Taekwondo is an exciting
sport & will be in the 2012 Olympics. Below are upcoming Olympic
Taekwondo highlights & recent Olympic articles as America prepares to
improve on its 2008 Taekwondo Olympic performance.
The 2012
Olympics will be held in London, England. This
event starts on July 27 and ends on August 12,
2012.
Click here for the official 2012 Olympic
website.
Here is the
schedule for the Taekwondo matches at the
London Olympics. They run from August 8 through
August 11.
Taekwondo is
only one of two martial arts participating in
the 2012 Olympics. The other is Judo.
There are four
weight classes. Men - under 58 kg, 58-68 kg,
68-80 kg and 80+ kg. Women - under 49 kg, 49-57
kg, 57-67 kg and 67+ kg.
However in the
2012 Olympics, a country may only compete in two
weight classes per gender. Thus a single country
could only win a maximum of 4 possible gold
medals in Taekwondo at the 2012 Olympics (2 for the men &
2
for the women).
The competition
consists of sparring for three rounds of two
minutes each. If the match has not been decided
after these three rounds, the match has a sudden
death round.
Officials are
trying to make Olympic Taekwondo even more
exciting so they are awarding more points for
spectacular head kicks. According to
Wikipedia, "a kick or punch that makes
contact with the opponent's hogu (the body guard
that functions as a scoring target) scores one
point; if a kick to the hogu involved a
technique that includes fully turning the
attacking competitor's body, so that the back is
fully exposed to the targeted competitor during
execution of the technique, an additional point
is awarded; a kick to the head scores three
points; as of October 2010 an additional point
is awarded if a turning kick was used to execute
this attack"...
"Blows
are full force; if one competitor is knocked out
by a legal attack, the attacking competitor is
declared the winner, since the WTF allows
knockouts in sparring competition."
The primary gold
medals winners in the 2008 Olympics were South
Korea - 4, Mexico - 2, China - 1 and Iran - 1. The US came in
second in the overall medal count with 1 silver
and 2 bronze medals. However, no gold medals.
The Lopez family
was America's best known Taekwondo participants
in the 2008 Olympics. For more, please read this
2008 NY Times article on the Lopez family.
Or
read this book about the Lopez family in the
Olympics. See if it is in your local library.
NBC is
broadcasting the Taekwondo matches. Here is the
NBC Taekwondo page. When we get closer to
the 2012 Olympics, this site will have match
schedules, videos, etc.
Support the US
Taekwondo Olympic team and
donate
to help America's Olympic efforts.
Interesting
Articles about Taekwondo Olympic Athletes
Afghanistan
Olympic Team -
Afghanistan Trailblazer - This article looks
at an Afghan Taekwondo star who won a bronze
medal in the 2008 Olympics and how he is
preparing for the 2012 games.
UK Olympic Team -
Headhunter Jones - This female Brit
Taekwondo star is only 18 and is extremely
aggressive. She should be fun to watch in the
Olympics.
US Olympic Team
-
Lopez Siblings Clinch Berths on US Team -
The Lopez family has been America's best
Taekwondo Olympians but they have had more
trouble qualifying this year. Is age creeping
up? Steven Lopez has won Taekwondo medals in the
past three Olympics but he will be 33 when he
competes in the 2012 Olympics.
US Olympic Team
-
Lopez, Abdallah Advance - This article looks
at the some of people going to the US Olympic
Taekwondo trials in March 2012.
