WTF Magazine 2013

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Presidents Message
onumental development and unprecedented popularity have been enjoyed by the WTF and the taekwondo family over the past 40 years. Though the diaspora of taekwondo started years before the WTFs
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 associations, the WTF is very proud of how far we have come. Not only have
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
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 initiatives 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 offer 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 organization and our sport as we continue to stand together in our common
cause. Inspiration lies in every corner for the world and it is taekwondo that is leading the way to this destination.
Chungwon Choue
President
World Taekwondo Federation
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.Moldova 33.Monaco 34.Montenegro 35.The Netherlands 36.Norway 37.Poland
38.Portugal 39.Romania 40.Russia 41.San Marino 42.Serbia 43.Slovak Republic 44.Slovenia 45.Spain 46.Sweden 47.Switzerland 48.Turkey 49.Ukraine
EUROPE
49
ASIA (43)
PAN
AMERICA
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.Lebanon 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
ASIA
44
43
AFRICA
AFRICA (49)
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 dIvoire 12.Congo 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.Seychelles 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.Zimbabwe 49.Zambia
OCEANIA
19
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.Guatemala 24.Guyana 25.Haiti 26.Honduras 27.Jamaica 28.Martinique 29.Mexico 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)
The WTF now boasts a global membership of 204,

and is still expanding across the world
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.Tonga 18.Tuvalu 19.Vanuatu
INNOVATION
84
Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: WTF World Grand Prix Series
86
Armor: No Longer Just for Protection
88
Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training
92
Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs up
94
Setting a New Standard
AROUND THE WTF
Presidents Message
100
Sky-High Demonstration Takes Taekwondo into Stratosphere
110
World Taekwondo Peace Corps: Hope and Dreams to Youth of World
116
Bare Feet, Kind Heart
117
Vikas Story: A Coach Appeals
120
World Taekwondo Federation Nominated for Peace and Sport Award
122
4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp
124
Participants Reflections: WTF-Kyung Hee Course
130
Lebanese Leaders Granted Olympic Positions

Royalty Visits WTF
204... and Counting

131
LEGACIES
12
Charting Taekwondo's Changes: Q&A with Dr. Ken Min
16
From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF
Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader

Singapore Taekwondo Chief Joins NOC
132
African Honor for WTF Head
134
Around the Continental Unions

134 ATU Activities
140 PATU Activities
40 Years of History: 1973-2013
136 AFTU Activities
142 OTU Activities
22
History of the World Taekwondo Championships
138 ETU Activities
24
Viva Puebla! 'City of Angels' Gears up for 2013 Worlds
28
40 Years: Congratulatory Messages
20
144
Member National Associations

144 Iraqi Taekwondo: Troubled Past, Bright Future
153 Bulgarian Taekwondo Raises its Game
146 Uzbekistan Takes to Taekwondo
154 Innovative Philippine League Enjoys Successful Run
147 Northern Exposure: Canadian Taekwondo
155 Addicted to Taekwondo, Not to Drugs
OLYMPIC REVIEW
148 Island of Innovations: The Singapore Story
156 Finlands Training Center Aims High
150 Facing the Challenge: Taekwondo in Uganda
157 Small Country, Great Ambitions: Uruguay Taekwondo
34
London 2012: Taekwondo Comes of Age
152 Somalia Celebrates 1st Taekwondo Medal
158 Italian Passion
42
Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012
52
London Stars
56 Shes Not Jaded
58
Results
CHAMPIONSHIPS
52 Chinas Double Gold Medalist Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream

57 Afghan Hero Wins Bronze
162
9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships
58 Competition Day 1 - Competition Day 4
164
3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships
66 Medals Table : 63 Qualified NOCs 2012
166
2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
67 Medals Table :Taekwondo Medalists 2012
170
7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
68 Olympic Medalists 2012
174
1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships
72 Global Media Talk Taekwondo

74 Photo Gallery Day 1 - Day 4
WTF Events Calendar
PART 1
Stronger than Ever!

The History of the WTF: Olympic Legacy Stories
12 Charting Taekwondos Changes: Q&A with Dr. Ken Min

16 From Korea to the World:
40 Years of the WTF
20 40 Years of History: 1973-2013

22 History of the World Taekwondo Championships
24 Viva Puebla! City of Angels
Gears up for 2013 Worlds
28 40 Years: Congratulatory Messages
Legacies
Legacies
Charting Taekwondos Changes:
Q&A with Dr.Ken Min

Prof. Ken Min, one of the first-generation taekwondo coaches to relocate from Korea to the United States, was on the ground floor as the sport took off globally. In this exclusive interview, he
shares thoughts, memories and recommendations
Coming to America
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 wrestling), 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 Festivals. 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 taekwondos 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 advanced 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.
12
TAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF
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 faculty. 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 Koreas 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 Championships and five Summer Universiades as an adopted sport.
Part 1 Legacies > Q&A with Dr. Ken Min
13
Legacies
Legacies
Going Global
Moving Forward
What have been the key developments in taekwondo globally since 1973?
Do we have the perfect rule-set yet?
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.
I strongly believe that the current competition rules and regulations of taekwondo should be re-evaluated, keeping in mind several factors: athlete 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 entertainment in addition to competition.
Who have been the key persons driving these developments?
Do you think the gear we have now needs further tweaks?
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. Choues efforts made taekwondo a core sport for the 2020 Olympics.
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.
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 - especially 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.
14
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 opponents 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 dont 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 > Q&A with Dr. Ken Min
15
Legacies
Legacies
From Korea to the World:
40 Years of the WTF
Since 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 WTFs 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 worlds seventh largest international sport federation.
It has been a long road. The general meeting for the WTFs establishment was held in 1973, with 35 representatives from 17 countries. Taekwondos acceptance by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States in 1974 was another catalyst necessary for taekwondos 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.
Establishment Period of World Taekwondo: 1973-1979

The WTFs globalization started with the establishment of four continental unions and the hosting of their championships. The Asian
Taekwondo Championships were held in Seouls 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 athletes 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 member 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-
Developmental Stage: 1980-1993

In 1980, the WTF became the official International Federation (IF) for
taekwondo during the 83rd IOC Session in Moscow. In 1984, taekwondo was adopted as an official event of the 1986 Asian Games at the
Olympic Council of Asia meeting. The 6th Asian Taekwondo Championships were held in Manila, Philippines in 1984 with 300 officials and
athletes from 21 countries attending. That year, WTF-affiliated member 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 taekwondos 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, Myanmar, 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 success, 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 Barcelona Olympics. In Barcelona, 64 male competitors from 26 countries
and 64 female competitors from 25 countries participated.
peted in the championships.

The Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU) was founded in 1977
during the 3rd World Taekwondo Championships in Chicago. The inaugural 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 officials 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, Mauritius, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast.
World Taekwondo Fedration membership growth

Year
Number of WTF member nations
1973
17
1984
108
1990
140
1997
153
2000
160
2005
189
2013
204
The Take-off Stage: 1994-2000

In 1994, the WTF formed a task force to promote taekwondo as an
official sport of the Olympics; 49 committee members were nominated. Their efforts bore fruit and on September 4, at the 103rd IOC
Session in Paris, taekwondo became an official sport of the 2000 Sydney 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 methods using an electronic sensor scoring system to eliminate all disputes over referee judgments.
Taekwondos Official Debut: The 2000 Sydney Olympics
The late Prof. Kyong-myong Lee
16
The Sydney Olympics taekwondo event was held in Sydneys 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
17
Legacies
Legacies
New Hand at the Helm: 2004 -2013
Electronic Body Protectors at 2009 World Championships
Following the resignation of Un-yong Kim, after a series of scandals, Dr. Chungwon Choue was elected as WTF president in 2004, during a general assembly meeting in Incheon, Korea, to serve Kims 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.
The 2009 19th Mens and the 12th Womens World Taekwondo Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark featured over 1,000 athletes and
officials from 143 countries. For the first time, electronic body protectors 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 at the Source: Athens 2004

In 2004, the Athens Olympics taekwondo events were held with 64 males and 60 female athletes and 24 international referees. Sixty countries participated 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 2008

Choue worked to reform the organization so that taekwondo could continue to develop as a controvery-free Olympic
sport. His goal was to make taekwondo more fun and dynamic, and to increase fairness in referee judgment. He also
hoped to improve the reputation of the WTF and taekwondo. 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 IOCs executive board decided to add two more
male and female athletes to the previous total of 124 athletes from the Beijing Olympics so there would be 128 taekwondo athletes. It also decided to increase the number of bronze medals awarded per each weight category from one to two.
Taekwondo had come of age.

On February 12, 2013, the IOC Executive Board decided on 25 core sports of the 2020 Olympic Games.
Taekwondo remains
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 Championships 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.
18
Taekwondos Golden Age: 2010-2012

In 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 taekwondos 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 Demonstration 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.
Part 1 Legacies > From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF
19
1995
Feb. 15
The WTF was affiliated to

the ASOIF(Association of
Summer Olympic
International Federations).
2000
Sept. 27-30
2004
Taekwondo participated
as an official sport at the
27th Olympic Games in
Sydney, Australia.
2004
Aug. 26-29
in the 28th Olympic
Games in Athens, Greece.
June 11
Dr. Chungwon Choue

was elected as new
president of the WTF.
2005
2005
Mar. 10
An extraordinary WTF
Executive Council Meeting
held in Lausanne,
Switzerland approved the
reform recommendations
from the WTF Reform
Committee.
2005
May 25-27
The 1st World Taekwondo

Championships were held
in Seoul, Korea.
1980
1973
1975
May 28
The WTF was established.
Oct. 8
The WTF was affiliated to the

GAISF (General Association
of International Sports
Federations).
July 17
The WTF was recognized

by the IOC at the 83rd
IOC Session in Moscow,
Russia.
2006
1988
Sept. 17-20
as a demonstration sport
at the 24th Olympic
Games in Seoul, Korea.
20
Aug. 3-5
as a demonstration sport
at the 25th Olympic
Games in Barcelona, Spain.
Aug. 20-23
2009
Sept. 4
The WTF celebrated

Taekwondo Day on the
occasion of the 1st WTF
World Taekwondo Poomsae
Championships.
2009
2012
1992
April 12
The taekwondo
competition of the 29th
Olympic Games was held
in Beijing, China.
Charting Taekwondos Globalization
1973
An extraordinary WTF
Executive Council
recognized Oceania
Taekwondo Union as the
5th Continental Union of
the WTF.
Dr. Chungwon Choue

was reelected at the WTF
General Assembly.
2008
July 20
1994
Sept. 4
Taekwondo was adopted

as an official sport of the
Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games at the 103rd IOC
Session in Paris, France.
2012
Aug. 8-11
The taekwondo
competition of the 30th
Summer Olympic Games
took place in London,
UK.
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.
June 10-14
Electronic body
protectors and an instant
video replay system were
used for the first time.
June 10
The first WTF World

Para-Taekwondo
Championships were
held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
2013
Feb. 12
The IOC Executive Board,

at its meeting in
Lausanne, selected 25
core sports for the 2020
Olympic Games,
including taekwondo.
Part 1 Legacies > 40 Year History Timeline
21
History of the
14th (7th Womens)
World Taekwondo
Championships
WTF World Championships
11th (4th Womens)
8th (1st Womens)
6th
3rd
21th (14th Womens)
17th (10th Womens)
Puebla, Mexico
July 15-21, 2013
Madrid, Spain
April 13-17, 2005
Manila, Philippines
Nov. 17-21, 1995
Barcelona, Spain
Oct. 7-11, 1987
Seoul, Korea
May 25-27, 1973
Gyeongju, Korea
May 1-6, 2011
Jeju City, Korea

Nov. 1-7, 2001
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Feb. 24-27, 1982
12th (5th Womens)
20th (13th Womens)
15th (8th Womens)
New York, U.S.A.

