	Great Britain (GBR)	1	0	2	3
14	Argentina (ARG)	1	0	0	1
14	Serbia (SRB)	1	0	0	1
16	France (FRA)	0	2	4	6
17	Norway (NOR)	0	2	0	2
18	Russia (RUS)	0	1	2	3
18	Thailand (THA)	0	1	2	3
20	Canada (CAN)	0	1	1	2
20	Germany (GER)	0	1	1	2
22	Dominican Republic (DOM)	0	1	0	1
	Gabon (GAB)	0	1	0	1
	Vietnam (VIE)	0	1	0	1
25	Croatia (CRO)	0	0	3	3
26	Afghanistan (AFG)	0	0	2	2
26	Venezuela (VEN)	0	0	2	2
28	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Colombia (COL)	0	0	1	1
	Egypt (EGY)	0	0	1	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1
	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	0	1	1
	Nigeria (NGR)	0	0	1	1
Total		32	32	48	112

Number of athletes by nation

Nation	96	00	04	08	12	20	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	00	04	08	12	Years
Afghanistan (AFG)																										2	2	9
Algeria (ALG)																											1	3
Argentina (ARG)																								2	2	1	2	4
Armenia (ARM)																											1	1
Australia (AUS)																								8	4	4	2	79
Austria (AUT)																								1	2			2
Azerbaijan (AZE)																									2	1	2	83
Belgium (BEL)																									1			1
Belize (BIZ)																										1		1
Benin (BEN)																								1		1		2
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)																									1			1
Brazil (BRA)																								1	3	3	2	4
Cambodia (CAM)																											1	1
Canada (CAN)																								1	2	3	3	4
Central African Republic (CAF)																									1		2	2
Chile (CHI)																								1			1	2
China (CHN)																								3	2	4	3	4
Chinese Taipei (TPE)																								4	4	4	3	4
Colombia (COL)																								1	3	2	1	4
Costa Rica (CRC)																									1	1	1	3
Ivory Coast (CIV)																								1	1	2	1	4
Croatia (CRO)																								1	2	2	2	4
Cuba (CUB)																								4	2	3	3	4
Denmark (DEN)																								2	2			2
Dominican Republic (DOM)																									1	1	1	3
Ecuador (ECU)																										1		1
Egypt (EGY)																								3	4	1	4	4
Finland (FIN)																								2	1		1	3
France (FRA)																								2	4	2	2	4
Gabon (GAB)																										1	1	2
Germany (GER)																								3		4	2	3
Great Britain (GBR)																								2	4	3	4	4
Greece (GRE)																								3	4	3	1	4
Grenada (GRN)																											1	1
Guatemala (GUA)																								1	3		1	3
Guinea (GUI)																										1		1
Haiti (HAI)																									1			1
Honduras (HON)																										1		1
Hungary (HUN)																								1				1
Indonesia (INA)																								1	2			2
Iran (IRI)																								2	2	3	3	4
Iraq (IRQ)																									1			1
Israel (ISR)																									1	1		2
Italy (ITA)																								3	3	3	2	4
Jamaica (JAM)																											1	1
Japan (JPN)																								2	1	1	2	4
Jordan (JOR)																								1	2	1	3	4
Kazakhstan (KAZ)																									1	2	3	3
Kenya (KEN)																										2		1
Kuwait (KUW)																								1				1
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)																										1	1	2
Lebanon (LIB)																											1	1
Lesotho (LES)																								2	1			2
Libya (LBA)																								1	1			2
Malaysia (MAS)																								1	1	2		3
Mali (MLI)																										1	1	2
Marshall Islands (MHL)																										1		1
Mexico (MEX)																								3	3	3	4	4
Monaco (MON)																								1				1
Morocco (MAR)																								3	3	3	3	4
Nepal (NEP)																									1	1		2
Netherlands (NED)																								2	2	1	1	4
New Zealand (NZL)																									1	3	3	3
Nicaragua (NCA)																								1				1
Niger (NIG)																										1		1
Nigeria (NGR)																									3	2	2	3
Norway (NOR)																								1	1	1		3
Panama (PAN)																											1	1
Papua New Guinea (PNG)																										1	1	2
Peru (PER)																											1	1
Philippines (PHI)																								4	3	2		3
Poland (POL)																									1		1	2
Portugal (POR)																										1		1
Puerto Rico (PUR)																									1	2		2
Qatar (QAT)																										1		1
Russia (RUS)																								2	2		4	3
Samoa (SAM)																											2	1
Saudi Arabia (KSA)																								1				1
Senegal (SEN)																										1	1	2
Serbia (SRB)																											3	1
Slovenia (SLO)																								1			3	2
South Africa (RSA)																									1			1
South Korea (KOR)																								4	4	4	4	16
Spain (ESP)																								4	4	4	3	4
Swaziland (SWZ)																								1				1
Sweden (SWE)																								2		2	2	3
Switzerland (SUI)																										1		1
Tajikistan (TJK)																											2	1
Thailand (THA)																									4	3	3	3
Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)																								1	1			2
Tunisia (TUN)																									3	1	1	3
Turkey (TUR)																								2	1	4	3	4
Ukraine (UKR)																									1		2	2
United Arab Emirates (UAE)																										1		1
United States (USA)																								4	2	4	4	4
Uzbekistan (UZB)																									2	3	3	3
Venezuela (VEN)																								1	4	4		3
Vietnam (VIE)																								2	2	3	2	4
Yemen (YEM)																									1		1	2
Nations	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	-	-		50	60	64	63	99
Athletes	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	-	-	-	102	124	128	128	482

