Taekwondo in Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games

Dear friends:
As you already know Taekwondo WTF is official olympic sport in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games. After its participation in Seoul 1988, and Barcelona 1992 Sumer Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1994 it was approved by the International Olympic Cometee (IOC) as a official sport.

Olympic Weight Divisions
Men	Women
not exceeding 58 kg	not exceeding 49 kg
+ 58 kg - 68 kg	+ 49 kg - 57 kg
+ 68 kg - 80 kg	+ 57 kg - 67 kg
exceeding 80 kg	exceeding 67 kg

Second - the participants in the Olympics are choosen in special way. Each country WILL NOT have its own team with a participant in each of weight divisions. In Sydney 2000 MAY be at MAXIMUM 2 men and 2 women from same country. This is very important because the Koreans will not have a player in each division, so the rivalry will be greater. The total number of competitors that will take part is 52 men and 48 women, or exactly 100 Taekwondo players. They will be choosen by five tournaments - one World Selection Tournament, where top 4 players in each division qualify (16 men and 16 women), three Continental Selection Tournaments in Euorope, Pan-America, and Asia, where top 2 players in each division qualify (8 men and 8 women in each tourney, or totally 24 men and 24 women), another Continental Selection Tournament in Africa where the top player in each division qualify (4 men and 4 women). Also Australia will take part with full team of 4 men and 4 women, one for each division, and the IOC and WTF will give Wild Card for participation to 4 men. Or recapitulating that:

Sydney 2000 Qualifications
Tournament	Date	Place	Men Qualify	Women Qualify
World Qualification	July 8th -11th	Porec, Croatia	16	16
Pan American Qualification	Octomber 1st - 2nd	Miami, Florida, USA	8	8
European Qualification	Octomber 16th - 17th	Stockholm, Sweeden	8	8
African Qualification	September 9th - 10th	Johanesburg, South Africa	4	4
Asian Qualification	September 25th - 26th	Manila, Philipines	8	8
Australian Team	-	-	4	4
IOC & WTF Wild Cards	-	-	4	0
Total			52	48

[ Author ] : Marin Marinov (Murry)
[ Organization ] : Team 16082, Creators of the Site
[ Taekwondo Degree ] : 1st dan, WTF Kukkiwon
[ Information Sources ] : WTF Official Web Site