Taekwondo

Here is a little history for Taekwondo, also known by Tae Kwon Do, and Taekwon-Do. Tae Kwon Do is the most widely practiced martial art in the world today. It traces its ancestry to the Korean martial art called Taekyon that was developed over 1000 years ago. Taekyon encompassed a barehanded and barefoot fighting style with great emphasis on kicking techniques.

The first and largest of the Korean martial arts academies after the Japanese occupation of Korea was the Chung Do Kwan school in Seoul, founded by Grandmaster Won Kuk Lee.

Traditional taekwondo is typically not competition-oriented and tends to focus primarily on the self-defense and traditional values of the art. Formally, there are two main styles of taekwondo. One comes from the Kukkiwon, the source of the sparring system shihap kyeorugi which is now an event at the summer Olympic Games and which is governed by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF); the other comes from the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), which was founded by General Choi Hong Hi, sometimes called the father of taekwondo.

Although there are doctrinal and technical differences between the two main styles and among the various organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, employing the leg's greater reach and power (compared to the arm). Taekwondo training generally includes a system of blocks, kicks, punches, and open-handed strikes and may also include various take-downs or sweeps, throws, and joint locks.

Of all the martial arts in the world, some spanning over thousands of years, Taekwondo is the only one represented in the Olympics. Taekwondo was a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Games and became a medal event in 2000.