Encyclopedia

Taekwondo competition typically involves sparring, breaking, and patterns; some tournaments also include special events such as demonstration teams and self-defense (hosinsul). In Olympic Taekwondo competition, however, only sparring (using WT competition rules) is performed.

Olympic sparring: all strikes are full contact and the clock continues when points are scored. Sparring involves a hogu, or a chest protector, which muffles any kick’s damage to avoid serious injuries. Helmets and other gear are provided as well. Though other systems may vary, a common point system works like this: one point for a regular kick to the hogu, two for a turning kick, three for a back kick and four for a spinning kick to the head.

Under World Taekwondo (WT, formerly WTF) and Olympic rules, sparring is a full-contact event, employing a continuous scoring system where the fighters are allowed to continue after scoring each technique, taking place between two competitors in either an area measuring 8 meters square or an octagon of similar size. Competitors are matched within gender and weight division—eight divisions for World Championships that are condensed to four for the Olympics. A win can occur by points, or if one competitor is unable to continue (knockout). However, there are several decisions that can lead to a win, as well, including superiority, withdrawal, disqualification, or even a referee’s punitive declaration. Each match consists of three two-minute rounds, with one minute rest between rounds, though these are often abbreviated or shortened for some junior and regional tournaments. Competitors must wear a hogu, head protector, shin pads, foot socks, forearm guards, hand gloves, a mouthpiece, and a groin cup. Tournaments sanctioned by national governing bodies or the WT, including the Olympics and World Championship, use electronic hogu, electronic foot socks and an electronic head protector to register and determine scoring techniques, with human judges used to assess and score technical (spinning) techniques and score punches.

Points are awarded for permitted techniques delivered to the legal scoring areas as determined by an electronic scoring system, which assesses the strength and location of the contact. The only techniques allowed are kicks (delivering a strike using an area of the foot below the ankle), punches (delivering a strike using the closed fist), and pushes. In some smaller tournaments, and in the past, points were awarded by three corner judges using electronic scoring tallies. All major national and international tournaments have moved fully (as of 2017) to electronic scoring, including the use of electronic headgear. This limits corner judges to scoring only technical points and punches. Some believe that the new electronic scoring system reduces controversy concerning judging decisions, but this technology is still not universally accepted., In particular, the move to electronic headgear has replaced controversy over judging with controversy over how the technology has changed the sport. Because the headgear is not able to determine if a kick was a correct Taekwondo technique, and the pressure threshold for sensor activation for headgear is kept low for safety reasons, athletes who improvised ways of placing their foot on their opponents head were able to score points, regardless of how true to Taekwondo those techniques were.

Techniques are divided into three categories: scoring techniques (such as a kick to the hogu), permitted but non-scoring techniques (such as a kick that strikes an arm), and not-permitted techniques (such as a kick below the waist).

• A punch that makes strong contact with the opponent’s hogu scores 1 point. The punch must be a straight punch with arm extended; jabs, hooks, uppercuts, etc. are permitted but do not score. Punches to the head are not allowed.
• A regular kick (no turning or spinning) to the hogu scores 2 points.
• A regular kick (no turning or spinning) to the head scores 3 points
• A technical kick (a kick that involves turning or spinning) to the hogu scores 4 points.
• A technical kick to the head scores 5 points.
  • As of October 2010, 4 points were awarded if a turning kick was used to execute this attack. As of June 2018, this was changed to 5 points.

The referee can give penalties at any time for rule-breaking, such as hitting an area not recognized as a target, usually the legs or neck. Penalties, called “Gam-jeom” are counted as an addition of one point for the opposing contestant. Following 10 “Gam-jeom” a player is declared the loser by referee’s punitive declaration

At the end of three rounds, the competitor with most points wins the match. In the event of a tie, a fourth “sudden death” overtime round, sometimes called a “Golden Point”, is held to determine the winner after a one-minute rest period. In this round, the first competitor to score a point wins the match. If there is no score in the additional round, the winner is decided by superiority, as determined by the refereeing officials or number of fouls committed during that round.

If a competitor has a 20-point lead at the end of the second round or achieves a 20-point lead at any point in the third round, then the match is over and that competitor is declared the winner.

In addition to sparring competition, World Taekwondo sanctions competition in poomsae or forms, although this is not an Olympic event. Single competitors perform a designated pattern of movements, and are assessed by judges for accuracy (accuracy of movements, balance, precision of details) and presentation (speed and power, rhythm, energy), both of which receive numerical scores, with deductions made for errors. Pair and team competition is also recognized, where two or more competitors perform the same form at the same time. In addition to competition with the traditional forms, there is experimentation with freestyle forms that allow more creativity.

The World Taekwondo Federation directly sanctions the following competitions:

• World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships.
• World Taekwondo Championships.
• World Para Taekwondo Championships (since 2009).
• World Taekwondo Cadet Championships.
• World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
• World Taekwondo Team Championships.
• World Taekwondo Para Championships.
• World Taekwondo Grand Prix.
• World Taekwondo Beach Championships.
• Olympic Games.
• Paralympic Games (debut in 2020 Tokyo Paralympics).

Taekwondo is also an optional sport at the Commonwealth Games.