Taekwondo
Facts
| Discipline of | Taekwondo |
|---|---|
| Participants | 565 |
| NOCs | 111 |
| Competitions held | 48 (Venues) |
| Distinct events | 26 |
| IF | World Taekwondo |
Description
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, before being granted official status for the 2000 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.
At the Olympics the sport has been dominated by Korea, with 22 medals and 12 gold medals, followed by China, with 11 medals and seven gold medals. Three taekwondoka have earned two golds and a bronze: Hadi Saei (IRI), Steven Lopez (USA), and Hwang Gyeong-Seon (Korea). María Espinoza, of Mexico, has also won three medals at the Olympics, one of each color.
Taekwondo is governed worldwide by World Taekwondo (WT), previously known as the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), 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 2023, World Taekwondo has 213 affiliated member nations.
All-time medal table
Olympic Games
| NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Korea |  KOR |
12 | 3 | 7 | 22 |
| People's Republic of China |  CHN |
7 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| United States |  USA |
3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Great Britain |  GBR |
2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Mexico |  MEX |
2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Chinese Taipei |  TPE |
2 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| Islamic Republic of Iran |  IRI |
2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Italy |  ITA |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| ROC |  ROC |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Serbia |  SRB |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Spain |  ESP |
1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| Türkiye |  TUR |
1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| Greece |  GRE |
1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Cuba |  CUB |
1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Thailand |  THA |
1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Australia |  AUS |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jordan |  JOR |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Croatia |  CRO |
1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Azerbaijan |  AZE |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Côte d'Ivoire |  CIV |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Argentina |  ARG |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan |  UZB |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| France |  FRA |
0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Russian Federation |  RUS |
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Norway |  NOR |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Canada |  CAN |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Dominican Republic |  DOM |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Germany |  GER |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Tunisia |  TUN |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Gabon |  GAB |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Niger |  NIG |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| North Macedonia |  MKD |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Vietnam |  VIE |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt |  EGY |
0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Afghanistan |  AFG |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Brazil |  BRA |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Venezuela |  VEN |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Colombia |  COL |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Israel |  ISR |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan |  JPN |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kazakhstan |  KAZ |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nigeria |  NGR |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Youth Olympic Games
| NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islamic Republic of Iran | IRI |
6 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Russian Federation | RUS |
5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Republic of Korea | KOR |
4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Thailand | THA |
3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Chinese Taipei | TPE |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| People's Republic of China | CHN |
2 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| United States | USA |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Azerbaijan | AZE |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Morocco |  MAR |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| France | FRA |
1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Great Britain | GBR |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Brazil | BRA |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Croatia | CRO |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Israel | ISR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Germany | GER |
0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mexico | MEX |
0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Belgium |  BEL |
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Ukraine |  UKR |
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Uzbekistan | UZB |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Türkiye | TUR |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Jordan | JOR |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Vietnam | VIE |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Kazakhstan | KAZ |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Portugal |  POR |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Serbia | SRB |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Canada | CAN |
0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Egypt | EGY |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Italy | ITA |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Singapore |  SGP |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Spain | ESP |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Afghanistan | AFG |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Argentina | ARG |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Colombia | COL |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cuba | CUB |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ecuador |  ECU |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Greece | GRE |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lebanon |  LBN |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands |  NED |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Niger | NIG |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden |  SWE |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tajikistan |  TJK |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tunisia | TUN |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Most successful competitors
Olympic Games
| Athlete | Nat | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hadi Saei | IRI |
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Steven Lopez | USA |
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Hwang Gyeong-Seon | KOR |
2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Chen Zhong | CHN |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Wu Jingyu | CHN |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Milica Mandić | SRB |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jade Jones | GBR |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| María Espinoza | MEX |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Chu Mu-Yen | TPE |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Servet Tazegül | TUR |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Cha Dong-Min | KOR |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Joel González | ESP |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Panipak Wongpattanakit | THA |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Zhao Shuai | CHN |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Youth Olympic Games
| Athlete | Nat | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jade Jones | GBR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zheng Shuyin | CHN |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kimia Alizadeh | IRI EOR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Panipak Wongpattanakit | THA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Huang Huai-Hsuan | TPE |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jeon Soo-Yeon | KOR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Anastasiya Valuyeva | RUS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Worawong Pongpanit | THA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Liu Chang | CHN |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kaveh Rezaei | IRI |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gili Haimovitz | ISR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kim Jin-Hak | KOR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Seo Byeong-Deok | KOR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ivana Babić | CRO |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kendall Yount | USA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Səid Quliyev | AZE |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Edival Pontes | BRA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yohan Miangué | FRA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mahdi Eshaghi | IRI |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Huang Yu-Jen | TPE |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mohammad Ali Eshkevarian | IRI |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mohammadali Khosravi | IRI |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cho Won-Hui | KOR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Georgy Popov | RUS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dmitry Shishko | RUS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yalda Valinejad | IRI |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Fatima-Ezzahra Aboufaras | MAR |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yelizaveta Ryadninskaya | RUS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Polina Shcherbakova | RUS |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kanthida Saengsin | THA |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Event types
| Name | Gender | Still contested? | Times held? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flyweight | Men | 8 | |
| Featherweight | Men | 8 | |
| Welterweight | Men | 8 | |
| Heavyweight | Men | 8 | |
| Flyweight | Women | 8 | |
| Featherweight | Women | 8 | |
| Welterweight | Women | 8 | |
| Heavyweight | Women | 8 | |
| ≤48 kilograms | Boys | 3 | |
| ≤55 kilograms | Boys | 3 | |
| ≤63 kilograms | Boys | 3 | |
| ≤73 kilograms | Boys | 3 | |
| >73 kilograms | Boys | 3 | |
| ≤44 kilograms | Girls | 3 | |
| ≤49 kilograms | Girls | 3 | |
| ≤55 kilograms | Girls | 3 | |
| ≤63 kilograms | Girls | 3 | |
| >63 kilograms | Girls | 3 | |
| Finweight | Men | 2 | |
| Bantamweight | Men | 2 | |
| Lightweight | Men | 2 | |
| Middleweight | Men | 2 | |
| Finweight | Women | 2 | |
| Bantamweight | Women | 2 | |
| Lightweight | Women | 2 | |
| Middleweight | Women | 2 |