'Taekwondo will be more exciting in Rio'
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World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) President Choue Chung-won speaks during a press conference at the Koreana Hotel in central Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
Ever since taekwondo became an official Olympic event at the 2000 Sydney Games, it has been endeavoring to maintain its status as an Olympic sport, adapting itself to modern times to appeal to more fans throughout the world.
Now that the Korean martial art has secured its Olympic status until the 2020 Tokyo Games, the event will be more exciting and colorful for sports fans at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
At a press conference in downtown Seoul, Monday, World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) President Choue Chung-won met with local reporters to explain what will be different in the first-ever Olympics in South America.
“For the upcoming Rio Olympics, 128 athletes from 63 countries will compete in taekwondo. The biggest differences from the London Games four years ago are that athletes will fight on an octagon-shaped mat, wearing colored uniform pants,” Choue said.
Until the London Games, athletes fought on square-shaped mats eight meters wide. But the WTF decided to introduce the octagonal mats in a bid to make the event more exciting.
Also, athletes will be allowed to wear colored pants and can place their national flags on their uniforms.
“So far, some 20 countries have decided to use colored uniform pants and we posted pictures of their uniforms on our Facebook page last week. We are expecting more countries will adapt the colored pants in Brazil,” Choue said.
Choue said another distinction from the previous taekwondo Olympic events will be the protective head gear equipped with electric sensors. Starting from the London Games, athletes competed carrying their impact sensors on their bodies and socks, but to increase fairness and precision the WTF decided to add more sensors. Also, athletes can choose their entrance songs.
To achieve gender equality in the Olympics, the 30 referees will be comprised of 15 males and 15 females.
The taekwondo event in the Rio Olympics will take place at Carioca Arena 3 for four days from Aug. 17 to 20. Korea will field five athletes including Lee Dae-hoon, who claimed a silver medal in the men’s 58-kilogram class in the London Games.
No problem for Russian taekwondo athletes
Choue said the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recent decision not to issue a blanket ban on Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics will have no impact on Russian taekwondo athletes.
“We’ve confirmed that Russian athletes competing in taekwondo in Rio didn’t violate the doping rules,” Choue said.
“We recently received a list of athletes who violated the doping regulations from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and six Russian athletes were confirmed to break the doping rules. But they are not included in the Russian delegation to the Rio Olympics,” Choue said. For the Rio Olympics’ taekwondo event, Russia sends three athletes in the men’s 68-kilogram and 80-kilogram classes and the women’s 67-kilogram class.
“We don’t know what kinds of banned drugs they used in which events yet,” he said. “After we get specifics from the WADA, we will take disciplinary action against them.”
Yang Jin-bang, director general of the WTF, said the WTF is seeking a way to increase the number of examinations for taekwondo athletes between championships.
“The WADA suggested we increase the number of examinations between competitions,” Yang said. “They also pointed out there should be more blood and DNA tests as we have mainly tested urine samples. Referring to the WADA suggestion, we will establish a new strategy against doping.”