[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]22 August 2016; Rio de Janeiro: The Olympic taekwondo competition drew to close on Saturday night in Carioca Arena 3 in Rio’s Barra Olympic Park after four-days of exciting,
dramatic and often unpredictable matches leading World Taekwondo Federation President Chungwon Choue to predict that the taekwondo legacy of the Games in Brazil and around the world would last well beyond 2016.
In Rio, a total of 126 athletes from 62 countries competed. The eight Olympic gold medals available were shared between six countries with a further 14 countries winning silver or bronze medals, reflecting the truly universal nature of the sport.
Taekwondo is a sport which is accessible to people of all ages and genders around the world and its participation in the Olympic Games provides countries not traditionally associated with Olympic sport the opportunity to fight for Olympic glory.
In Rio, taekwondo was the platform for memorable history-making endeavours, including:Jordan winning its first-ever Olympic medal with Ahmad Abughaush’s gold in the men’s -68kg category Iran celebrating its first ever female Olympic medallist when Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin won a bronze in the women’s -57kg category The Cote d’Ivoire securing its first ever Olympic gold medal through Cheick Sallah Junior Cisse in the men’s -80kg category A total of six countries –Aruba, Cape Verde, DR. Congo, Moldova, Mongolia and Tonga –also made their Olympic taekwondo debuts in Rio once again demonstrating the ongoing development of the sport around the world Rio 2016 also represents a highly innovative Olympic Games for taekwondo, with the World Taekwondo Federation embracing the latest sports technologies to elevate the ancient sport into the modern era. For the first time at an Olympic Games, the Protector Scoring System (PSS) was implemented in the athletes’ headguards, octagonal mats were used to allow athletes more variety in how they approached their opponents and a video replay system was introduced to ensure transparency.
WTF President Chungwon Choue said: “The taekwondo competition here in Rio has been a festival of fight delivered to the highest technical standard. It’s been a fantastic four days for taekwondo. The Olympic Games are the pinnacle for our athletes and their commitment and passion has been reflected in some of the most exciting and unpredictable matches we have ever seen. We have witnessed some major upsets, some dramatic, last-second victories –even last half-second victories –and some first-time Olympic medallists; but throughout, whether in victory or defeat, we have seen elite sport played out in the true spirit of friendship, respect and fair play.
“The atmosphere in the venue has been excellent and I have no doubt that our athletes will have inspired millions of people, in Brazil and throughout the world, to take up taekwondo.
“As a federation we cannot be complacent. We must build on the momentum we have generated here in Rio, just as we did after London 2012, as we aim to realise our full global potential. We must always be looking to move forward and find ways of improving and developing our sport for the benefit of our athletes and our fans. Following the Games the WTF Technical Committee will analyse the competition and identify and implement changes to ensure our sport is the very best it can be.”
In full, the 20 nations who won medals in taekwondo at Rio 2016 are: Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Iran, Jordan, Mexico, Niger, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United States.