Taekwondo

Facts

Discipline of Taekwondo
Participants 565
NOCs 111
Competitions held 48 (Venues)
Distinct events 26
IF World Taekwondo

Description

The Korean sport of taekwondo first appeared on the Olympic stage in Korea, as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It reappeared as a demonstration in 1992, before being granted official status for the 2000 Games. In order to limit the number of total Olympic competitors, just four weight categories have been contested per gender, while eight are held at the World Championships.

At the Olympics the sport has been dominated by Korea, with 22 medals and 12 gold medals, followed by China, with 11 medals and seven gold medals. Three taekwondoka have earned two golds and a bronze: Hadi Saei (IRI), Steven Lopez (USA), and Hwang Gyeong-Seon (Korea). María Espinoza, of Mexico, has also won three medals at the Olympics, one of each color.

Taekwondo is governed worldwide by World Taekwondo (WT), previously known as the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), which was formed on 28 May 1973, in Seoul. On 17 July 1980, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized the federation at the 83rd IOC Session in Moskva. As of 2023, World Taekwondo has 213 affiliated member nations.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Republic of Korea KOR 12 3 7 22
People's Republic of China CHN 7 1 3 11
United States USA 3 2 5 10
Great Britain GBR 2 3 4 9
Mexico MEX 2 2 3 7
Chinese Taipei TPE 2 1 6 9
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 2 1 3 6
Italy ITA 2 1 1 4
ROC ROC 2 1 1 4
Serbia SRB 2 1 1 4
Spain ESP 1 5 1 7
Türkiye TUR 1 3 5 9
Greece GRE 1 3 0 4
Cuba CUB 1 2 3 6
Thailand THA 1 2 3 6
Australia AUS 1 1 0 2
Jordan JOR 1 1 0 2
Croatia CRO 1 0 4 5
Azerbaijan AZE 1 0 2 3
Côte d'Ivoire CIV 1 0 2 3
Argentina ARG 1 0 0 1
Uzbekistan UZB 1 0 0 1
France FRA 0 3 5 8
Russian Federation RUS 0 2 2 4
Norway NOR 0 2 0 2
Canada CAN 0 1 1 2
Dominican Republic DOM 0 1 1 2
Germany GER 0 1 1 2
Tunisia TUN 0 1 1 2
Gabon GAB 0 1 0 1
Niger NIG 0 1 0 1
North Macedonia MKD 0 1 0 1
Vietnam VIE 0 1 0 1
Egypt EGY 0 0 4 4
Afghanistan AFG 0 0 2 2
Brazil BRA 0 0 2 2
Venezuela VEN 0 0 2 2
Colombia COL 0 0 1 1
Israel ISR 0 0 1 1
Japan JPN 0 0 1 1
Kazakhstan KAZ 0 0 1 1
Nigeria NGR 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 6 2 1 9
Russian Federation RUS 5 2 2 9
Republic of Korea KOR 4 3 2 9
Thailand THA 3 1 0 4
Chinese Taipei TPE 2 2 1 5
People's Republic of China CHN 2 0 6 8
United States USA 1 1 2 4
Azerbaijan AZE 1 1 1 3
Morocco MAR 1 1 0 2
France FRA 1 0 3 4
Great Britain GBR 1 0 2 3
Brazil BRA 1 0 1 2
Croatia CRO 1 0 1 2
Israel ISR 1 0 0 1
Germany GER 0 3 1 4
Mexico MEX 0 2 4 6
Belgium BEL 0 2 2 4
Ukraine UKR 0 2 2 4
Uzbekistan UZB 0 2 0 2
Türkiye TUR 0 1 3 4
Jordan JOR 0 1 2 3
Vietnam VIE 0 1 1 2
Kazakhstan KAZ 0 1 0 1
Portugal POR 0 1 0 1
Serbia SRB 0 1 0 1
Canada CAN 0 0 3 3
Egypt EGY 0 0 2 2
Italy ITA 0 0 2 2
Singapore SGP 0 0 2 2
Spain ESP 0 0 2 2
Afghanistan AFG 0 0 1 1
Argentina ARG 0 0 1 1
Colombia COL 0 0 1 1
Cuba CUB 0 0 1 1
Ecuador ECU 0 0 1 1
Greece GRE 0 0 1 1
Lebanon LBN 0 0 1 1
Netherlands NED 0 0 1 1
Niger NIG 0 0 1 1
Sweden SWE 0 0 1 1
Tajikistan TJK 0 0 1 1
Tunisia TUN 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Hadi Saei IRI 2 0 1 3
Steven Lopez USA 2 0 1 3
Hwang Gyeong-Seon KOR 2 0 1 3
Chen Zhong CHN 2 0 0 2
Wu Jingyu CHN 2 0 0 2
Milica Mandić SRB 2 0 0 2
Jade Jones GBR 2 0 0 2
María Espinoza MEX 1 1 1 3
Chu Mu-Yen TPE 1 0 1 2
Servet Tazegül TUR 1 0 1 2
Cha Dong-Min KOR 1 0 1 2
Joel González ESP 1 0 1 2
Panipak Wongpattanakit THA 1 0 1 2
Zhao Shuai CHN 1 0 1 2

Youth Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Jade Jones GBR 1 0 0 1
Zheng Shuyin CHN 1 0 0 1
Kimia Alizadeh IRI
EOR
1 0 0 1
Panipak Wongpattanakit THA 1 0 0 1
Huang Huai-Hsuan TPE 1 0 0 1
Jeon Soo-Yeon KOR 1 0 0 1
Anastasiya Valuyeva RUS 1 0 0 1
Worawong Pongpanit THA 1 0 0 1
Liu Chang CHN 1 0 0 1
Kaveh Rezaei IRI 1 0 0 1
Gili Haimovitz ISR 1 0 0 1
Kim Jin-Hak KOR 1 0 0 1
Seo Byeong-Deok KOR 1 0 0 1
Ivana Babić CRO 1 0 0 1
Kendall Yount USA 1 0 0 1
Səid Quliyev AZE 1 0 0 1
Edival Pontes BRA 1 0 0 1
Yohan Miangué FRA 1 0 0 1
Mahdi Eshaghi IRI 1 0 0 1
Huang Yu-Jen TPE 1 0 0 1
Mohammad Ali Eshkevarian IRI 1 0 0 1
Mohammadali Khosravi IRI 1 0 0 1
Cho Won-Hui KOR 1 0 0 1
Georgy Popov RUS 1 0 0 1
Dmitry Shishko RUS 1 0 0 1
Yalda Valinejad IRI 1 0 0 1
Fatima-Ezzahra Aboufaras MAR 1 0 0 1
Yelizaveta Ryadninskaya RUS 1 0 0 1
Polina Shcherbakova RUS 1 0 0 1
Kanthida Saengsin THA 1 0 0 1

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
Flyweight Men 8
Featherweight Men 8
Welterweight Men 8
Heavyweight Men 8
Flyweight Women 8
Featherweight Women 8
Welterweight Women 8
Heavyweight Women 8
≤48 kilograms Boys 3
≤55 kilograms Boys 3
≤63 kilograms Boys 3
≤73 kilograms Boys 3
>73 kilograms Boys 3
≤44 kilograms Girls 3
≤49 kilograms Girls 3
≤55 kilograms Girls 3
≤63 kilograms Girls 3
>63 kilograms Girls 3
Finweight Men 2
Bantamweight Men 2
Lightweight Men 2
Middleweight Men 2
Finweight Women 2
Bantamweight Women 2
Lightweight Women 2
Middleweight Women 2