Aug. 19-21, 1993
5th
1st
Edmonton, Canada
June 2-6, 1999
Copenhagen, Denmark
Oct. 20-23, 1983
9th (2nd Womens)
19th (12th Womens)
Seoul, Korea
Oct. 9-14, 1989
Chicago, U.S.A.
Sept. 15-17, 1977
Copenhagen, Denmark
Oct. 14-18, 2009
16th (9th Womens)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Sept. 24-28, 2003
18th (11th Womens)
13th (6th Womens)
Beijing, China
May 18-22, 2007
Hong Kong, China

Nov. 19-23, 1997
Manila, Philippines
Edmonton, Canada
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Seoul, Korea
Chicago, U.S.A.
Stuttgart, Germany
New York, U.S.A.
10th (3rd Womens)
2nd
Seoul, Korea
Aug. 28-31, 1975
22
4th
7th
Stuttgart, Germany
Oct. 25-28, 1979
Seoul, Korea
Sept. 4-8, 1985
Athens, Greece
Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 1991
7
Copenhagen, Denmark
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Puebla, Mexico
Madrid, Spain
Beijing, China
Jeju City, Korea
Barcelona, Spain
Hong Kong, China
Gyeongju, Korea
Part 1 Legacies > History of the World Taekwondo Championships
23
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 sports history
24
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 worlds super-kickers will converge on Puebla, Mexico, one of the most important 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. However, 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 > Milestones > Viva Puebla!
25
Legacies
Legacies
Taekwondo - Mexican Style
Welcome to Puebla
Located 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, accommodation 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.
Pueblas Exhibition Center is the largest in Latin America. With an exhibition 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 hotels. 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 transportation between the airport, hotels and venue, as well as transportation from
Mexico Citys 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 January 2012, The New York Times listed Puebla as one of the Best Places to Go.
26
Taekwondo is a modern tradition across Mexico. The father of taekwondo 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 Mexico, 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 Junior 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 Delgado, the Mexican Taekwondo Federation has become the best
sports organization in the nation. In terms of technicalities, policy 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 Eduardo 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, Jos Manuel Youshimatz Sotomayor, 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 worlds 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 1 Legacies > Viva Puebla!
27
28
29
30
31
PART 2
34 London 2012: Taekwondo Comes of Age
42 Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012
53 London Stars
53 Chinas Double Gold Medalist Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream
Taekwondo Delivers Gold Standard

Competition at London Olympic Games
56 Shes Not Jaded

57 Afghan Hero Wins Bronze
58 Results
58 Competition Day 1 - Competition Day 4
66 Medals Table : 63 Qualified NOCs 2012
67 Medals Table : Taekwondo Medalists 2012
68 Olympic Medalists 2012
72 Global Media Talk Taekwondo
74 Photo Gallery Day 1 - Day 4
Olympic Review
Taekwondo
Comes of Age
Seoul-based correspondent Andrew Salmon offers us a front-row seat at the ExCel London arena - the venue for the taekwondo competition at the London Summer Olympic Games
34
Part 2 Olympic Review > London Firsts
35
Olympic Review
Message from
the President of the
International
Olympic
Committee
It has been a long journey from its first
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 victorious 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-
36
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 Taek wondo Federation head
Chungwon Choue was ecstatic. Things
could not have gone better for taekwondo
in London, he said. From medal distribution to technology to rules to safety, we
were delighted how everything came together.
International media - surprised by the
sports new look, new rules, new gear and
new heroes at Londons ExCeL arena - were
full of praise.
Going into the London 2012 Olympics,
few people predicted that taek wondo

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 birthplace in Korea.
In an article headlined Taekwondo: Korean 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 London 2012.
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.
For 2012 Taekwondo Day
I wish you all an enjoyable celebration and a happy 2012 Taekwondo Day!
Jacques Rogge
IOC President
Part 2 Olympic Review > London 2012 Taekwondo Comes of Age
37
Olympic Review
Bringing High Tech to Fair Play
Kicking Off
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 sports athletes were prominent even
on opening night.
Taekwondo athletes were flag bearers for 11 national contingents as they
marched into the arena following the
spectacular opening ceremony masterminded by film wunderkind Danny Boyle:
Afghanistan, Armenia, Cambodia, Central
African Republic, the Dominican Republic,
Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco and Yemen.
As the evening wore on, the crowds
hushed as a competitor from the host
38
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 themensuring that
the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play
is fully adhered to and upheld in accordance with the fundamental principles of
Olympism.
It was both a proud and poignant moment for the reader, who had lost both her
parents the year before: 29-year-old British
taekwondo athlete Sarah Stevenson.
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 arrived 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 competitors foot pads and body armor to measure
impact - meant scores were collated electronically, obviating human error.
Moreover, instant video replays were available for close or controversial decisions.
The response to the changes from the
fighters and the 6,000 or so spectators packing into the ExCeL arena for every session of
the four-day competition was overwhelmingly positive, noted Reuters, which quoted
Chinese competitor Wu Jingyu as saying, The
introduction of PSS makes sure the games are
faireralso with the new rules, I have more
confidence to use the high-skilled kicks.
39
Olympic Review
A Diverse Medal Distribution

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
worlds 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 needed 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 Rohullah Nikpah, who won a bronze, his nations only medal in London.
Moreover, his feat doubled Afghanistans historic medal tally - for
Nikpah had previously won a medal in Beijing. (See separate story on
this Afghan hero elsewhere in this issue.)
New Competitors and a Safer Sport

The new rules favoring faster, higher and
snappier kicks, rather than the power strikes
of the past - appear to have bred a new generation of champs.
Its the changing of the guard, US
Olympic coach Juan Moreno, a former silver
medalist himself, told Associated Press. Its
harder for the older fighters because theyve
worked their whole life to fight in a different
style and breaking that habit is hard.
Favored players such as USAs Steven
Lopez, Irans Yousef Kurami and GBs Sarah
Stevenson all suffered surprise eliminations.
Stevenson, recovering from the personal
tragedy mentioned above, displayed considerable character when reacting to her loss.
This is the Olympics, Stevenson told media.
Its not life or death, its meant to be fun.
Among the new breed in London, GBs
gold medalist Jade Jones (womens -57 kg
category) and Colombias bronze medalist
Oscar Munoz Oviedo (mens - 58 kg category) had both been medalists in the inaugural
2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore.
There was no doubt that the new rules,
40
which especially promote the use of high-level kicks, taekwondos 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 its exciting
to watch, said Jean-Marie Ayer, the WTFs
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, trembling 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 injuries 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 looking 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 classified as mild risk by health insurers. The
sports administrators and competitors now
have grounds for hoping that its risk classification will be further downgraded.
Then there was Anthony Obame of the African nation of Gabon.

He went out to Italys Carlo Molfetta in the final round of the mens
+80kg division, but by taking a silver, wrote the first page of his nations Olympic history.
It was a terrific sensation, he told reporters. I think its a good
start for us, the 23-year-old continued. For now, its 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.
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, Korean 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 IOCs Olympic Solidarity program. Out of 128 taekwondo players
who competed in London, 15 athletes were recipients of the scholarships.
Two - Servet Tazegul of Turkey (mens 68kg category) and Carlo
Molfetta of Italy (mens +80 kg category) - took home gold.
41
Olympic Review
42
43
Olympic Review
One of the most eye-catching and unique sights at the London 2012
Olympic Games were the Sport Presentations- demonstrations of
taekwondos most spectacular techniques, carried out by the WTF
Demonstration Team between the competition bouts.
44
In May 2010, the IOC and London Organizing Committee of the

Olympic Games, or LOCOG, had accepted the WTFs request for these
demonstrations. which were performed four times every competition day; one each before the three daily competitive sessions and
one more before final matches.
Part 2 Olympic Review > London Firsts
45
Olympic Review
46
47
Olympic Review
While it was left to the actual competitors to demonstrate taekwondos fighting techniques, the WTF Demonstration Team displayed the
sports 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 taekwondos Olympic competition.
48
Part 2 Olympic Review > Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012
49
Olympic Review
50
51
Olympic Review
Chinas Double Gold Medalist
Wu Jingyu
Chases the Dream
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
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 persist in pursuing them!
Wu made her global debut at the 2007 Beijing World Taekwondo
Championships, grabbing gold with a combination of exclusive technique 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
52
achieve them. Her 13 years of taekwondo training defines her persistence. 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 Wus benchmark.
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 bitterness with laughter. Its like practicing Buddhism: You have to
stay calm, ignore all disturbances and taste the bitterness as sugar,
Part 2 Olympic Review > London Stars > Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream
53
Olympic Review
You have to stay calm,

ignore all disturbances
and taste the bitterness
as sugar
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 competition rules and PSS changed the game. More speed, more combinations 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 womens -49kg category for the second
time. She remembers the great joy of the moment. What is happiness? 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 invited 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-
54
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
events 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 unveiling of the events 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.
Im 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 communication, I can learn more from athletes and coaches from other countries. 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.
Part 1 Legacies > Wu Jin Kyu
55
Olympic Review
Shes
Not
Jaded
Afghan
Hero
Wins
Bronze
Jade Jones (Great Britain)

of front leg side and round kicks as
An Olympic gold medal, media recogher main scoring implements, varied
nition and a royal award made 2012
with a strong rear leg turning kick.
a spectacular year for 19-year-old
Her jackhammer side kick, jamming
Welsh taekwondo athlete Jade Jones.
her opponent, keeping her on the
In 2013, her challenge is to regain her
back foot and at a distance, clearly
appetite for success.
discomfited Hou, who was unable to
I haven been as motivated as I
unleash a high-scoring head kick and
used to be, she confessed to UK mewho was taking too long to rev up her
dia outlet Wales Online at years end. It
game as Jones constant hits racked
was that hunger that made me win the
up the points.
Olympics, so I need to get that back.
Desperate to get ahead, Hou
Her motivation will hopefully rewent for broke in the third rounds
turn in the near future, as Jones will
closing seconds, but could not penbe fighting at the World Taekwondo
etrate Jones defense. It was too late
Championships in July. Although Jones
to equalize. The moment time was
has a 2010 Youth Olympic Games viccalled, Jones dropped into a stance,
tory under her black belt, she lost out
thrust her fists skyward and hurled
at the 2011 World Taekwondo Champiher headgear into the air as the
onships to Chinas Hou Yuzhou.
hometown crowd exploded.
Still, the competition at the 2013
End score? Jones 6, Hou 4.
Worlds is not likely to be any more
Every inch the golden girl - blondintense than it was in London in 2012.
haired and fresh-faced - the Welsh
There, in the -57kg slot, Jones beat
rose has since proven a media faWorld No. 1 Li-chen Tseng of Chinese
vorite. Following her Olympic gold,
Taipei in the semis, 10-6. Then, with
Jones was named BBC Wales Sports
the gold up for grabs, she stepped
Personality of the Year after beating
onto the mats to take on the world
out rugby star Dan Lydiate and OlymNo. 2 - none other than Hou, who had
pic cycling gold medalist Geraint
beaten Jones at the 2011 Worlds.
Thomas in a public vote.
It was a classic match-up. As the
And to cap it all, her success on
bout got underway, Jones looked
the mats led to an award from Queen
nervy compared to her more experiElizabeth II: Jones can now put MBE
enced and relaxed rival, but her work
(Member of the British Empire ) afrate was higher from the get-go, and
ter her surname.
knowing Hou from their previous
However, she is not the first fematch, her tactics were spot on.
male taekwondo athlete to receive
Although she is sometimes known
the honor: As evidence of the sports
as The Headhunter for her flamboyhigh profile in the UK, her team mate
ant high kicks, Jones was playing a
Sarah Stevenson was similarly awardcraftier game in London: From a sideTAEKWONDO Official Publication of the WTF
ed in 2011.
on56stance,
she used a combination
Rohullah Nikpah (Afghanistan)

He may be a hairdresser by day, but taekwondo athlete Rohullah Nikpah fought like
a warrior to bring home Afghanistans only
medal of the London Olympics.
The Olympic team from the impoverished, 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 Britains 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.
Nikpahs 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 exultant Nikpah leapt up with a split kick and a
roar of victory.
Halfway across the world, his countrymen were transfixed: International media reported that most of Kabul stayed up late to
watch Nikpais 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 generators to see how the competition ended.
As Nikpah - a former refugee and member 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 Afghanistan not feting the new national hero was
the Taliban. According to British newspaper

The Guardian, the insurgent groups spokesperson 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, reportedly, the gift of a home from President
Karzai. Nikpahs feat in London in 2012 doubled his countrys 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 London Games, As long as taekwondo stays an
Olympic sport, Afghans can keep dreaming.
The dream continues.
57
Olympic Review
COMPETITION DAY
AUGUST 8, 2012
Mens Under 58kg & Womens Under 49kg

