the.com/taekwondo
the art of explaining your problems to gravity using only your feet
means A Korean martial art emphasizing fast, high, spinning kicks and powerful striking techniques, now also a competitive Olympic sport.
from From Korean, a transparent three-part name: 'tae' (태, to strike or break with the foot), 'kwon' (권, fist), and 'do' (도, way or art) — literally 'the way of the foot and fist.' The 'do' is the same character as Japanese 'do' in judo and the Chinese 'dao' of Taoism, all tracing back to the shared written word for 'path' or 'way.' The name itself is mid-20th-century, coined when several Korean fighting schools were unified under one banner, though the kicking traditions it draws on run far deeper.
- name meaning
- Korean for the way of fist and foot
- olympic sport
- officially debuted at Sydney 2000 games
- belt origin
- belts darkened with use, never washed, legend says
- signature move
- spinning kicks reward the brave, punish the slow
- global reach
- practiced in over 200 countries worldwide
itf vs wtf split — international taekwondo federation and world taekwondo federation created competing ruleset traditions since 1973
south korea dominance — won 105 taekwondo olympic medals since 1988, originated the sport and trains elite national team