Taekwondo

Introduction
It is a martial art transformed into Olympian
sport of combat from the year 1988, when it
was introduced as sport of demonstration in the
Olympic games realized in the city of Seoul in
South Korea.
In Sdney's Olympic Games 2000 the
Taekwondo turned into an Olympian official
sport.
History
The oldest Korean martial art was an amalgamation of unarmed
combat styles developed by the three rival Korean Kingdoms of
Goguryeo(37 b.c. - 668 a.c), Silla (57 b.c. - 936 a.c), and
Baekje(18 b.c. - 600 a.c), where young men were trained in
unarmed combat techniques to develop strength, speed, and
survival skills. The most popular of these techniques was
ssireum and subak with taekkyeon being the most popular of
the segments of subak. Before the fall of Goguryeo Dynasty the
Silla Kingdom asked for help in training its people for defence
against pirate invasions. During this time a few select Silla
warriors were given training in taekkyeon by the early masters
from Koguryo. These Silla warriors then became known as the
Hwarang. Taekkyeon persisted into the 19th century as a folk
game during the May-Dano festival and was still taught as the
formal military martial art.
History
During the Japanese occupation of Korea (19101945), all
facets of ethnic Korean identity were banned and suppressed
with traditional Korean martial arts such as taekkyeon or subak
banned during this time. Early progenitors of Taekwondo who
were able to study in Japan were exposed to the Japanese
martial arts, of karate, Judo and Kendo. While others were
exposed to the martial arts of China and Manchuria as well as
to the indigenous Korean martial art of Taekkyon.
When the occupation ended in 1945, Korean martial arts
schools (kwans) began to open in Korea. They taught martial
arts that were based primarily upon the traditional Korean
martial arts taekkyon and subak
History
In 1952, at the height of the Korean War, there was a martial
arts exhibition in which the kwans displayed their skills. In one
demonstration, Nam Tae Hi smashed 13 roof tiles with a punch.
Following this demonstration, South Korean President
Syngman Rhee instructed Choi Hong Hi to introduce the martial
arts to the Korean army.
In the early 1960s, taekwondo made its dbut worldwide with
assignment of the original masters of taekwondo to various
countries.
Since 2000, taekwondo has been one of only two Asian martial
arts (the other being judo) that are included in the Olympic
Games; it became a demonstration event starting with the 1988
games in Seoul, and became an official medal event starting
with the 2000 games in Sydney. In 2010, taekwondo was
accepted as a Commonwealth Games sport
Belts
Clothes & equipment