Taekwondo

The Korean sport of taekwondo first appeared on the Olympic stage in Korea, as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It reappeared as a demonstration in 1992 in Barcelona, before being granted official status for the 2000 Sydney Games. In order to limit the number of total Olympic competitors, just four weight categories have been contested per gender, while eight are held at the World Championships.

Before making its official Olympic début, taekwondo was contested continuously at the World Games from its inaugural 1981 edition until 1993. All these appearances included all the weight categories also contested at the World Championships for men taekwondokas, and the 1989-1993 editions of the World Games also included competitions in four weight classes for women.

At the Olympics, the sport has been dominated by South Korea as of 2024, with 25 medals and 14 gold medals, followed by China, with 13 medals and seven gold medals. Four taekwondokas have earned two golds and a bronze at the Olympic Games: Hadi Saei (IRI), Steven Lopez (USA), Hwang Gyeong-Seon (KOR), and Panipak Wongpattanakit (THA). María Espinoza of Mexico has also won three medals at the Olympics, one of each color.

Taekwondo has also been part of the programme of the Youth Summer Olympics since its inaugural Singapore 2010 edition, with events for boys and girls.

Taekwondo is governed worldwide by World Taekwondo (WT), previously known as the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) until 2017, which was formed on 28 May 1973, in Seoul. On 17 July 1980, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized the federation at the 83rd IOC Session in Moskva. As of January 2026, World Taekwondo has 215 affiliated member nations.