When was taekwondo an olympic sport

Spinning kicks are also rewarded with extra points. Penalties may be given to athletes for various faults. It appeared again as a demonstration sport at Barcelona in but was absent from Atlanta However, four years later, taekwondo reappeared as a full medal sport from Sydney onwards, where events for men and women were held.

While taekwondo competitions were previously dominated by Koreans, the founders of the sport, this is no longer the case. The PSS is a system of electronic impact sensors built into the protective gear of the taekwondo athlete — the sock, the trunk protector and the head protector — which is wirelessly linked to the electronic scoreboard.

When impact is made with the correct parts of the foot to the opponent's head or trunk, points flash up on the scoreboard automatically. Taekwondo requires no real equipment other than the human body, making it an economical, democratic and easy-to-deploy sport. Taekwondo is one of the two Asian martial arts included on the Olympic programme. Taekwondo made its debut as a demonstration Olympic sport at the Seoul Games, and became an official medal sport at the Sydney Games. The sport is practised in countries and there were over seven million individuals with black belts in the world as of the end of Current events on the Olympic programme include four weight classes each for men and women.