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Will
Korea dominate their native art ? Judo
has been the only Martial Art in the Olympics for a long time but
this year it shares the spotlight with another great Martial Art.
Although their roots may be similar that is where the similarity
ends they are both very different art forms but equaly exciting
to watch. To find out more of the two styles look them up on the
Different Styles Pages The
Korean sport Taekwondo, which like the Games is 2,000 years old,
made its Olympic debut as a demonstration event at Seoul in 1988
and was back at Barcelona in 1992. In Sydney, South Korea is banking
on Taekwondo to help boost the country's gold medal tally into the
world's top 10. Three - 3 minute rounds with a 1 minute breather
in between to decide who goes through into the finals and the medals.
Points are scored with clean hits to target areas, although clenched
fist strikes are not allowed to the face. Korea (South Korea) still
dominates the sport, but with the amazing growth in popularity of
the sport, European and other Asian countries are ready to compete.There
are four golds each for the men and women in different weight catorories
and the Koreans are looking to take most of those, just as the Japanese
have taken many of the medals in their native art Judo. Among the
top Taekwondo challengers to Korean men at the 1999 World Championships
were Iran and Turkey. The Korean women just held off the challenge
of Chinese. So they will have to be on top form to show the world
that Taekwondo is first and formost their sport.
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