The first day of competitions was successfully organized, with all contests being played on schedule. The days competitions were memorable
for the following achievements
1. World No. 1 in the womens -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 mens -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. Colombias Oscar Munoz Oviedo became the first ever Olympic taekwondo
medalist from his country, winning a bronze in the mens -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 Panamas first ever appearance in Olympic taekwondo as Carolena Carstens competed in the womens -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 Africas first-ever participation in Olympic taekwondo competition, and Katherine Seul-ki Kang achieved 11th place in the womens -49kg.
6. It was the first appearance of Algeria in Olympic taekwondo as El-Yamine Mokdad competed in the mens -58kg.
7. Yemens Tameem Mohammed Ahmed Al-Kubati participated through Tripartite
Commission Invitation. He was also an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder.
58
Part 2 Olympic Review > Results
59
Olympic Review
COMPETITION DAY
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 countrys Jade Jones, fighting in the womens -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 semifinal by 10-6 and the world No. 2 Yuzhuo Hou of China in the final by 6-4.
2. Afghanistans Rohullah Nikpah won a bronze for the second consecutive time after Beijing. As in 2008, Nikpahs was the only Olympic medal achieved by the NOC
of Afghanistan. He won the medal in the mens -68kg, while his bronze in Beijing
had been in the mens -58kg.
3. The most dazzling taekwondo competitor and world ranking No. 1 in mens
-68kg, Turkeys Servet Tazegul, finally became an Olympic champion after he defeated 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 competing. One of the twins, Lucija Zaninovic of Croatia, had won the bronze medal in
the womens -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 womens
-57kg while Damir Feijic won 9th place in the mens -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 Central Africa.
60
61
Olympic Review
COMPETITION DAY
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 mens -80kg for his country, Argentina,
by defeating Nicolas Garcia Hemme of Spain in the final by 1-0. It was the first Olympic taekwondo 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. Koreas Kyung-seon Hwang became one of only three athletes to win medals at three different Olympic Games, the others being Hadi Saei of Iran and Steven Lopez of USA. Hwang
won the gold in the womens -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 GBs national selection, won a bronze medal after defeating Arman Yeremyan of Armenia in the bronze medal contest in the mens -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 competed in the womens -67kg and won 7th place.
5. Farkhod Negmatov of Tajikistan was also an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder. He
won 11th place in the mens -80kg. It was also the first appearance of Tajikistan in Olympic
taekwondo.
62
63
Olympic Review
COMPETITION DAY
AUGUST 11, 2012
Mens Over 80kg & Womens Over 67kg

It was last but not least as the taekwondo competitons entered its final day of the London 2012 Olympics
1. Probably the most dramatic moment of the competition was the final in the mens +80kg,
which was also the last taekwondo match of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Italian policeman and IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder Carlo Molfetta defeated Anthony
Obame of Gabon by decision after a 9-9 draw. Molfettas 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 womens +67kg was also memorable when Milica Mandic presented
gold 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 Olympic
taekwondo mats. Talitiga Crawley of Samoa won 7th place in the womens +67kg while
Kaino Thomsen-Fuataga of Samoa placed 7th in the mens +80kg. Cambodias Davin Sorn,
an IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holder, participated with Tripartite Commission invitation and won 11th place in the womens +67kg. Jamaicas Kenneth Edwards came in 11th
in the mens +80kg.
4. Other IOC Olympic Solidarity scholarship holders also competed on this day: Slovenias
Nusa Rajher won 9th place in the womens +67kg, Khaoula Ben Hamza of Tunisia won 11th
place in the womens +67kg and Malis two-times world champion Daba Modibo Keita finished in 5th place after an unfortunate injury.
64
65
Olympic Review
Medals Table
63 Qualified NOCs 2012

Qualified via World Qualification Tournament
Qualified via Continental Qualification Tournament
ASIA (16 NOCs)

Nation
MALE
FEMALE
-58kg -68kg -80kg +80kg
-49kg -57kg -67kg +67kg
Cambodia
1
1
Iran
Korea
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Grenada
Guatemala
Jamaica
Mexico
Panama
Peru
Vietnam
Yemen
USA
1
1
1
FEMALE
-58kg -68kg -80kg +80kg
-49kg -57kg -67kg +67kg
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Finland
France
1
Netherlands
Turkey
Ukraine
66
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
Spain
ESP
TAZEGUL Servet
Turkey
TUR
BAGHERI MOTAMED Mohammad
Iran
IRI
United States
USA
Afghanistan
AFG
MOLFETTA Carlo
Italy
ITA
OBAME Anthony
Gabon
GAB
SILVER
LEE Dae-hoon
Korea
KOR
BRONZE
BRONZE
DENJSENKO Alexey
Russia
RUS
JENNINGS Terrence
MUNOZ Oscar
Colombia
COL
NIKPAH Rohullah
under 80kg
over 80kg
GOLD
GOLD
CRISMANICH Sebastian Eduardo
Argentina
ARG
SILVER
SILVER
GARCIA HEMME Nicolas
4
1
GONZALEZ BONILLA Joel
Spain
ESP
BRONZE
BRONZE
MUHAMMAD Lutalo
Great Britain
GBR
DESPAIGNE Robelis
Cuba
CUB
SARMIENTO Mauro
Italy
ITA
LIU Xiaobo
China
CHN
TOTAL
Womens Division
JONES Jade
Great Britain
GBR
HOU Yuzhuo
China / CHN
CHN
Cote dlvoire
Egypt
1
1
Nation
Central African Rep.
3
3
Mali
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
1
1
under 49kg
under 57kg
GOLD
GOLD
WU Jingyu
China
CHN
Tunisia
SILVER
YAGUE ENRIQUE Bregitte
Spain
ESP
SONKHAM Chanatip
Thailand
THA
HARNOIS Marlene
France
FRA
ZANINVOIC Lucija
Croatia
CRO
TSENG Li-Cheng
Chinese Taipei
TPE
MANDIC Milica
Serbia
SRB
GRAFFE Anne-Caroline
France
FRA
BRONZE
MALE
FEMALE
-58kg -68kg -80kg +80kg
-49kg -57kg -67kg +67kg
TOTAL
BRONZE
1
1
Gabon
AFRICA (10 NOCs)
1
1
SILVER
Samoa
Algeria
FEMALE
-49kg -57kg -67kg +67kg
Papua New Guinea
MALE
-58kg -68kg -80kg +80kg
New Zealand
Australia
Nation
Slovenia
Sweden
Italy
Spain
Germany
Greece
1
1
TOTAL
1
Croatia
Serbia
GOLD
SILVER
GOLD
OCEANIA (4 NOCs)
MALE
Poland
2
3
under 68kg
EUROPE (18 NOCs)
Great Britain
1
1
Lebanon
Uzbekistan
TOTAL
Argentina
-49kg -57kg -67kg +67kg
Canada
Tajikistan
-58kg -68kg -80kg +80kg
Brazil
Kyrgyzstan
Nation
FEMALE
Kazakhstan
TOTAL
Mens Division
under 58kg
MALE
Jordan
Russia
New Entry in Olympic Taekwondo
Japan
Nation
Wild cards
China
Thailand
Host NOC
PAN AMERICA (15 NOCs)
Afghanistan
Chinese Taipei
Taekwondo Medalists 2012
4
1
1
1
GOLD
HWANG Kyung-seon
Korea
KOR
SILVER
SILVER
TATAR Nur
3
2
over 67kg
GOLD
under 67kg
Turkey
TUR
BRONZE
BRONZE
FROMM Helena
Germany
GER
BARYSHNIKOVA Anastasia
Russia
RUS
McPHERSON Paige
United States
USA
ESPINOZA Maria del Rosario
Mexico
MEX
Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Medals Table
67
Olympic Review
O LY M P I C
MEDALISTS
2012
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
SILVER
GOLD
Womens
Womens
Under
Under
49kg
57kg
Jingyu Wu (China)
Brigitte Yaque Enrique (Spain)
Chanatip Sonkham (Thailand)
Lucija Zaninovic (Croatia)
Li-Cheng Tseng (Chinese Taipei)
Mariene Hamois (France)
Yuzhuo Hou (China)
Jade Jones (Great Britain)
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
SILVER
GOLD
Mens
Mens
Under
Under
58kg
68kg
Joel Gonzalez Bonilla (Spain)
68
Dae-hoon Lee (Korea)
Alexey Denisenko (Russia)
Oscar Munoz Oviedo (Colombia)
Terrence Jennings (USA)
Rohullah Nikpah (Afghanistan)
Mohammad Bagheri Motamed (Iran)
Servet Tazegul (Turkey)
Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Olympic Medalists 2012
69
Olympic Review
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
SILVER
GOLD
Womens
Womens
Under
Over
67kg
67kg
Kyung-Seon Hwang (Korea)
Nur Tatar (Turkey)
Paige McPherson (USA)
Helena Fromm (Germany)
Maria del Rosario Espinoza (Mexico)
Anastasia Baryshnikova (Russia)
Anne-Caroline Graffe (France)
Milica Mandic (Serbia)
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
BRONZE
SILVER
GOLD
Mens
Mens
Under
Over
80kg
80kg
Sebastian Eduardo Crismanich

(Argentina)
70
Nicolas Garcia Hemme (Spain)
Lutalo Muhammad (Great Britain)
Mauro Sarmiento (Italy)
Robelis Despaigne (Cuba)
Xiaobo Liu (China)
Anthony Obame (Gabon)
Carlo Molfetta (Italy)
Part 2 Olympic Review > Results > Olympic Medalists 2012
71
Olympic Review
Global Media
Talk Taekwondo
72
73
Olympic Review
Photo Gallery
Day 1
74
Part 2 Olympic Review > Photo Spread
75
Olympic Review
Day 2
76
Part 2 Olympic Review > Photo Spread
77
Olympic Review
Day 3
78
Part 2 Olympic Review > Result > Photo Gallery
79
Olympic Review
PART 3
Day 4
80
Part 2 Olympic Review > Result > Photo Gallery
81
84 Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You: WTF World Grand Prix Series
86 Armor: No Longer Just for Protection
88 Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training
92 Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs-up
94 Setting a New Standard
Innovation
Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You:
WTF World Grand Prix Series

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

is to give athletes better exposure and to continue to raise
the standard of competitions
worldwide
-Jean-Marie Ayer,
WTF secretary general
84
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, topclass taekwondo on the global stage, said WTF
President Chungwon Choue.
The idea of a Grand Prix Series was first floated in 2012 before the London Olympics, and the
plan was approved by the WTF General Assembly 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
taekwondos 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 WTFs secretary general.
The series is expected to be funded through
a combination of sponsorship and the sale of media to key markets. This is, in turn, will raise taekwondos 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 October 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, media 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.
Part 3 World Championships > Grand Prix Series
85
Innovation
No Longer Just for Protection

Taekwondo is pushing the barriers of sportive technology
with the use of electronic impact sensors in body armor
From time immemorial, in cultures as diverse as ancient Greece and

medieval Japan, fighters have worn armor for protection. Now, millennial taekwondo is upgrading the use of armor in sport, by embedding
it with high technology and integrating it into the scoring process.
Since taekwondos 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 technology, 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 delivered 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
86
Team Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2009, and subsequently at the WTF World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark,
in October of the same year.
In February 2010, revised rules related to the PSS were introduced 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 integrated 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 Lausannes Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 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 ancient battlefields to the sporting arenas of the modern world.
Part 5 Innovation > Protected by Technology - PSS
87
Innovation
Pressure Testing:
WTF Referee Training

Athletes 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
n 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 taekwondos golden
hour, with the new look sport being widely feted by spectators, international media and Olympic officials. The new rules were widely
cited as being behind this stunning success - and the referees enforced 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 arduous 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,
88
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, physical 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 absorbed. We were also required to officiate at high-level events leading up to the Olympics such as the World Championships in Gyeongju, 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 process. 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-
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 permitted to adjudicate bouts in which an athlete of the same nationality
was competing, nor from the same continent. Certain political, religious and ethnic sensitivities were also taken into account in assigning referees. And given the stress of the job, and the intense concentration 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 recipients 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 tournament ever to date, because of the commitment and the pursuit of ex-
cellence and the collaboration of a lot of people behind it, said Campos. 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-Lister 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-Lister 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 attend 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.
Part 3 Innovation > Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training
89
Innovation
WTF S-Class International Kyorugi Referees (as of March 31, 2013)

