Taekwondo involves two individuals, "Chung" (blue) and "Hong" (red), trying to earn points by landing kicks to the opponent's head and body or punches to the body. Contestants wear a dobok, the uniform of the fight. There are three rounds of three minutes each with a minute's rest between rounds. Victory is gained by knocking out the opponent, by winning on points, by default if the opponent earns three penalty points, or by the disqualification of the opponent. Just before the contest starts, the opponents bow to each other on command of the referee, who shouts out "Shi-jak" as an instruction to begin the bout.

In Sydney, there will be a single-elimination tournament through to the final, which determines the gold and silver medal-winners. The bronze medal is a more flexible affair; all competitors defeated by the finalists fight again in another elimination process to gain two places in a second round of semi-finals. The other two places in the bronze-medal semi-finals are filled by those who lost in the original semi-finals.

Matches are scored by awarding a point for each legitimate blow and deducting a point for each penalty. Points are scored for each strike to a "legitimate" striking area of the body, which include the head, abdomen and the sides of the torso, the latter three areas marked on the competitor's protective clothing. This consists of a guards at head, forearm, shin and groin and a body, or trunk, protector. Compliance checks are strict.

A strike must be delivered by the front of the index- and middle-finger knuckles of a correctly clenched fist, or with any part of the foot below the ankle. A strike is recognised as such when two or more of the three judges recognises it.

There are two types of penalty in taekwondo; kyong-go, or warning, receives a half-point penalty, and is given for grabbing, holding, pushing, evasively turning the back to an opponent and feigning injury; and gam-jeom, a serious penalty, with a one-point deduction, and is given for throwing an opponent, deliberately flooring an opponent by grappling with their foot in the air, deliberately attacking the opponent's back, and an attack on an opponent's face with the hands.

The referee counts to ten when one contestant is knocked down, which in taekwondo means when any part of the body barring the soles of the feet is forced to touch the deck. Counts also occur if the referee deems an opponent unfit or unwilling to carry on. The count starts after the referee calls "kal-yeo", or break. Counts continue until the referee shouts "yeo-dul", the point at which he has made his mind up whether the contest should go on or be stopped. If stopped at that stage, the contest is won by knockout. The referee has the final say where there is a tie that cannot be separated purely on points and penalties.

In Sydney, there will be four divisions each for men and women at the Sydney 2000 Games, half the number that exist in the sport at world championships. Men will contest under 58kg, under 68kg, under 80kg and over 80kg, while the women are divided into under 49kg, under 57kg, under 67kg and over 67kg.

Opponents compete inside a 12-metre raised square that in some respects resembles a boxing ring but for the coloured sections; a central eight-metre square is blue, ringed by a red zone which warns the competitors that they are close to the edge of the platform. There being no ropes, the sides of the platform outside the competitors' square slope away gently for safety's sake. The referee automatically stops a contest if both opponents place their feet in the red zone.