There seems to be some concern as to TKD being a once only olympic medal sport. As an extract from the Editorial puts it.

FIRST CONSIDERATION FOR TAEKWONDO DEVELOPMENT

Observance of the related rules is not thoroughly made by the Organizing Committee of international events. Success of an event depends on management of a competition in strict accordance with the rules in close cooperation between the Organizing Committee and the Technical Delegate dispatched by the International Federation

157 member nations of the WTF have showed a great concern for Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 in which Taekwondo will participate in the Olympics as an official program for the first time in the history of Taekwondo. The standard of Taekwondo competition can be improved by the concerted effort of all member national associations. We all hope Taekwondo to continue to be an official sport of the future Olympic Games after the year 2000. For that purpose, organization and management of small and big competitions should be strictly controlled and continuous researches on publicity and marketing as well as related rules should be made.

In 1999, the 14th World Taekwondo Championships and the 7th Women`s World Taekwondo Championships as well as Taekwondo qualification tournament for Sydney Olympic Games will take place. Strict observance of the rules set by the IF, that is the first and the most important task to be solved in order to make Taekwondo a real global sport which promotes peace of humankind.

What no blood?

Competition Manager of Taekwondo for Sydney Olympic Games Michael Whang notified the WTF of the ticket prices and the training site of Taekwondo competition in late August. Details are as follows:

* Training Site (TS) schedule & trans

TS will operate from 2nd to 29th September 2000. Participating NOCs will be able to book before coming to Sydney. Details of this operation is yet to be determined. TS for Taekwondo is St Patrick's College, Strathfield. TS has 4 courts, warm up and warm down areas. Training bus frequency is 60 minutes for all.

* AM weigh-in

Buses to depart SSC at 7:35 and 8:15. It is anticipated that most if not all make their weight, therefore, most of them should be ready to board the first bus.

* Competition

Please note the new session times:

Preliminary 9:00 - 12:15
Prelim cont. and Repechage 15:00 - 18:00
Repechage cont. and Gold matches 20:30 - 23:00

Taekwondo Australia finally recognised by WTF and AOC - Mr Yong Dai Cho - President

Finally the issue of Taekwondo Australia Inc's recognition as the peak National sporting organisation for Taekwondo within Australia has been resolved.  The Australia Olympic Committee has recently announced that Taekwondo Australia will be recognised by by the WTF, the AOC and the Australian Sports Commission as the the National sports organisation controlling Taekwondo in Australia.

Yes I'm sure Australasian Taekwondo received this press release as the paragraphs come directly out of this news lette

The essential elements of the Agreement with the AOC, WTF and ASC are:

• Taekwondo Australia becomes the WTF's affiliate and member of the AOC and the only recognised Taekwondo organisation within Australia
• The WTF confers upon Taekwondo Australia category "A" status which in effect means Kukkiwon applications need to be signed off by the National Association and no Kukkiwon certificates will be issued in Australia by the WTF unless those applications have come through Taekwondo Australia.  WTF has given a commitment to reduce the Kukkiwon fees.
• Three members of TKD Australia Taekwondo Inc (TKD) will be invited to take up positions on the Executive Council and those 3 nominees will be in addition to the 15 member Executive Council which currently exists.  Those 3 positions will be appointed.
• In consideration of being offered 3 executive council positions, TKD will be wound up as an organisation, as will its State Divisions and any other companies or bodies affiliated to it.  From the signing of the agreement, TKD will cease to exist.
• With the winding up of TKD, its members will be invited to join Taekwondo Australia

Past uncertainty surrounding our recognition resulted in many instructors failing to purchase grading books, certificates, badges etc from our organisation.  This was also the case with respect to the national registration scheme introduced for all students, which included an insurance component.  Now the we have recognition our future is secure and I call upon all instructors to fully support our organisation by the purchase of grading books,badges and other merchandise as well as registering their their students as part of the new National Registration Scheme which the the council has now introduced.  Details of the National Registration Scheme are provided in another article in the Newsletter.  With the support of all our members our organisation will continue to grow.  Members must remember that Taekwondo Australia Inc is a non profit organisation and all our resources, including financial resources, are devoted towards benefiting our members and their students and supporting our elite athletes as well as promoting our sport generally.

I'm sure we will be hearing more over the next year if not the next few months.

If you catch it on TV, watch out for flying teeth.  The WTF rule book says that competitors must hit their opponent so hard that their body is "abruptly displaced" or "staggered" by the blow.  Referees must start the count "after a powerful blow accompanied by a dangerous impact", and are warned to watch out for players losing consciousness, suffering severe injury or being "incapacitated".  Nobody in Olympic circles can explain to me how this licensed brutality melds with the peaceful image of the Olympics.

