New Plymouth Taekwondo Club

Taranaki, New Zealand

 About Taekwondo

Contained on this page is a Brief Summary of the Following Subjects:

For Information Please refer to;

www.wtf.org

www.nzta.net.nz

www.tunz.org

www.nztf.org.nz

 

Please click on the Thumbnail to Enlarge

Mural found on a wall of a tomb depicting hunting sceens form the Koguryo era of Korean History.

Above is 2 pictures depicting Anicent Text and Pictures of Taekwondo in one of it's earlist forms.

Koguryo Mooyoungchong Mural Painting

What is Taekwondo?

Taekwondo is a traditional Korean Martial Art, Self Defense and Official Olympic Sport. Taekwondo roughly means "the art of striking with the feet or fist". However, "way of life of a warrior", is a more accurate description and translation as Taekwondo practitioners embrace the principles of inner strength, humility, respect, honor and protection of life.

Though Modern Taekwondo as we know it today has only been around since the late 50's and early 60's it was derived from and was own by other Korean martial art styles such as TaeKyon and Hwarangdo.

Taekwondo origins were previous thought to about 2600 years old, however in the last decade with more archeological discoveries and carbon dating evidence has proven that in fact Taekwondo is in excess of 4000 years old, making it the oldest martial art around today. However Taekwondo first gained prominence in the History books when it was practiced by the Hwarang, a group of Korean knights, dedicated to unifying and defending their country.

Today Taekwondo is the most widely practiced and popular martial Art in the world, there is more people practicing Taekwondo than most other Martial Arts groups or organizations put together because it remains one of the most dynamic and practical martial arts.

Taekwondo Practitioners are best known for their circular movements, combinations and techniques as well as their mastership of devastating  kicking techniques. However a large portion of the syllabus still involves take downs, throws, holds and pressure points which further enables practitioners to fend off much larger, stronger and multiple attackers.

Through the World Taekwondo Federation, Taekwondo has  been incorporated into the Olympic Games, first as demonstration event in 1988 and 1992 and then was promoted to the status of a full Medal Sport for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and beyond.

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The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was founded in 1973 and is the largest Martial Organization in the World, it has National associations in 170 countries. Though it is difficult to calculate the exact number of people because membership is always changing one estimate has the membership as high as 98 million people, forever the WTF are confident that their is in excess of 50 million people. The WTF has also promoted Taekwondo as a sport as well as Self-Defense and through the tireless efforts of it's President, Dr. Un Yong Kim was promoted to full Olympic sport status at the Sydney 2000 Games after being a demonstration sport at the Seoul 1988 and in Barcelona 1992 Games .

The WTF headquarters is located at Kukkiwon near Seoul, Korea.  All Black-belts in the WTF are certified by Kukkiwon. Kukkiwon also hosts a number of major national and international competitions.

The WTF is recognized by such international organizations as the General Assembly of International Sport Federation (GAIF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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