The WTF president Dr. Chungwon Choue said, to the Korean Times, he is conscious that “a continuous and constant search for change is the only way to keep alive this sport at the Olympic scenario. We are not afraid to face changes at the World Federation. If we were afraid of change, Taekwondo would have already disappeared from the Olympic Games. However, Taekwondo has become an important Olympic sport thanks to our continuous efforts through these years to make it more popular and enjoyable. Thanks to our hard work, now we have more than 80 million practitioners around the world. For that we will introduce a new version of Taekwondo on the next Olympic Games.”

The changes the WTF president refers are:

-Color pants selected by each team (see note).
-Octagonal sparring rings.
-15 female and 15 male referees, to promote gender equity.
-Daedo electronic system Gen 2, including chest protector and head gear.

About the technology item, the President of Taekwondo referred, “As we introduce the electronic scoring system in London 2012, this time we will use even more technology to keep the equity and precision during the competition. Back in London 2012, the athletes were using the electronic sensors in the chest protector and socks only. Now in 2106 Olympics, we are adding the electronic head gears.”

“The biggest reason for these changes is to provide taekwondo fans more excitement as we learned that any sport that doesn’t satisfy its spectators and TV viewers will not survive on the Olympic stage,” he said. “It is important for us to reflect upon those experiences. No one knows how taekwondo will be more interesting at the 2020 Olympics.”, Choue concluded.

Daniel Trapatoni, MasTKD exclusive

Translated by Lisethe Salcido