Originally, Tae Kwon-Do existed over 20 centuries ago in Korea.  It was not considered a system of self-defense until the 1950s.  That is when a group of martial artists came together to put the moves together under a single style of hand and feet fighting. They named their system Tae Kwon-Do. In the last 30 years, it has developed into one of the most effective styles of unarmed self-defense in the world.

Today, Tae Kwon-Do is a recognized Korean Martial Art and a popular international sport. It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympic Games, and will be a medal sport at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
 

The Sport

Taekwondo is a combat sport is where an individual uses bare hands and feet to fight off an opponent. It is made up of sharp, circular movements to produce a balance of beauty and power.  With the addition of Tae Kwon-Do's kicking techniques, it is both a system of self-defense and personal improvement.

Basic moves: side kick, double side kick, triple side kick, flying side kick, skipping side kick, humping front side kick, turning kick, double turning kick, triple turning kick, skipping turning kick, 360 back crustant kick, back kick, hooking kick, jumping 360, jumping back hooking kick, jumping back kick, twisting kick.

In the Olympics

The Olympic tournament will be a single elimination format to decide the winners of the gold and silver medals. Competitors with one loss are moved to a losers bracket from which the bronze medal winner will be decided.

This is the scoring for Tae Kwon-Do in the Olympics:
Punch To Body: 1 Point
Flying Punch To Body: 2 Points
Kick To Body: 2 Points
Kick To Head: 2 Points
Flying Kick To Body: 2 Points
Flying Kick To Head: 3 Points
Low Blow: The first time a warning is made. The second time 1 point is deducted. The third time is disqualification.
Purposely Injuring Opponent: There is the same consequences as a low blow. Ignoring the ref and injuring the person could get you kicked out of the tournament!

Matches will have one center referee, four corner judges and two heads of court, along with a timekeeper and recorder. The center referee controls the fight, issues warnings or point deductions, and votes in the final scoring of the match. At the end of three rounds, the referee collects the scores of the four judges and gives them, along with his own scorecard, to the two head of court, who declare the winner.

Before the match gets started, the athletes face each other at attention (called charyeot) and bow (called kyeongrye) at the referee's command. The referee starts the match by saying "Joon-bi" (ready) and "Shi-jak" (start).

After the end of the last round, the contestants stand facing each other and bow at the referee's command. They wait for the referee's decision in a standing posture. The referee declares the winner by raising his/her own hand.