Taekwondo may have had origins over 2000 years ago. There are also thoughts that it evolved from karate, or Chinese boxing or that it is an amalgam of elements of other Asian martial arts and Korean kickboxing. Taekwondo literally means “the way of hand and foot” or, more specifically, “the way of kicking and punching”. It was not until the 1950s that the sport was acknowledged as Korea’s pre-eminent martial art.

The World Taekwondo Federation, established in 1973, has over 170 affiliated national federations.

Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992. The sport achieved full Olympic status, together with triathlon at Sydney 2000.

Each of the eight weight categories involves a single elimination tournament with a double repechage for the bronze medal contest. This means that, for an athlete to make it to the gold medal match, he or she must have progressed through the preliminary rounds undefeated; whereas the bronze medal match will be between two players who have each lost one contest.

Contestants wear different coloured ‘tobok’ or uniforms – ch’ong (blue) and hong (red) – combat each other using punching and kicking techniques. All vulnerable parts of the body are covered by protective equipment, including headgear, trunk protector, forearm and shin guards and a groin guard. Hits below the abdomen are forbidden.

One match consists of three rounds, each of three minutes, with a one-minute recess between rounds. One referee and three judges manage the contest.

Kicks to the body and face are permitted, but only punches to the body are allowed. Each scoring technique earns one point; the final score is the sum of all points won in the three rounds, after any penalties are deducted. Points and penalties are made public by electronic scoreboards.

Taekwondo has been in Australia for over 30 years and when Darwin hosted the seventh Asian Taekwondo Championships in 1986, the wearing of protective headwear in competition became compulsory.

Australia’s short Olympic history in taekwondo has been a prosperous. Lauren Burns won the first gold medal to be awarded in Olympic taekwondo competition when she won the flyweight category (under 49 kilograms) at the Sydney Games. Daniel Trenton also medalled winning silver in the heavyweight class (over 80 kilograms). Australia had representatives in each of the eight divisions (4 each for men and women) and as was expected, Korea won three of the eight gold medals.

At Athens 2004, Trenton and Carlo Massimino both reached the quarterfinals.

• 2007 World Taekwondo Championships
• Nervous wait for Taekwondo athletes
• Nervous wait for Taekwondo athletes
• 2007 AYOF sport by sport wrap
• Taekwondo talent selected
• A bittersweet end for Australia