Continent
Country
Brunei
Chinese Taipei
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Iran
Asia
Korea
Europe
Malaysia
Nepal
Singapore
Croatia
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Sweden
Turkey
Argentina
Canada
Costa Rica
Mexico
Pan
America
Panama
U.S.A.
Egypt
Africa
Libya
Oceania
90
Australia
New Zealand
IR Number
Name
Pro Date
Birth Date
Gender
015-0687
Kalanayagam A.R. Nadarajan
2008/12/31
1949/12/19
Male
010-0568
Sung Kuang Sen
2000/12/31
1946/04/27
Male
010-0570
Mao Kee Lung
2004/06/30
1951/03/10
Male
010-0560
KIM Sa Ok
2002/12/31
1944/04/24
Male
006-0257
Charles Mok Hung Fai
2002/06/30
1948/10/09
Male
024-0987
MOON Myoung Gon
2010/06/30
1957/02/05
Male
018-0852
Acen Tanuwijaya
2011/12/31
1944/08/23
Male
018-2053
Herman Andikara
2012/12/31
1954/12/24
Male
025-0002
Mojtaba Nazmdeh
2010/12/31
1957/03/23
Male
001-0154
MOON Chang Nam
1994/09/10
1942/05/26
Male
001-0155
HONG Jeong Boo
1994/09/10
1943/03/03
Male
002-0070
KANG Sun Jang
2003/06/30
1947/01/15
Male
002-0083
KIM Kang Ein
2001/12/31
1948/07/18
Male
002-0086
LEE Sang Hyun
2003/12/31
1942/03/05
Male
002-0088
LEE Kyu Hyung
2000/12/31
1945/09/01
Male
002-0118
KIM Ki Yong
2002/06/30
1948/03/15
Male
002-0282
PARK Hyun Sup
1998/06/30
1946/03/02
Male
016-0737
OH Soo Gon
2008/12/31
1956/01/12
Male
016-0750
CHANG Myeong Soo
2009/12/31
1959/09/15
Male
016-0752
HAN Sang Jin
2008/06/30
1954/09/14
Male
016-0753
CHOI Jung Ho
2000/12/31
1954/09/22
Male
016-0766
KIM Kil Lae
2008/06/30
1943/08/20
Male
025-0004
KIM Hwa Ryong
2012/12/31
1949/03/24
Male
015-0692
Tai Loke Woon
2008/12/31
1961/02/06
Male
015-0685
Deep Raj Gurung
2010/12/31
1959/09/15
Male
006-0594
Teong Chin Lim
2001/06/30
1948/02/14
Male
021-0952
Miroslav Brezan
2011/12/31
1951/02/12
Male
013-0623
Benjamin John
2008/12/31
1953/03/31
Male
013-0640
BAEK Jin Kun
2008/06/30
1947/08/24
Male
008-1034
Tricoli Lorenzo
2000/12/31
1951/10/05
Male
001-0170
SEO Myung Soo
1998/12/31
1939/12/05
Male
030-0002
Sergey A.Danilov
2010/12/31
1951/06/09
Male
029-0134
Chakir Chelbat
2011/12/31
1964/08/28
Male
013-0632
Galip Ziya Yalginkaya
2009/12/31
1950/06/27
Male
015-0712
Maria Andrea Mancuso
2012/12/31
1965/12/04
FeMale
001-0162
LEE Byung Kyu
1994/09/10
1944/10/25
Male
008-0572
Ken Wai-Kin Cheung
2002/12/31
1950/07/03
Male
015-0684
YU Myung Ok
2007/06/30
1952/08/21
Male
029-0045
Linda Kwan
2012/12/31
1960/03/23
FeMale
020-0938
Nelson Brizuela Cortes
2011/12/31
1953/05/26
Male
012-1061
Sergio Chavez
2005/12/31
1955/09/08
Male
015-0703
Rafael Jesus Ruelas Reyes
2010/06/30
1952/09/25
Male
013-0604
Varo Barragan
2006/08/02
1955/09/24
Male
001-0175
LEE Young Keun
1994/09/10
1939/06/17
Male
002-0281
KIM Young Sam
2000/12/31
1942/11/25
Male
002-0069
LEE Eui Bin
2000/12/31
1941/05/03
Male
002-0072
PARK In Kon
2006/06/30
1945/04/04
Male
002-0100
KIM Dong Sup
2000/12/31
1943/02/03
Male
005-0225
KIM Koang Woong
1996/01/01
1937/07/10
Male
013-0625
Gregory S. Kailian
2010/06/30
1946/05/23
Male
019-0861
Bruce C.K.W. Harris
2000/12/31
1951/05/11
Male
019-0866
Leon T. Preston
2012/12/31
1947/02/18
Male
019-2059
William Sullivan
2011/12/31
1950/06/13
Male
018-0848
JEONG Ki Young
2006/12/31
1946/06/08
Male
018-1082
Mohamed Riad Ibrahim
2010/12/31
1955/10/26
Male
013-0634
KIM Yong Kwang
2007/06/30
1948/04/23
Male
013-0633
Snosy A. Mohamed
2009/06/30
1953/05/08
Male
029-0123
Samuel Michael Loiacono
2010/12/31
1952/12/10
Male
020-0939
Stephen Liu
2011/12/31
1957/12/13
Male
The Lucky 30: Olympic Referees for London 2012
No.
Age
Name
Continent
NOC
Remarks
32
Liang Si
Asia
CHN
46
Shahram Arbabi
Asia
IRI
47
Young Hwan Choi
Asia
KOR
50
Abubakr Kordi
Asia
KSA
35
Julie Dib
Asia
LIB
50
Roland Gayo Campos
Asia
PHI
40
Shu hua Dai
Asia
TPE
42
Kwang Cheol Oh
Europe
AZE
35
Renata Crkvenac
Europe
CRO
10
54
David Coupar
Europe
DEN
11
45
Carmen Navarro Ingles
Europe
ESP
12
39
Hlynur Gissurarson
Europe
ISL
13
56
Mohammed Argoubi
Europe
NED
14
41
Stig Ove Ness
Europe
NOR
15
33
Andrey Khegay
Europe
RUS
16
32
Predrag Tesovic
Europe
SRB
17
34
Ahmed El Mofty
Africa
EGY
18
39
Moshoeshoe Mokake
Africa
LES
19
50
Alioune Badara Traore
Africa
MLI
20
59
Kerry Ann Maynard Lister
Oceania
AUS
21
50
Stanley Dennis Wagner
Oceania
NZL
22
53
Jose Eduardo Cornelio
Pan Am
ARU
No. of Referees :
30
23
44
Song Chul Kim
Pan Am
CAN
No. of NOCs :
30
24
59
Nelson Brizuela Cortes
Pan Am
CRC
Female :
25
51
Jorge Reynoso Cruz
Pan Am
MEX
Asia :
26
47
Neydis Tavarez
Pan Am
PUR
27
52
Myung Chan Kim
Pan Am
USA
28
64
Teong Chin Lim
Asia
SIN
29
42
Xuan Thanh Vu
Asia
30
59
Denis Odjo
Europe
Female
Female
Female
Female
Olympic Referee Statistics, 2012
Female
Event
2012 London
6 (20%)
9
Europe :
10
Pan Am :
Review Jury
Africa :
VIE
Review Jury
Oceania :
FRA
Review Jury
Average Age :
Female
46
Part 3 Innovation > Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training
91
Innovation
Taekwondo is Safe!
Report Gives Sport Thumbs-up
Can a sport in which the ultimate technique is a spinning kick to the head truly be safe?
The answersurprisinglyis yes
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
- Dr. Paul Viscogliosi,
Chairman, WTF Medical Committee
92
It is a sport in which power is tested by smashing 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 Medical Committee and a doctor in the Department of
Orthaepedic Surgery in Centro-Hospitalo-universitaire de Lyon Edouard Herriot, France, found.
The sources for the report, which was completed in 2012, were health insurance providers
Mutuelle de Sports, and the French Taekwondo
Federation. Statistics cited covered 52,397 registered insurance policy holders, aged between 5
and 65, over the years 2008-2012.
The research found that although rule changes now reward difficult kicks to the head with
maximum points, the implementation of impact-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 resulted 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, accuracy and speed are more important than impact.
Moreover, knockouts a common feature
of the early, rough-and-ready days of taekwondo 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 innovating and evolving the sport to improve the
welfare of our athletes, he said.
The full medical report is available to download on the front page of the WTF Web site.
93
Innovation
10
8
11
12
13
7
14
15
6
16
17
18
5
19
20
4
10
21
22
23
3
24
25
2
26
27
28
1
11
29
30
INCH
CM
0
12
World Poomsae Champion Charlie Chong is dancing to his own drum as he leads taekwondos
innovative new competitive format into the future
of poomsae with music, acrobatic skills, and artistic interpretation. The new format has grown in popularity in many WTF
Member National Associations and was adopted as the newest
competition discipline at last years 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 master 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 Chongs 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 needed to up my level of difficulty, so three days before the competition, we revamped my routine.
That revamping went down to the line.
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 excitement. 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 Chongs performance in the qualifying round had overcome all competitors. The Canadians 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 WTFs 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
94
95
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 WTFs first ever world freestyle poomsae champion is not your typical 20-year-old. He is a focused and
determined individual who speaks deliberately, with careful 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 prepares 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 really 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 dont know if the kids look at me
that way; maybe they do, he replied with his characteristic quiet modesty. I mean, they do know that I went to
the World Championships, but I dont 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.
96
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 toward 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 unlike 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.
Part 3 Innovation > Setting a New Standard
97
PART 4
Around
the
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
Stratosphere
Taekwondo has raised its visibility in Dubai with a spectacular demonstration
on the helipad of one of the Middle Easts most iconic buildings
100
101
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
They may have been the highest kicks

in the history of taekwondo.
On March 3, 2013, in Dubai, UAE, the World
Taekwondo Federation Demonstration
Team was afforded the extraordinary opportunity to perform on the helipad of the
spectacular Burj Al Arab Hotel.
102
103
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
The iconic hotel is considered by

some the worlds only seven-star
hotel, but its helipad is not just a
location for the worlds rich and
powerful to drop into and take off
from; the platform has been used
as an unusual venue for the worlds
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.
104
The WTF Demonstration Team was offered

this coveted chance after their performance 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 years
Fujairah Open.
105
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
The three-day Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships are one of a number of
international taekwondo events taking place this
year as the sports 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, involving 60 athletes from 11 countries.
106
107
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
The variety of nationalities participating 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.
108
109
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
World Taekwondo Peace Corps:
Hope and Dreams

to Youth of World
In the interest of helping the less fortunate, the WTF has instituted a corps
of taekwondo volunteers. This is their story
110
Part 6 News Briefs > Etc.
111
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
As part of its efforts to spread hope and

dreams to the youth of the world through
taekwondo, the World Taekwondo Federation established the WTF World Taekwondo
Peace Corps in 2008.
Since then, a total of 830 members of
the Taekwondo Peace Corps, mostly university 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 midterm 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 President Chungwon Choues proposal for a joint
U.N. and IOC Sport Peace Corps program.
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 volunteered in 27 countries on short-term winter 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 dIvoire,
Togo and Sierra Leone - and the Latin American country of Colombia.
Some Taekwondo Peace Corps members are willing to continue their volunteer
work abroad, if further opportunities arise.
112
113
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
Countries for Winter 2012 Taekwondo Peace Corps
Continent
Countries
Thailand
Asia
(11)
Africa
(9)
Europe
(2)
Pan
America
(2)
Oceania
(3)
Total
114
No. of
Period of
Members Dispatch
8
2012.1.25 - 2.28
Cambodia
2012.2.5 - 2.28
Laos
2012.2.1 - 2.29
Singapore
2012.1.15 - 2.29
Malaysia
2012.2.5 - 2.25
Indonesia
2012.2.8 - 2.29
Bangladesh
2012.1.15 - 2.26
Sri Lanka
2012.1.15 - 2.27
Myanmar
2012.1.15 - 2.27
Kazakhstan
2012.1.15 - 2.26
Uzbekistan
2013.2.1 - 3.5
Ethiopia
2012.1.19 - 2.24
Sudan
2012.1.21 - 2.26
D.R. of the
Congo
2012.1.16 - 2.26
Senegal
2012.1.16 - 2.26
Cote dlvoire
2012.1.10 - 2.27
Togo
2012.1.20 - 2.29
Sierra Leone
2012.1.20 - 2.29
South Africa
2012.2.3 - 2.26
Ruanda
2012.2.3 - 2.26
Greece
2012.2.3 - 2.26
Sweden
2012.2.1 - 3.1
Colombia
2012.1.17 - 2.26
Brazil
2012.1.15 - 2.19
Micronesia
2012.1.15 - 2.19
Papua New
Guinea
2012.2.1 - 2.29
Fiji
2012.2.4- 2.28
27
123
Taekowndo Peace Corps Short-Term Projects
Period of
No. of
1st
July-Aug.
27 members, 7 teams in 5 countries
2nd
Jan.-Feb.
3rd
July-Aug.
4th
Jan.-Feb.
5th
July-Aug.
6th
Jan.-Feb.
7th
July-Aug.
8th
Jan.-Feb.
9th
July-Aug.
10th
Jan.-Feb.
Term
Total
Dispatch
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
2011
2011
2012
2012
2013
Dispatched Members, Teams & Countries

