Wushu at the 2008 Summer Olympics

After abandoning demonstration sports following the 1992 Olympics, the IOC required every host city to ensure no national or international sports competition takes place during and around the Olympics. Despite this, the IOC gave special permission for a wushu tournament to be held during the Olympics, citing wushu’s significance in Chinese culture as the reason for the exception.

Wushu events are separated into two disciplines: taolu or “forms”, in which competitors show patterns and maneuvers that are rated by judges. The sanshou (or sanda) events are fighting events. The first World Championships in competitive Wushu were held in 1991, and are contested biennially. The sport has also been held at the Asian Games since 1990, at World Games and at World Combat Games. Unsurprisingly, China has been the dominant nation in the sport.

The 2007 World Championships served as the qualification competition for the Beijing 2008 exhibition, allowing 128 wushu competitors to compete. As expected, Chinese athletes took most of the titles, with all eight of their entrants (the maximum allowed), winning a gold medal. In addition, the Chinese Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau took two and one gold, respectively. The latter nation’s participation is remarkable, as Macau is not recognized by the IOC.