References

↑ Rowbottom, Mike (1 January 1996). "1996: The shape of things to come". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Hartman (2000). "History of Taekwondo: Road to the Olympics". TKD Tutor. Retrieved 2009-04-25. (Link has expired, as at 28 February 2010.)
↑ http://www.i-olympic.com/viewthread.php?tid=1516
↑ World Taekwondo Federation. "Standing Procedures for Taekwondo Competition at Olympic Games," (October 2010).
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Sports at the Olympic Games

Summer sports	Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Beach volleyball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Field hockey Football Gymnastics Handball Judo Modern pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Swimming Synchronized swimming Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Water polo Weightlifting Wrestling

Winter sports	Alpine skiing Biathlon Bobsleigh Cross-country skiing Curling Figure skating Freestyle skiing Ice hockey Luge Nordic combined Short track speed skating Skeleton Ski jumping Snowboarding Speed skating

Past sports	Baseball Basque pelota Cricket Croquet Jeu de paume Lacrosse Military patrol Polo Rackets Roque Rugby union (15 a-side) Softball Tug of war Water motorsports

Future sports	Golf Rugby sevens

Demonstration sports	American football Australian football Bandy Bowling Budo Disabled skiing Gliding Glima Ice stock sport Korfball La canne Pesäpallo Roller hockey Savate Skijoring Sled dog racing Speed skiing Water skiing Winter pentathlon

Unofficial sports	Angling Art competitions Ballooning Boules Cannon shooting Cycle polo Fire fighting Gaelic football Hurling Kaatsen Kite flying Life saving Longue paume Motor racing Motorcycle racing Pigeon racing Wushu

See also: Paralympic sports

International Taekwondo competitions

World	World Championships World Poomsae Championships World Cup Team Championships World Junior Championships World Para-Taekwondo Championships World Tour World University Championships

Continental	African Championships African Cup Team Championships African Junior Championships Asian Championships Asian Clubs Championships Asian Junior Championships European Championships European Clubs Championships European Junior Championships European Masters Games Oceania Championships Pan American Championships Pan American Junior Championships Pan American Para-Taekwondo Championships Europe-Asia Intercontinental Championships

Multi-sport	All-Africa Games Asian Games Central American Games East Asian Games Islamic Solidarity Games Olympics Military World Games Pacific Games Pan American Games Pan Arab Games South East Asian Games Universiade Youth Olympic Games

Other	Arab Cup Commonwealth Championships Mediterranean Cup Championships NCAA Championship UAAP Championship West Asian Championships World Military Championships

Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics

	1988 (demonstration) 1992 (demonstration) 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

List of medalists List of Olympic venues