Want to read more? then read this bitchy article.

ARTICLES - added some links and gave it a little face lift.

WTF & ITF forms from Purdue Jido Kwan Homepage - Semi Graphical / text - WTF and ITF Forms

A Little Korean Terminology also from Purdue Jido Kwan Homepage

Direct link to the Stretching FAQ by Brad Appleton

Sport - WTF COMPETION RULES Includes proper weight divisionsfor WTF competion and Olympic Competition

Front Page - with new redirect URL - http://members.xoom.com/tkdaustralia/

Links - checked some URLs and removed some old ones.

The Tournament this year to me was quite sucessful, The were over 30 more competitors than last year and the event was run over the same period of time. I'll have the full review then The Wyllie Tae Kwon Do news letter comes out.

I'm not up to date with Tae Kwon Do Politics in Australia and and I usually choose to keep out of it. One of the reasons is because there are so many TKD governing bodies that claim to be the proper authorised body. I'm dreading what I'm about to do next, which is to actually find out wht's happening with the current situation in Australia, after all Australia is hosting that most important event in Tae Kwon Do's History as a sport in the Sydney 2000 olympic games. Will Tae Kwon Do survive? After all another Martial Art Judo loss it's popularity becomming an olympic sport. There are so many govering bodies in Australia that the last governing body that I remember that was the nationally affiliated WTF governing body for Australia had a name of "TKD Australian Tae Kwon Do Incorporated". Why have TKD and Tae Kwon Do in the same name? The reason is that there are only so many ways the words TKD and Tae Kwon Do can be arranged and most of them have been registed. I'll get off my high horse now and start with Tae Kwon Do Australia INC.

Australia's National WTF Body for Olympic Taekwondo

Taekwondo Australia Inc is recognised by the World Taekwondo Federation and the Australian Sports Commission's Olympic Athlete Program as the National Body for sports Taekwondo in Australia.  Taekwondo Australia Inc has over 30,000 members Australia wide. 

Taekwondo Australia Inc is a non-profit body committed to the development of our Australian Taekwondo athletes, encouraging Taekwondo as both a high performance sport and a sport for all.   We are committed to providing our atheletes with the best possible opportunity to reach their highest potential and represent Australia with distinction in first class international events and ultimately the Sydney 200 Olympics

TAEKWONDO AUSTRALIA INC has also put up a News Letter on the Olympics. I've put up a little taste of what you can expect to see.

The Taekwondo Competition will be held over four days commencing on the 27th September (Days 12-15).  Session one will commence at 9:00 am with three sessions running daily.  The format of the competition will be a single elimination system with double reechage for bronze.  It will showcase 100 competitiors who will have qualified to compete in the Olympics by either competing in World or Regional Selection Tournaments.  Each session is expected tp last for approximately three hours, so we can expect four action packed days which will provide some of the best Taekwondo that has ever been seen.

Progress  There are only 120 weeks to go until the commencement of the games.  Taekwondo will be staged at the State Sports Centre in the heart of the Sydney Olympic park.  The field of play will consist of a single court on a podium.   There will be also four warm-up courts available for the contestants.   Currently, planning is underway to convert this facility into an Olympic venue.

St Patrick's College, Strathfield, will be used as the Training Site.  This venue will operate from the 2nd to 29th September 2000.  There will be four training courts, warm up and warm down areas.   Identical scales to the ones used for the official weigh in will be available at the Training Site.

The event that will be used to test our organisation and venue preparation will be the WTF International Invitation which will be held at the Olympic Venue from 4th to 5th December 1995.

On the Same link theres some information about TKD volunteers for the Sydney 2000 Games.

Taekwondo Volunteers Do you want to be part of the the year 2000 Olympic Games? The sport of Taekwondo needs dedicated workers who have a sound knowledge of the sport and are willing to volunteer their services for the Olympic Games and the Test Event.  Volunteer positions will require a minimum of a four-week commitment for the Olympic games which includes essential training requirements.  For information on how to volunteer, call 136 363 or see the the sogog web site at www.sydney.olympic.org.

Other interesting information is about Ticket prices for TKD events

Ticketing  Ticket prices for Taekwondo are: Preliminary/Repechage sessions - $45 and Final sessions $80.  There is certain to be a number of tickets available through Taekwondo Australia Inc.

You can read the rest Here

Wyllie TKD Updated the Wyllie Tae Kwon Do Logo to Colour.