(China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Paraguay)

(Greece, Russia, Morocco, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, China,
Kyrgyzstan)

(El Salvador, India, Isle of Man, Bhutan, Samoa, Mexico,
Mongolia, Nigeria, Poland, Angola, Philippines, Azerbaijan)

(Angola, D. R . Congo, Egypt, Cambodia, Iran, L aos,
Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Timor-Leste,
Greece, Poland, Russia, New Zealand, Samoa, Brazil, Chile,
Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Surinam)

(South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand,
Uzbekistan, Philippines, Belarus, Finland, Sweden, Tonga,
Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago)

(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)
106 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)

Part 4 Around the WTF > World Taekwondo Peace Corps
115
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
A Taekwondo Peace Corps instructor has won Singaporeans

hearts with a gesture that put the shoe on the other foot
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
CHOI
Dae-ho, a Korean taekwondo instructor,

found himself at the center of an online
buzz in Singapore, where he was holidaying, 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.
My name is Yuliya Volkova. I am 33-years-old, and

am a Ukrainian athlete and coach. I love taekwondo, a sport I had dreamed of since I was seven, but I
was not able to start practicing until I was 21.
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 grandmothers age.
Choi credited his taekwondo training for his manners.
The old lady resisted, but then, teary eyed, accepted the gift. A fellow
member of the Taekwondo Peace Corps photographed Choi kneeling in front of the lady and posted the picture online. From there the
picture went viral, and Singaporeans posted questions online, wondering 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 surprise at the attention, granted interviews.
116
Even so, I have been fortunate to

compete in a number of tournaments,
and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in 2010.
I have learned taekwondo since I was five and met many good masters 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
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Around the WTF
Around the WTF
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 needed 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 Smeyye
Manz to prepare for the Olympics. At that time, I spoke with her uncle, zer Glec, about my training of children with disabilities. He said
then, that if I needed help, to ask him. So I did
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 abandoned at birth was at last a champion.
It was Ukraines 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. Vikas shoulder was in pain. We found that her operation had
been unsuccessful. Her condition deteriorated; she has cysts on her shoulder and is in constant pain. Ukrainian doctors are unable to help her.
This is Vikas 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 betterhence this story.
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 disability: 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 dojangs 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 Years party at the dojang, and showed her some pictures and video from the World Para-Taekwondo Championships. She took some time to think about it.
118
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 Vikas 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 training twice a day, for two hours per session. In June 2012, she took part
in the first-ever Ukrainian Para-Taekwondo Championships, an initiative of my husband.
And in November, I competed at the Swiss Open, where I was fortunate enough to win a bronze. Athletes from Nuremburg Taekwondo
Club zer, hearing Vikas 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 worried 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
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:
volkovajula@bigmir.net
00380993848825
I speak Russian, Croatian, German and English. I can send computer
scans and detailed information of Vikas 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 advance anyone who is able to help change a fellow taekwondo athletes
life for the better.
Part 4 Around the WTF > Vikas Story
119
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
World Taekwondo Federation

Nominated for Peace and Sport Award
The WTF has been shortlisted for the International Sports Federation
of the Year Award for its global Peace Corps initiative
he World Taekwondo Federation has been nominated for International Sports Federation of the Year at the Peace and Sport International 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 continents, with active involvement across the WTFs 204 member nation-
120
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
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 between 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 frequency 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 requirements, so our WTF Peace Corps volunteers can bring young people
together even when there is little or no permanent sports infrastructure 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 presented by President Choue to the UN-IOC
Sport for Development and Peace Conference 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, including 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
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Around the WTF
Around the WTF
4th World Youth
Taekwondo Camp
210 young people from 33 countries, including orphans
and para-athletes, had a ball in Muju, Korea
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 Federation 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 education on the Olympic values to the youth from all over the world attending 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 honored to be invited as a special lecturer, Radziewicz said. The 34-yearold, 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-taekwondo 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 WTFs newest member
countries, dispatched young taekwondo practitioners to the camp. Two
Thai youths from the Thai Free Orphanage Taekwondo Training Program were also given the opportunity to participate in the annual camp.
During the opening and closing ceremonies of the camp, all participants 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
122
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 sportsmanship and the spirit of Olympism here with your campmates and when
you return home.
Jhong-shin Bae, chairman of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, said, I would like to welcome all of you to Muju, where Taekwondowon, 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 Committee, 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, country and the world.
Dae-soon Lee, vice president of the WTF, addressed his welcoming 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.
Part 4 Around the WTF > 4th World Youth Taekwondo Camp
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Around the WTF
Around the WTF
Participants Reflections:
WTF-Kyung Hee Course
The 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
124
Prof. Renzo Ramrez N

Costa Rica
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 countrys 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 remarkable infrastructure, I do not have another word
to describe it but incredible!
From the first day, I began to realize that something very big and good was waiting for me, since
in my country taekwondo is not studied as profession. 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 program that is ensuring that taekwondo grows on a global 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.
Part 4 Around the WTF > Participants Reflections: WTF-Kyung Hee Course
125
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
Jeng Yen Lee

Malaysia
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 improving the quality of my poomsae movement. Without
doubt, its the best course that I had ever been on. In
the two weeks, I did so much training in so many different 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.
Gwi Kim Hwa

Malaysia
126
Hi, Im 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, Id never gain so
much knowledge if I didnt 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. Ill bring
back the demonstration skills that I learned here and
make our demonstrations even better. Namsan Towers 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
Im not good in poomsae and gave them a hard time,
Ill work hard to improve after I get back.
Thanks to Alex Jeon for being a very good translator and other friends who joined this program, I
had a very good experience with everyone from different countries.
Thanks to Carol Kim who took care of us, preparing 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!
Christopher Vella
Malta
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 volunteers 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 university 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 volume of technique for maximum impact and accuracy adopted in modern competitive poomsae; proper
jumping and landing in order to protect ones joints
in demonstrations; the agility, footwork, fast combinations and explosive drills practised in the sparring 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 organizers 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 director, teachers and volunteers was impressive and
put ones 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 indeed more appreciation for - Korean culture.
Finally, one cannot fail to mention the atmosphere created by this relatively big group of around
40. The spectrum of countries represented was indeed 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 development 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 opportunity 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.
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Around the WTF
Around the WTF
2012 WTF-KHU Partnership

Taekwondo Training Program
2012.6.18~7.1
(Sparring Coach Course)

15 Nations / 28 Members
Joeseph Chuwa
Tanzania
128
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 Taekwondo 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 thats
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 collaboration 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, biomechanics, 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 Festival, 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 dont
know English, they do some things to make sure
you understand them or they can help you. I visited cultural sites where I was so surprised about
how Koreans keep their past and make these areas attractions.
When I return home, I will go back to my
country with a lot of knowledge to develop Tanzanian 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 revolution 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 participants from different countries as all were my
friends. God bless Tanzania, Korea and the world.
Taekwondo is life.
20
Mauritius
Sheldon Kim Xiung Yan Too Sang
Indonesia
Siti Rochmah
21
Norway
Nina Bansal
Srilanka
Kumari A. S. G.
22
Norway
Joachim Wien
Srilanka
Tharushi H. K. G
23
Canada
Kayla Elizabeth Chow
10
Srilanka
Diumini K. L. D.
24
Italy
Kang Hyeon Wook
11
Srilanka
Ushani U. D. P.
25
Indonesia
Siti Intan chintya
12
Srilanka
Thilini H. L, A
26
Indonesia
Jhon Junior Mandagi
13
Srilanka
Gayathrie S. P. M. A
27
India
Pankaj Kumar
14
Srilanka
Randini N. K. A. G
28
Hungary
Marcell Kenez
15
Srilanka
Wimaladarma A. G.G.S.
29
Iran
Ahmad Hossein Ali
16
Srilanka
Ko Chan Ul
30
Srilanka
APD Maduhusanka
17
Srilanka
Lee Ki Soo
31
Srilanka
SWMKS Fernando
32
Srilanka
Dilan Sanjeewa Sayakkara
33
Canada
Lim Seung Min
34
Monaco
Angelo Spataro
No.
Nation
Name
Tunisia
Mounir Nouioui
Tunisia
Hichem Ayouni
Tunisia
Mehrez Hiraoui
Algeria
Abdelhamid Benzahia
Nigeria
Benjamin Chuks Eneh
Nigeria
Abdul Malik Mohammed
Israel
Yuri Aharon Grossman
Russia
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kurkin
Russia
Stanislav Valerievich Nagornov
10
Ukraine
Stanislav Vladimirovich Babxhenko
11
Ukraine
Dmmytro Leonidovich kriachok
12
Cambodia
Nguon Navy Sok
13
Cambodia
Sarath Chea
14
Lebanon
Kaissar Antoine Homsi
15
Lebanon
Mark georges rjeily
16
Lebanon
Ali Loutfi Raad
17
India
Balasubramani Haribabu
No.
Nation
Name
18
Oman
Khalid Mohamed Albusafi
Romania
19
Oman
Jasim Mohamed Alrashdi
20
Sudan
Omer Mohamed Bello
21
Sudan
Ismail Abakar Ismail
22
Srilanka
Ranjith Muramudalige
23
Srilanka
24
Sex
2012.11.12~25
(Poomsae & Demonsrtarion Coach Course)

2012.8.6~12
(Taekwondo Camp)
No.
Nation
Name
Bulgaria
Mariya Blagoeva Marcheva
Costa Rica
Renzo Ramirez Nunez
Sex
Ghana
Martin Prince Oppan
Sex
Hong Kong
Chi Ying Yeung
Marius Nicolae Muti
Hong Kong
Chun Fai Wong
Italy
Francesco Chisari
Hungary
Eva Fabian Sobotkane
India
Tufan Kumar Poddar
Indonesia
Billy Aprilsya
Indonesia
Mishbahuddin Bin Badarali
Iran
Ali Nadali
Indonesia
Reza Pahlavi Saktiavia
Israel
Alex Fuks
Romesh rathnasekara menikdivela
Newzealand Matthew Aclrian Cui
10
Italy
Rosario Tetamo
Srilanka
Tharaka Ruwansiri Katururnde Kalu Arachchilage
Pakistan
Zaheer Syed Shah
11
Malaysia
Gwi Kim Hwa
25
Pakistan
Syed Waseem Raza
France
Lim Selgi
12
Malaysia
Tsan Hwa Seng
26
Pakistan
Haroon Anwar
USA
Micheal
13
Malaysia
Goh Kee Wei
27
Slovakia
Peter UREK
10
Korea
Lee Tae Won
14
Malaysia
Yong Jia Lee
28
Slovakia
MAREK mikos
11
Korea
Kim Min Jae
15
Malaysia
Zarul Akmal Bin Roslan
12
Korea
Jeon Eun Su
16
Malaysia
Chui Yong Long
13
Korea
Choi Kwang Min
17
Malaysia
Lee Jeng Yen
14
China
Xu hang
18
Malaysia
Clara Tang Xin Yu
15
China
Liu Ya Kun
19
Malta
Christopher Vella
2012.7.16~7.29
(Sparring, Poomsae & Demonstration Athletes)

