| Date | 27 September 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | State Sports Centre, Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales | |
| Participants | 12 from 12 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament. All fighters losing to the finalists in each pool advance to repêchage tournament for the bronze medal. | |
This was the first gold medal awarded in taekwondo at the Olympics, and the heavy favorite was Chi Shu-Ju of Chinese Taipei, who had been World Champion in both 1997 and 1999. Australia pinned its hopes on Lauren Burns, a vegetarian with not much of an international record. Burns met Chi in the quarter-finals and they tied, 3-3, but the referee awarded the match to Burns on a superiority ruling. Burns used that impetus to win the gold medal, to the delight of the Australian crowd. Chi came thru the repêchage round to win the bronze medal.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lauren Burns | AUS | Gold | ||
| 2 | Urbia Meléndez | CUB | Silver | ||
| 3 | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN | |||
| =5 | Águeda Pérez | MEX | |||
| =5 | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | |||
| 7 | Likeleli Alinah Thamae | LES | |||
| =8 | Juana Wangsa Putri | INA | |||
| =8 | Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai | VIE | |||
| =10 | Eva Marie Ditan | PHI | |||
| =10 | Fadime Helvacioglu | GER | |||
| =10 | Kay Poe | USA |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 9:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the quarter-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 27 Sep | Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai | VIE | ||||
| Match #2 | 27 Sep 9:00 | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | Final score | Eva Marie Ditan | PHI | |
| Match #3 | 27 Sep 9:30 | Urbia Meléndez | CUB | Final score | Águeda Pérez | MEX | |
| Match #4 | 27 Sep | Likeleli Alinah Thamae | LES | ||||
| Match #5 | 27 Sep | Juana Wangsa Putri | INA | ||||
| Match #6 | 27 Sep 10:00 | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN | Final score | Kay Poe | USA | |
| Match #7 | 27 Sep 10:30 | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE | Final score | Fadime Helvacioglu | GER | |
| Match #8 | 27 Sep | Lauren Burns | AUS |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 11:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the semi-finals. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 27 Sep 11:30 | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | Final score | Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai | VIE | |
| Match #2 | 27 Sep 12:00 | Urbia Meléndez | CUB | Final score | Likeleli Alinah Thamae | LES | |
| Match #3 | 27 Sep 14:30 | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN | Final score | Juana Wangsa Putri | INA | |
| Match #4 | 27 Sep 15:00 | Lauren Burns | AUS | Superiority | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 15:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the final round. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 27 Sep 15:30 | Urbia Meléndez | CUB | Final score | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | |
| Match #2 | 27 Sep 16:00 | Lauren Burns | AUS | Final score | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 16:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the repêchage round two. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 27 Sep | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | ||||
| Match #2 | 27 Sep | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE | ||||
| Match #3 | 27 Sep 16:30 | Águeda Pérez | MEX | Final score | Likeleli Alinah Thamae | LES | |
| Match #4 | 27 Sep | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 19:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to the bronze medal match. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 27 Sep 20:00 | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE | Final score | Döndü Güvenç | TUR | |
| Match #2 | 27 Sep 19:30 | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN | Final score | Águeda Pérez | MEX |
| Date | 27 September 2000 — 20:30 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 27 Sep 21:00 | Lauren Burns | AUS | Final score | Urbia Meléndez | CUB | |
| Match 3/4 | 27 Sep 20:30 | Chi Shu-Ju | TPE | Final score | Hanne Høegh Poulsen | DEN |