OLYMPIC HISTORY

Taekwondo held its inaugural world championships in 1973 and was first seen at the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in Seoul, in 1988. It was back as a demonstration four years later at Barcelona in 1992 but was not part of the 1996 Games. In Sydney it assumes full Olympic status as one of two new sports, alongside triathlon.

South Korea and North Korea dominate the sport, though other Asian nations and some Europeans are fast-improving. South Korean men and women dominated the world championships last year, when Jong-Il Yoon, the South Korean flyweight, and Wang Su, the Chinese bantamweight, respectively won the men's and women's "Most Valuable Player" awards.