No.
Nation
Name
16
China
Jiang Jing Yi
20
Myanmar
Aung Naing
Sex
17
China
Huang Wei Chen
21
Myanmar
Soe Soe Thin
18
China
Ji Yu Xing
22
New Zealand Sonja Sahbzad
19
China
Ji Yu Yang
23
Palestine
Tahseen Omar Abuzaideh
20
China
Wu Hao
24
Palestine
Wisam M.T Seder
21
China
Wang Yi Xuan
25
Puerto Rico
Gilbert H Serrano
22
China
Bi Zhi Yuan
26
Russia
Alexander Sergeevish Lisin
23
China
Kim Won Ki
27
Russia
Vasily Andreevich Palmov
24
China
Kwon soon
28
Slovakia
Kristina Kokoskova
29
Slovakia
Gabriel Hiczer
30
Tanzania
Joseph John Chuwa
31
USA
Michael Couloucoundis
32
USA
Alexander Jeong
33
USA
Matthew Mooers
34
USA
Dylan Kader
35
Egypt
Emad Eldin Mahmoud
36
Pakistan
Haroon Anwar
37
Pakistan
Syed Waseem Raza
38
USA
Kim Yong Bum
39
USA
Kim Yeong Gil
Sweden
Jacob Karl Anders Soderblom
Sweden
Karolin Sara Monika Karlsson
Italy
Licia Martignani
Italy
Lorenzo Zicarelli
USA
Christy Jiyoung Quintanilla
Newzealand Isaac Dwyer Jellyman
Newzealand Matthew Aclrian Cui
Canada
Alysha Anne McCheyne
Canada
Shayla Breanne Beauchamp
10
Canada
Emily Skye Beauchamp
11
India
Gajendra Singh Panihar
12
India
Saurabh Mohan Kadam
13
India
Mahendra Singh Parihar
No.
14
Monaco
Doria Anouk
Indonesia
Lalu Dedy Rahman
15
Monaco
Platto kelian
British
Darren Clark Stokes
16
Guam
Alexander Xavier Allen
Sudan
Yosif Mohamed Yosif
17
Guam
Jae Heung Abando Ho
Jordan
Ayman Hassan Allusami
18
Slovakia
Tomas Kaliska
Srilanka
Sampath P. P
19
Hungary
Andras Szabo
Srilanka
Pradeepnandana G. G.
2012.10.8~21
(Refresher Course)
Nation
Name
Sex
Total
142
129
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
Lebanese Leaders
Granted Olympic
Positions
Unique Honors for

Greek Taekwondo Leader
Taekwondos man in Greece has been elected IOA vice president and dean of the Olympics most iconic stadium
Two Lebanese taekwondo heads have been invited

onto prestigious Olympic committees
Carine Lahoud, president of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation,

has been appointed to the womens 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 general of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation, has been selected as vice
president of the Lebanese Olympic Committee.
His Royal Highness Prince Rashid bin El Hassan, president of the Jordan 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 London 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
130
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 beloved sport in the Olympic Movement across the world.
Royalty Visits WTF
Singapore Taekwondo Chief Joins NOC
Jordan Taekwondo Federation President HRH Rashid

bin El Hassan took time to visit the WTF headquarters
during a recent trip to Seoul
Milan Kwee has been elected as an executive

committee member of Singapores NOC
of them are from taekwondo.

Jordan won three Olympic taekwondo berths, one in the mens
-68kg category and two in womens 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 Jordans hosting a WTF-promoted event, saying the population 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 Kukkiwon in Seoul to watch a taekwondo demonstration.
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 SNOCs annual 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.
Part 4 Around the WTF > Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader
131
Around the WTF
Around the WTF
African Honor for WTF Head

WTF President received the Commander of Merit Sport in Abidjan,
Cote dIvoire at the 8th Francophone World Cup
<
Cote dIvoire President Alassane Ouattara (right)
in taekwondo uniforms talks with WTF President
Chungwon Choue at the National Assembly in
Abidjan, Cote dIvoire on June 15, 2012. Also on
hand is WTF Secretary General Jean-Marie Ayer.
WTF President Chungwon Choue received the Commander of Merit

Sport of Cote dIvoire during the opening ceremony of the 8th Francophone World Cup Taekwondo in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire on June 16, 2012.
The award was presented by Cote dIvorie 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 leaders visited the National Assembly of Cote dIvoire to meet with Cote
dIvorie President Alassane Ouattara. The two exchanged opinions on
how to promote taekwondo in Cote dIvoire in a cordial atmosphere.
132
At the meeting, WTF President Choue presented the Cote dIvoire

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, attracted 116 athletes from 25 French-speaking countries around the world.
The opening ceremony featured a performance by the WTF Taekwondo Demonstration Team, drawing big applause from the jampacked arena.
France won the overall title with three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal, followed by host Cote dIvoire and Tunisia.
Part 4 Around the WTF > African Honor for WTF Head
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Aroundthe
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Continental Unions
Around the
WTF
Around
ATU Activities
Dear Members,
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 WTFs
40th birthday could not have had a better 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, under the WTFs 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, especially youth.
2012 saw a number of meaningful ATU
events. Kicking for Miracles and the 1st
Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo
Championships were successfully conducted 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
134
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 Taekwondo Championships from May 25-30 in
Pocheon, Korea; the Taekwondo Day
event Kicking for Miracles on September 4 in ATU member nations; the 1st
Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo
Championships on October 12 in Moscow, Russia; the 20 CISM World Military
Taekwondo Championships from October 19-26 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
the 7th Korea Open International Taekwondo 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,
womens -49kg division) and Kyung-seon
Hwang (Korea, womens -67kg division),
and three silvers and three bronzes.
The ATU has planned a range of up-
coming cooperative continental activities, such as seminars, training

camps, workshops for instructors, etc. In this regard, the ATU promises to work collaboratively with regional unions and national associations 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 anInternational Kyorugi 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. Taekwondo truly showed its best face, applying the most advanced competition 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 promote the sport in Asia, thereby supporting WTF activities, will never end.
Dr. Dai-soon Lee

President, Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU)
2013 ATU Event Calendar

Date
Place
2013 ATU EVENT
March 1~3
Fujairah, UAE
1st Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships
March 28~30
Manama, Bahrain
5th Bahrain Open International Championships
June 13~17
Pekan-Baru Riau, Indonesia
3rd Islamic Solidarity Games
June 19
Jakarta, Indonesia
ATU Council Meeting / ATU General Assembly
June 20
Jakarta, Indonesia
2nd Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
June 21~23
Jakarta, Indonesia
7th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships
July 4~9
Chuncheon, Korea
2013 Chuncheon Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships
Oct. 6~15
Tianjin, China
6th East Asian Game (Taekwondo Competition: Oct. 7~9)
Oct. 31 ~ Nov. 3
Bali, Indonesia
Dec. 11~22
TayPyiTaw, Myanmar
27th SEA Games (Taekwondo Competition: Dec. 18~21)
Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > ATU Activities
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Aroundthe
theWTF
Continental Unions
Around the
WTF
Around
AFTU Activities
Dear Taekwondo Fans,
On behalf of our African Continental Taekwondo family, which is increasing 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 improvement of our beloved sport of taekwondo, which successfully continued in the Olympics, while some other, older sports went quiet. And
that was a result of the efforts by each body, organization and individual in our taekwondo community. We have upgraded the rules and performance of the art to be strong and attractive for all parties the athletes, 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)
AFTU Official Event Calendar for 2013
136
Date
EVENT
Place
Remarks
Feb. 24~27
5th Alexandrias Int. Taekwondo Championships
Alexandria - Egypt
Serjaco for Sports Services : approved G1 event
March
1st African Para Championships
Libreville - Gabon
Para African event
Sept.
African 12th Senior, 1st Junior, 2nd Teams, 3rd Poomsae
Alexandria - Egypt
AFTU Continental event
Oct. 10~12
6th Egypt Open Taekwondo Championships
Alexandria - Egypt
Egypt Fed. open applied for G3 event
Nov.
African Cup Championships 2013
Cotonou - Benin
AFTU Continental event
Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > AFTU Activities
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Aroundthe
theWTF
Continental Unions
Around the
WTF
Around
Activities in Europe 2013
ETU Activities
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The year 2012 was a great one! Under the leadership
of Dr. Chungwong Choue, we celebrated a very successful Olympic Games in London. With the media
attention, the visitors at the venue during the competition 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 ETUs 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 Championships 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 taekwondo contributed to the program, which ranged
from referee training and kyorugi to poomsae training. It was a valuable week for instructors and taekwondo 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 Championships. During this one-day event, teams from the
ETU and ATU fought against each other in different
competition formats. The public was very enthusiastic 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 Championships, the European 16-21 Championships, the
European Cadet Championships and the European
Junior Championships. I am convinced that the organizing 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 Turkey. 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 efforts made by members to add taekwondo on the
lists of sports for these events.
In 2013 the WTF Global Athlete License will be introduced at ETU-sanctioned events. This means that
all participants at European Championships and other 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 continue 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!
Jan. 9~13
European Team Championships
Athens
Greece
Feb. 9~10
Trelleborg Open
Trelleborg
Sweden
Feb. 9
German Open Poomsae
Ingolstadt
Germany
March 8~10
German Open
Hamburg
Germany
March 15~17
Dutch Open
Eindhoven
Netherlands
April 5~7
Belgian Open
Gent
Belgium
April 6~7
Belgian Open Poomsae
Gent
Belgium
April 18~21
European 16 / 21 Championships
Chisinau
Moldova
April 27~28
Spanish Open
Alicante
Spain
May 25
Danish Open Poomsae
Kolding
Denmark
June 1~2
Austrian Open
Innsbruck
Austria
June 8
4th WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships
Lausanne
Switzerland
June 8~9
Swiss Open
Lausanne
Switzerland
June 15
Austrian Open Poomsae
Vienna
Austria
June 21~30
Mediterranean Games
Mersin
Turkey
July 21
19th Maccabiah Games Taekwondo
Jerusalem
Israel
July 27~29
2013 Summer Deaflympics Taekwondo
Sofia
Bulgaria
Aug. 8~9
2013 World Masters Games Taekwondo
Torino
Italy
Aug. 17~18
Finnish Open Poomsae
Turku
Finland
Aug. 20~24
European Cadet Championships
Bucharest
Romania
Sept. 26~29
European Junior Championships
Porto
Portugal
Oct. 3~6
Ukrainian Cup
Kharkov
Ukraine
Oct. 18~26
Sportaccord Combat Games
St. Petersburg
Russia
Oct. 26~27
Galeb Belgrad Open
Belgrade
Serbia
Nov. 9~10
Croatian Open
Zagreb
Croatia
Dec. 7~8
Paris International
Paris
France
Yours,
Sakis Pragalos
President, European Taekwondo Union (ETU)
138
Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > ETU Activities
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Aroundthe
theWTF
Continental Unions
Around the
WTF
Around
PATU Activities
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
Tentative PATU Schedule for 2013
Secretary General: Mr. Roberto Beltran Ramonetti / Mexico

Treasurer: Mr. Sejin Park / USA
Feb. 18~23
Las Vegas, U.S.A.
U.S. Open
Council: Mr. Ricardo Torres / Argentina
March 13~16
San Jose, Costa Rica
X Central American Games
Council: Mr. Eduardo Labadie / Uruguay
April
TBA
PATU Technical Seminar / Caribbean
Council: Mr. Younggi Jeon: Peru
May 2~5
Toronto, Canada
Canada Open
Executive Director: Mr. Rick Shin / USA
May
TBA
PATU Technical Seminar / Central
June 2~3
Medelin, Colombia
Medelin Open Poomsae Championships
July
TBA
PATU Technical Seminar / South
July 15-21
Puebla, Mexico
2013 WTF World Taekowndo Championships
Aug.
TBD
Caribbean Championships
Aug.
San Jose, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Open
Sept. 12~15
Queretaro, Mexico
2013 Pan Am Open
Oct.
TBD
Pan Am Jr. & Cadet Championships
Oct.
TBD
Pan Am Junior & Cadet Open
Nov.
Sogamoso, Colombia
South American Championships
Nov.
TBA
PATU Technical Seminar / Caribbean
Auditor: Mr. Raul Pinzon Salamanca / Colombia
Council: Mr. Chuong Pham: 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,
Grand Master Ji Ho Choi

President, Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU)
Council Member, WTF
Executive Board Member, ACODEPA
140
Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > PATU Activities
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Aroundthe
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Continental Unions
Around the
WTF
Around
OTU Activities
Dear Members and Friends,
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 development of athletes who continue to show great skill in competitions, and we are eternally grateful for the support the OTU has
received from our member nations who remain loyal, enthusiastic and passionate despite the adversities that they face in
terms of resources, finances, expertise and opportunity. Nonetheless, the OTU is confident that the lead up to Rio 2016 will
be successful for the OTU, its athletes and its member nations.
London 2012
Two athletes from Samoa, two from Australia, three from New
Zealand and one from Papua New Guinea made up Oceanias
eight-athlete contingent and all performed remarkably. In particular, the two Australian athletes made the quarterfinals and just
missed out on bronze medals. Like all Olympics, they are a learning 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 provided guidance and support on their Olympic journey.
OCEANIA OLYMPIC ATHLETES LONDON 2012

