World Taekwondo

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Recorded May 13, 2026

Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) established the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) in 1973, creating the international governing body that would later (2017) rebrand as World Taekwondo. Foundational federation milestone — every modern WT rule on scoring, equipment, weight classes, competition format, weight cuts, and officiating descends from this founding. The 1973 founding consolidated the international rule-making authority for kyorugi-style competitive taekwondo under a single body, distinguishing it from ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) traditional taekwondo and other federation forks.

Recorded May 9, 2026

Taekwondo kyorugi (full-contact sparring) became an Olympic medal event at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics — the federation's foundational Olympic acceptance and the basis for all subsequent Olympic taekwondo competition. The 2000 Sydney introduction included four weight classes per gender and used the WTF's existing competition rules. Olympic acceptance drove substantial growth in elite-level investment from national federations worldwide and accelerated the rule-modernization trajectory that produced the 2009 PSS adoption and the 2018 scoring tightening.

Recorded May 9, 2026

Effective June 2018, World Taekwondo raised the point value of technical kicks to the head — turning kicks, spinning kicks, and other high-difficulty techniques connecting cleanly with the head — to 5 points (the higher of the available scoring tiers for head techniques). The change increased the strategic reward for executing high-difficulty head techniques, incentivizing the spectacular spinning-kick aesthetic that defines elite taekwondo at the Olympic level. Modern WT scoring continues to use the 5-point threshold for technical-kick-to-head as the highest-value scoring action available.

Recorded May 9, 2026

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Recorded Mar 22, 2026