Taekwondo

Taekwondo (/ˌtaɪkwɒnˈdoʊ, ˌtaɪˈkwɒndoʊ, ˌtɛkwənˈdoʊ/; Korean: 태권도; [t̪ʰɛ.k͈wʌ̹n.d̪o] ^ⓘ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as tae ("strike with foot"), kwon ("strike with hand"), and do ("the art or way").

Depending on the style, Hyeong, Poomsae or Teul are patterns that demonstrate a range of kicking, punching and blocking techniques, gyeokpa is the art of breaking wooden boards and in the combat sport kyorugi involves the kind of sparring seen in the Olympics. Taekwondo also sometimes involves the use of weapons such as swords and nunchucks (nunchaku). Taekwondo practitioners wear a uniform known as a dobok.

Taekwondo is originally a martial art which was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by Korean martial artists with experience in martial arts such as karate and Chinese martial arts. In the early 1970s, a new style of Taekwondo was developed to promote it as a competitive sport, alongside its traditional martial arts form.

The oldest governing body for taekwondo is the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA), formed in 1959 through a collaborative effort by representatives from the nine original kwans, or martial arts schools, in Korea. The main international organizational bodies for taekwondo today are various branches of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), originally founded by Choi Hong-hi in 1966, and the partnership of the Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo (WT, formerly World Taekwondo Federation or WTF), founded in 1972 and 1973 respectively by the Korea Taekwondo Association. Kyorugi ([kjʌɾuɡi]), a type of full-contact sparring, has been an Olympic event since 2000. In 2018, the South Korean government officially designated taekwondo as Korea's national martial art. At the Olympic and Paralympic level, taekwondo is governed by World Taekwondo.