FEMALE
MALE
-58kg
-68kg
-80kg
+ 80kg
Mr. Phil Coles

President, Oceania Taekwondo Union (OTU)
142
Safwan Khalil
(AUS)
Logan Campbell (NZL)
Vaughn Scott
(NZL)
Kaino Thomsen (SAM)
-49kg
-57kg
-67kg
+67kg
Theresa Tona
Robin Cheong
Carmen Marton
Talitiga Crawley
(PNG)
(NZL)
(AUS)
(SAM)
The next three years are vital in the development of our athletes 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 committed to doing whatever it can to secure those resources over the
next three years to ensure that our development and representation at future Olympics continue to grow.
The 2012 Oceania Championships

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.
2012 Australian Open

The first WTF-sanctioned Open championships in the history of the OTU were held in Australias 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.
WTF Global Membership System

Australia continues to lead the way in the expansion and development of the WTFs 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.
New OTU Members

The OTU welcomes the following new MNAs to the OTU:

Cook Islands
Tuvalu
Micronesia
Nauru
Palau
This now takes the OTUs total MNA members to 19,

with more to come in 2013.
Mini Pacific Games
PNG President
The 2013 Mini Pacific Games, which is a WTF-sanctioned, multi-sport

event, are scheduled to take place in Wallis & Futuna from September 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.
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).
Part 4 Around the WTF > Around the CUs > OTU Activities
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Around the WTF
Iraqi Taekwondo:
Troubled Past, Bright Future
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
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 Hassan 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 Olympic 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 Iraqs taekwondo story.
In 2009, Dr. Mahmood Shukur Saleh Al Khalaf, a university professor 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 participate in a WTF World Championships in 1985.
Since he took over the position, he has tried to improve the tech-
144
nical level of Iraqi taekwondo by organizing numerous training courses for coaches and referees: Iraq has never had any international referees 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 Membership System of the WTF, and today there is a branch of the Iraq Taekwondo 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.
Taekwondo Overtakes Football

as Top Sport in Iraq
The popularity of taekwondo is going through the roof in the
Middle East nation, knocking football off the top spot
For the first time in Iraq sport, taekwondo has been able to overtake traditionally 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 Taekwondo Federation hopes to leverage this surging interest and qualify for the
next Youth Olympics in 2014 in China.
(Translated from Iraqs Almezan newspaper)
Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Iraqi Taekwondo
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Around the WTF
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
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 taekwondo 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 Associations building was constructed in
Tashkent. It includes modern training gyms, swimming pools, medical centers, mini stadiums and a dormitory.
The association carries out significant work to promote the development of taekwondo. The organization of taekwondo departments
in specialized Olympic youth schools is underway. The countrys first
taekwondo-specialized school operates in the city of Fergana, and
others are planned to open in the coming years. At present in Uzbekistan there are about 20,000 athletes, 50 national team members and
36 juniors, as well as four coaches and experts from Korea. The association employs 85 coaches including one honored coach of Uzbekistan, 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 taekwondo department functioning since 2009. Over the years, Uzbek
taekwondo has developed greatly and is now recognized by the taekwondo community as among the best. From October 8-10, 2010, Uzbekistan was entrusted by the WTF with the hosting of the WTF World
Taekwondo Poomsae Championships. The event was successful, with
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the participation of more than 450 athletes from nearly 62 countries.

On the occasion of the championships, an extraordinary general assembly and an extraordinary council meeting were also held.
Uzbekistans taekwondo community would like to invite the entire 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 Championships and the 3rd Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Tashkent in 2014.
Northern Exposure:
Canadian Taekwondo
Taekwondo Canada has made a series of gold-standard organizational efforts to give the sport the finest possible foundation
and governance
On the tails of our National Championships in January, and looking toward 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 solidifying 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 centered on the governance structure of Taekwondo Canada. The association updated its bylaws in 2010, which included a major shift in the
governance structure. Taekwondo Canada is now governed by a policy board of directors, which puts the organization in line with modern 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 development of a national strategic plan that included specific high-performance objectives to deliver world-class results in 2015 and 2016. A
key component of the implementation of this plan was the appointment of Master Shin Lim as the national coach for Taekwondo Canada. As a dedicated coach of some of Canadas 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 commitment 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.
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Around the WTF
Island of Innovations:
The Singapore Story
Milan Kwee and Lim Teong Chin tell us about Singapores unique programs,
which provide benchmarks for those federations taking taekwondo beyond sport,
and enriching society as a whole
Taekwondo for Character

The STF promotes taekwondo as a character development sport for
the making of better persons and citizens as a priority over sports excellence. In the program, it provides experiences which teach lessons
that can transfer into life-enhancing skills and qualities such as integrity, 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 entrench 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 promotion to poom or black belt or higher, candidates have to demonstrate 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 program, 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, regardless of their position in taekwondo or their status in society.
Taekwondo with a Heart
Despite being a young sport, taekwondo in Singapore has a long history: It was introduced 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 intrigued 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 recruitment 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 relative 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 Federation (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 Federation, 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.
Whats 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.
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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 Singapore 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, today 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 entertainment for fund-raising projects. When members of the national
squad went to Cambodia for the 2011 Asean Taekwondo Championships, they collected cash and used clothing and donated them to
one of the orphanages there.
Taekwondo for Life

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 practitioners 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 training 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 included 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 taekwondo exponent who is able to put some of the younger participants 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, however, 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.
Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Island of Innovations
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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 countrys prisons to its sporting populace
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 Mutazindwa 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-president 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 participated in its first international competition in Korea, where the countrys
first medal was won by Oduttu Fredrick. Uganda continues to perform 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 overcome 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 prominent problem. The UTF also suffers from minimal equipment. Sometimes 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 international 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 records. And in June 2012, we acquired a National Training Center. This
was given to the UTF by the sports 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 championships.
Now, we are working on our vision for the future. The UTF is looking at becoming a full-fledged federation with improved administrative structures in the next seven years, with better organized contests.
We are seeking competent administrators and sponsors. And we sincerely 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.
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 Federation

Account Number: 6001104533
Swift Code: BARCUGKX
Bank: 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 ugtkdf@yahoo.com
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Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Facing the Challenge
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Around the WTF
Somalia Celebrates
1st Taekwondo Medal
Promising results in taekwondo and basketball

competition indicate that this chaos-wracked
nation is getting back on track
Bulgaria is one of the younger of the European federations,

but is also becoming one of the strongest
Emerging from decades of bloodshed and terrorism, Somalia is cele

celebrating 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 recovery of Somalia.
Following Somalia NOCs 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 countrys
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 Alexandria, Egypt.
Thanks to their success they will be able to take part at the upcoming Taekwondo World Championships to be held in Mexico from
July 15-21, 2013, and Somalia is very hopeful of more tangible achievements, the Somali NOC secretary general emphasized.
The achievement of the first ever taekwondo medal for Somalia and the wonder that the Somali basketball mens national team
showed in Januarys 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 affiliated 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 international 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 taekwondo will give particular consideration to reviving the sport in Somalia.
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Bulgarian Taekwondo
Raises its Game
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 relationships 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 Championships; 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 European 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 winning the support of the government. The Bulgarian Taekwondo Federation 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, courtesy and respect.
Part 4 Around the WTF > MNA > Bulgarian Taekwondo
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Around the WTF
Innovative Philippine League

Enjoys Successful Run
Addicted to Taekwondo,
Not to Drugs
Short, snappy matches, team bonding and a high public profile provided
the keys to success for the Philippines innovative new league
The Romanian Taekwondo Federation is urging
youth to take up the sport
rather than falling victim to drug abuse
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 national 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 Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National 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 included senior men and women, junior men and
grade school boys. Fifteen teams participated in the senior mens division, 14 teams
in the senior womens division, 14 teams in
the junior mens division and 12 teams in the
grade school boys 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
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overall champion.
The fight format is a first round of five
players playing two-minute-long matches 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, depending on the call of the coach. The teams
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 PTAs major
benefactor, Smart Telecommunications, was
awarded to the over-all champion in the junior men and grade school boys divisions together 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 director. 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 objective 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 womens divisions, University of the
East in the junior men division and Diliman
Preparatory School in the grade school boys
division. The winning senior division men and
women division coach of DLSU, Roberto Cruz,
a former two-time world champion silver medalist 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 Metro 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 anticipated 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 ever-growing support from national members as well as international 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.
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Around the WTF
Finlands Training Center

Aims High
Jarkko Mkinen briefs us on the ongoing Finnish efforts to

create a cutting-edge facility and organizational structure for
taekwondo training
In Finland, a wind of change has been blowing through the field of

sport for the last few years, with the Finnish Olympic Committee leading a nationwide project to create a new sport culture.
The key idea is that all solutions should be made from the athletes 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 Mkinen (Youth Olympic coach). The training center offers 17 training sessions 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 Challenger 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 athlete-centered, as stressed by the National Olympic Committee. The
Top Team athletes practice very individually and enjoy a large number 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 studying during a sporting career. As only a few taekwondo athletes make
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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 taekwondo and in higher education, athletes are privileged to be absent
more than regular students. The Sport Academy has hired two fulltime 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 invitational 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 Project Camp will be held together with the International Cadet Camp. In
addition to Finnish athletes, teams from Spain and Russia have confirmed their participation. International camps and exchange programs will be a fantastic opportunity for young talents to become
international athletes.
Small Country, Great Ambitions:

Uruguay Taekwondo
Cristina Rufener fills us in on the activities

of the Uruguayan taekwondo community
WTF taekwondo was introduced to Uruguay in 1976 by Grandmaster

Byung Sup Lee Kang, who, in 1981, co-founded the Taekwondo Federation 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 taekwondo 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 manages 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 competitors 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 kyorugi 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 association 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 international events, like the ODESUR Games, the Pan American Championship, 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 Argentina. Last year we had three friendly events with academies from
Buenos Aires and provinces, and this year at least four training meetings are planned.
In 2012, for the first time, Uruguay was present at the World Poomsae Championships in Tunja, and in the Argentinian National Poomsae 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 Uruguay 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
157
Around the WTF
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 nations sports
Dreams come true could be

the 2012 motto for the Italian 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 results 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 efforts. 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 associations, 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
158
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 thats 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 associations as full members. Our members, from the youngest to the oldest,
are our biggest incentive to go on and reach further, both on the national and international levels.
The WTF has acknowledged our results and honored the federation 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 Summer Games in Rio in 2016, but we cant 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, especially at a time when all Italian sports are being buffeted by the economic crisis. Theres a new desire to win, and as Giovanni Malag (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.
T
PAR
162
164
166
170
174
Championships
9th WTF World Junior

Taekwondo Championships
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
April 4-8, 2012
Korea won both overall mens and womens titles at the 9th WTF
World Junior Taekwondo Championships, which concluded its fiveday event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on April 8, 2012.
In the mens 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 womens 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
Koreas Yeong-seok Kim, the gold medalist in the mens -55kg cat-
162
egory, while Koreas Byeol Choi, the gold medal

winner in the womens -44kg division, was selected as the Best Female Athlete.
The Best Referee Awards of the championships went to Azerbaijans Kwang-cheol Oh,
Norways Stig Ove Ness, Mexicos Jorge Reynoso
Cruz, Vietnams Vu Xuan Thanh and Georgias
Maria Merkouri.
Chung-won Choi was selected as the championships Best Coach in the mens division, and
Russias Igor Lazarev the Best Coach in the womens division.
The fifth and final day of the championships
featured four weight categories.

