Historical archive

From the barracks to the podium: Olympic taekwondo

A name chosen in 1955, two rival federations and a medal sport in Sydney 2000.

1955–2000

Original WABUKAN illustration (ink and wash), 2026. Two taekwondo athletes in an Olympic-style match, one landing a high kick.

The story

After the Japanese occupation of Korea ended in 1945, several schools called kwan opened in Seoul. Many of their founders had learned karate in Japan, and they mixed it with Korean ideas and kicking games such as taekkyon. In 1955 the name taekwondo, “the way of the foot and the fist”, was adopted, promoted by the army general Choi Hong-hi.

The art soon split. Choi founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) in 1966 and later left South Korea. In Seoul the Kukkiwon opened in 1972 and the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was created in 1973, with a sport style built around fast kicks to a padded vest. That sport version is the one that went to the Olympics.

Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992, and became a full medal sport at Sydney 2000 with eight weight classes, four for men and four for women. To answer complaints about judging, electronic scoring vests were introduced, used at the Olympics from London 2012, together with video replay. In 2017 the WTF changed its name to World Taekwondo.

Key dates

1945
End of Japanese rule; the first kwan schools open.
1955
The name taekwondo is adopted.
1966
Choi Hong-hi founds the ITF.
1972–1973
Kukkiwon opens; the WTF is founded in Seoul.
1988 · 1992
Demonstration sport at Seoul and Barcelona.
2000
Full medal sport at Sydney.
2012
Electronic scoring vests at the London Olympics.

Myth and fact

Myth

Taekwondo is 2,000 years old.

Korea has old fighting traditions, and murals from the Goguryeo period show wrestlers. But taekwondo as a system and a name dates from the 1940s–50s and owes much to karate.

Why it matters

Taekwondo is now one of the most practised martial arts in the world, and Olympic status brought money, national federations and young athletes to many countries that had no medal tradition.

Images: public-domain or CC0 works credited under each picture, or original WABUKAN ink illustrations. Panels: the story told in numbered comic boxes.

Sources

Taekwondo — Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
Taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics — Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
Choi Hong Hi — Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
World Taekwondo — Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
Kukkiwon — Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org

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You may quote and share this page with a link to WABUKAN. Suggested citation:

WABUKAN 和武館, «From the barracks to the podium: Olympic taekwondo», https://wabukan.com/marco-taekwondo-olimpico (accessed 2026-10-30).

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