London Olympics. A guide to Tae Kwondo

Tae Kwondo

In taekwondo’s short history as an Olympic sport, Australian athletes have been very successful with two medals and some near misses. This Olympics Australia will be represented by an exceptional couple capable of reaching the podium.

When Carmen Marton walks down the aisle later this year to marry her fiancé Safwan Khalil, she hopes to do so as an Olympic gold medallist. And so does he. Before tying the knot, Marton and Khalil hope to climb the Olympic podium and have all the form to do so. The pair, who met over 10 years ago at a Junior World Championships, will be supported by coach Ali Khalil – Safwan’s brother.

It will be Marton’s second Games campaign after being a quarter-finalist in Beijing four years ago.

Basic rules

The athletes compete on a mat inside an eight-by-eight metre zone, over three rounds of two minutes and are divided into different weight categories, for women they are 49kg, 57kg, 67kg and +67kg.

The aim is to land accurate kicks and punches on the scoring area of their opponent.

A kick or punch to your opponent’s torso scores one point, an additional point is awarded if the attacker has his back to his opponent at the point of contact – so spinning kicks score two points.

Punches to the head are illegal, but kicks score three points. To be valid, shots must be of sufficient force.

If the scores are level after three rounds, a fourth “sudden death” round is held to determine the winner.

In the Olympics there are 64 fighters in each gender and 16 in each weight category who compete in a straight knockout tournament with the final two playing for gold and silver.

All fighters who lose to one of the two finalists enter another tournament to earn a chance to play the defeated semi-finalists for one of the two bronze medals.