In the mens -48kg division, Irans Abolfazl
Yaghoubi Jouybari brushed aside a stiff challenge from Jordans Almuatasembellah Abuzaid
to win the final match 7-5 for the gold medal.
The bronze went to Turkeys Ibrahim Ethem Pak
and the Philippines Matnew Muhael Padilla.
In the mens -68kg category, Spains Daniel
Quesada Barrera needed a fourth sudden-death
round to clinch the gold medal against Koreas
Dong-yun Shin. Portugals Andre Magone and
Jordans Zaid Abuzaid each took home the
bronze medal in the same weight division.
In the womens -44kg division, Koreas Byeol

Choi needed only two rounds to clinch the gold
medal with a point-gap victory against Chinese
Taipeis Shiao-Pei Wong. The score was 26-3
at the end of the second round. Mexicos Leslie Torres Nava and Turkeys Fatma Saridogan
shared the bronze medal.
In the womens -59kg category, Frances
Magda Wiet Henin beat Swedens Nikita Glasnovic in the final match 5-3 to earn her country
the gold medal. The bronze went to Germanys
Celik Yonca and Russias Aleksandra Dementeva.
Part 5 Championships > 9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships
163
Championships
3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

Santa Cruz, Aruba
Nov. 22, 2012
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 Para-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, Brazil, 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 officials from 16 countries. France took the overall title, followed by Azerbaijan 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 Replay 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 Minister 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-
164
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 performances 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 Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Bali. It also approved the establishment of WTF Grand Prix series.
Pending the WTFs 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.
Competition Results of the 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships:
Part 5 Championships > 3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships
165
Championships
2012 WTF World Cup

Taekwondo Team Championships
Santa Cruz, Aruba

Nov. 23-25, 2012
Korea and China grabbed the mens and womens titles, respectively, at the 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships in Santa Cruz, Aruba on November 25, 2012.
In the mens division, Korea showed its supremacy as it defeated 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 behind 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 honors. China advanced to the final match as it beat Croatia 17-15
in a semifinal match. France reached the womens final match
by beating Russia 21-9 in a semifinal match.
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Part 5 Championships > 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
167
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 womens division. Koreas
Kyeo-re Han was picked as the male MVP and
Kye Hee Park was chosen as the best coach in
the mens 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
168
used. The team competition was composed of

two rounds of five minutes. The second round
was a tag match. A team consisted of five athletes and one substitute.
The event drew 90 male athletes from 13
countries and 69 female athletes from 10 countries.
The 13 countries were host Aruba, Iran, Korea, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Venezuela, Chinese Taipei, Dominican Republic, the United States, Brazil, 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, Chinese 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 Para-Taekwondo Championships were held on
Nov. 22, 2012 to a great success, drawing 53 para-athletes from 14 countries.
Part 5 Championships > 2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
169
Championships
7th WTF World Taekwondo

Poomsae Championships
Tunja, Colombia
Dec. 6-9, 2012
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 gathered at the San Antonio Coliseum to celebrate
the outstanding championships.
The conclusion of the action-packed fourday event came with a huge celebration of athletes as members from every nation took to the
floor with the WTF Taekwondo Demonstration
Team, local Tunja taekwondo youth, and volunteers 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 by
Young-Kul Kim
170
171
Championships
In the pairs under 29, China sneaked past Vietnam to claim the gold. Vietnams silver was
closely followed by Ecuadors and Chinese Taipeis 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
mens 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
172
and attraction of spectators. Indonesia was honored 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 Calamba of the Philippines and Karen Suache Arias of
Colombia were recognized for best performances. Top honors for coaching went to Jae Jin Kang
from Korea and Le Minh Khuong from Vietnam.
Trophies for Best Referees went to Daniel Khorassandjin (Lebanon), Johanna Bliem
(Austria), Jun Cheol Yun (USA), Wolfgang Bruckel (Germany), and Tem Igor Buenconsejo (Philippines). 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 nearly 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, heralded the success of the 7th edition of the championships saying:
Without the athletes, coaches, and officials,
these championships couldnt be. The tremendous 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 heroines of these championships. They really created the best atmosphere for our very exceptional
athletes to compete to be the worlds best.
Speaking on the growing popularity of
the sport of taekwondo around the world, Dr.
Choue said:
Taekwondo has always been, and will continue 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 background 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 Indonesia.
The next 8th edition of the championships
will be hosted by Bali, Indonesia.
Part 5 Championships > 7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
173
Championships
1st Europe-Asia
Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships
Moscow, Russia
Oct. 12, 2012
The 1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships 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 Russian team and a European squad, while Asia was represented 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, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Sweden
and Ukraine from Europe.
An opening ceremony and commemorative performances 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 Iranian team edged a six-member European team, with one
athlete each from Ukraine, Luxemburg, Great Britain, Croatia, Armenia and Russia, 35-31.
Eight individual matches, four female and four male,
followed the two team competitions.
In the womens under 49kg division, Siriporn Buabsod
of Thailand defeated Ioanna Koutsou of Greece 3-2. In the
174
mens 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 womens 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 mens under 68kg division, London Olympic silver medalist
Mohammad Bagheri of Iran defeated Filip Grgic of Croatia 7-4.
In the womens under 67kg category, Petra Matijasevic of Croatia defeated Yann Yeu Chen of Chinese Taipei 6-1. In the mens under 80kg category,
Farzad Abdollahi of Iran defeated Arman Yeremyan of Armenia 6-2.
In the womens over 67kg division, Reshmie Oogink of the Netherlands
beat Rima Ananbeh of Jordan 5-1. In the mens 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 Jordanian team outpointed the six-member European team 38-28.
In the last team competition match between Iran and Russia, the Iranian 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
175
Event Calendar
2013
2013-2015
2014
Date
Place
Event
Contact
Feb. 19-23
Las Vegas, USA
2013 US Open Taekwondo Championships
(T) 1 719 866 4632 (F) 1 719 866 4642

eric.parthen@usa-taekwondo.us | www.usa-taekwondo.us
Feb. 25-27
Alexandria, Egypt
5th Alexandria International Open
March 1-3
Fujairah, UAE
March 28-30
Manama, Bahrain
Date
Place
Event
Contact
G-2
March 23-25
New Taipei City,

ChineseTaipei
WTF Qualification Tournament

for Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games
N/A
(T) +203 544 2920 (F) +203 544 2920

Serjacko_egypt@yahoo.com | www.alexopen.com
G-1
March 26-29
New Taipei City,

ChineseTaipei
10th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships
N/A
Fujairah Open International Taekwondo Championships
(T) 971 4 2393223 (F) 971 4 2393343

fujairahopen2013@gmail.com
G-1
TBD
TBD
N/A
5th Bahrain Open Taekwondo Championship
(T) 973 77040033 (F) 973 77050033 (M) 973 38888350

bmaaster@gmail.com | tnwaser@yahoo.com
G-1
TBC
TBD
1st WTF World Cadet Taekwondo Championships
N/A
May (TBD)
Botswana
All African Games for Juniors
N/A
N/A
June 8-14
Hohhot, China
13th World University Taekwondo Championships
TBD
G-1
July (TBC)
TBD
2014 WTF World Grand-Prix Series 1
TBD
N/A
Aug. 16 - 28
(TKD 17-21)
Nanjing, China
Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games
N/A
2014 Oceania Taekwondo Championships
TBD
March (TBD)
Libreville, Gabon
1st African Para-Taekwondo Championships
May 2-5
Toronto, Canada
2013 Canada Open
June 8
Lausanne, Switzerland
4th WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships
June 8-9
Lausanne, Switzerland
2013 Swiss Open
(T) 41 76 308 3877 swissopen@taekwondo.ch
TBD
TBA
June 13-17
Pekan Baru-Riau,
Indonesia
3rd Islamic Solidarity Games
info@pbti.or.id | inaisgoc2013@gmail.com |
yefi.triaji@yahoo.com
TBD
Sept. 19 - Oct 4
Incheon, Korea
2014 Incheon Asian Games
TBD
June 20-30
(TKD 21-23)
Mersin, Turkey
17th Mediterranean Games
(T) 90 324 2802013 (F) 90 324 3610278

info@mersin2013.gov.tr
TBD
Oct. (TBC)
TBD
TBD
June 20
Jakarta, Indonesia
2nd Asian Junior Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
N/A
June 21-23
Jakarta, Indonesia
7th Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships
N/A
July 4-9
Chuncheon, Korea
2013 Chuncheon Korea Open

International Taekwondo Championships
(T) 82 33 263 3647~48 (F) 82 33 250 3648~49

kocitc@hotmail.com
G-2
July 15-21
Puebla, Mexico
2013 WTF World Taekwondo Championships
(T) +52 222 5094090

ximenamataz@gmail.com
G-7
July 21
Jerusalem, Israel
19th Maccabiah Games Taekwondo
(T) 972 3671 5726 (F) 972 3677 2426

roy@maccabi.com | www.maccabiah.com
TBD
July 26-Aug. 4
(TKD Jul 27-29)
Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 Sofia Summer Deaflympics
http://www.torino2013wmg.org/?lang=en
N/A
Aug. 8-9
Torino, Italy
2013 World Masters Games Taekwondo
Sept. 2-12 (TKD

6-9)
Wallis and Fortuna
9th Pacific Mini Games
Sept. (TBD)
Alexandria, Egypt
12th African Senior Taekwondo Championships
G-5
Sept. (TBD)
Alexandria, Egypt
1st African Junior Taekwondo Championships
N/A
Sept. (TBD)
Alexandria, Egypt
2nd African Taekwondo Team Championships
N/A
Sept. (TBD)
Alexandria, Egypt
3rd African Taekwondo Poomsae Championships
Oct. 6-16
(TKD 7-9)
Tianjin, China
Oct. 18-26
(T) 1 613 523 4134 (F) 1 613 523 6651

ehavaris@wtfcanada.com | wtfcanada.com
N/A
(+681)72.16.58 olivier@vegi.fr
TBD
2015
Date
Place
Event
TBD
TBD
2015 WTF World Taekwondo Championships
Contact
TBD
TBD
TBD
N/A
N/A
June (TBC)
Baku, Azerbaijan
2015 European Games
TBD
6th East Asian Games
TBD
July (TBC)
TBD
TBD
St.Petersburg, Russia
2nd Sportaccord World Combat Games
TBD
July 10-26
Toronto, Canada
Toronto 2015 Pan American Games
TBD
Oct. 31-Nov. 3
Bali, Indonesia
N/A
July (TBC)
Gwangju, Korea
2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade
TBD
Nov. (TBD)
Cotonou, Benin
African Cup Taekwondo Championships 2013
N/A
Sept. (TBC)
TBD
TBD
Nov.
TBD
2013 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships
TBD
Oct. (TBC)
TBD
TBD
Dec.
TBD
2013 WTF World Grand Prix
TBD
TBA
Brazzaville, Congo
2015 All Africa Games
TBD
Dec. (TBC)
TBD
2015 WTF World Grand-Prix Final
TBD
WTF Event Calendar
The World Taekwondo Federation

Expresses its Gratitude Toward our
2013 WTF Recognized Companies!
2013 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.
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Daedo and Taekwondo are not
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and are already working for the
next Olympic Games
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WTF Magazine 2013

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ion

You can get to know there are fairness & accuracy

SCORING BY YOUR OWN ABILITY AS IT IS!

KP&P Electronic protector internal sensor deployment diagram

The WTF Grand Prix Series will allow more

we created a competition system that ensures our athletes fair results,

1.Afghanistan 2.Bahrain 3.Bangladesh 4.Bhutan 5.Brunei 6.Cambodia 7.China

1.Algeria 2.Angola 3.Benin 4.Botswana 5.Burkina Faso 6.Burundi 7.Cameroon

PAN AMERICA (44)

The WTF now boasts a global membership of 204,

1.American Samoa 2.Australia 3.Cook Islands 4.Fiji 5.French Polynesia 6.Guam

Armor: No Longer Just for Protection

Pressure Testing: WTF Referee Training

Taekwondo is Safe! Report Gives Sport Thumbs up

Setting a New Standard

AROUND THE WTF

Sky-High Demonstration Takes Taekwondo into Stratosphere

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

Bare Feet, Kind Heart

Vikas 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

204... and Counting

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

From Korea to the World: 40 Years of the WTF

Unique Honors for Greek Taekwondo Leader

African Honor for WTF Head

Around the Continental Unions

140 PATU Activities

40 Years of History: 1973-2013

136 AFTU Activities

142 OTU Activities

History of the World Taekwondo Championships

138 ETU Activities

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

40 Years: Congratulatory Messages

Member National Associations

153 Bulgarian Taekwondo Raises its Game

146 Uzbekistan Takes to Taekwondo

154 Innovative Philippine League Enjoys Successful Run

147 Northern Exposure: Canadian Taekwondo

155 Addicted to Taekwondo, Not to Drugs

148 Island of Innovations: The Singapore Story

156 Finlands Training Center Aims High

150 Facing the Challenge: Taekwondo in Uganda

157 Small Country, Great Ambitions: Uruguay Taekwondo

London 2012: Taekwondo Comes of Age

152 Somalia Celebrates 1st Taekwondo Medal

158 Italian Passion

Taekwondo Demonstration Lights up London 2012

56 Shes Not Jaded

52 Chinas Double Gold Medalist Wu Jingyu Chases the Dream

9th WTF World Junior Taekwondo Championships

58 Competition Day 1 - Competition Day 4

3rd WTF World Para-Taekwondo Championships

66 Medals Table : 63 Qualified NOCs 2012

2012 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

67 Medals Table :Taekwondo Medalists 2012

7th WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

68 Olympic Medalists 2012

1st Europe-Asia Intercontinental Taekwondo Championships