Taekwondo is one of the
sports offered at the 2012 Olympics. Below is a summary
of key upcoming news and events as America prepares to
improve on its 2008 Taekwondo Olympic performance.
The 2012
Olympics will be held in London, England.
Click here for the official 2012 Olympic
website.
Taekwondo is
only one of two martial arts participating in
the 2012 Olympics. The other is Judo.
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.
There are four
weight classes at the Olympics and there is a
men's & women's division. Thus there is only 8
possible gold medals in total (4 for the men & 4
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.
.