ITF/WTF Merger???

[bushido_man96]

The olympics is supposed to be for amateurs rather than proffessionals and is supposed to be open to anyone good enough regardless of background. Perhaps the IOC went for WTF for the money reasons as the individual members don't have to pay?

ITF members could qualify for the Olympics, as long as they pay to become members of the WTF as well. They just have to play by the WTF rules, as far as sparring goes.

Each region of the WTF around the world has it's own regional governing body. The USA is governed by the USTU (or it used to be....they had a political fall out a while back, and I don't remember where it stands right now). The USTU is the United States Taekwondo Union. Essentially, if you are a member of the USTU, you are a member of the WTF, and are certified as a black belt through the Kukkiwon.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

I used to compete against a guy out of Colorado who is a black belt through the ATA. He went to the Colorado state qualifier for the USTU, and qualified for nationals. He trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a while, but is still an ATA black belt. As long as you pay the dues to the governing body of the WTF, then things are all good, I think.

[Ottman]

You can qualify for the Olympic Trials through a number of different events, but if you choose to go and actually expect to go to the Olympics, you have to pay the dues as Bushidoman said.

The USTU is gone now and there are a few different rumors as to why:

-Politics (There were claims that they would only allow USTU members to get to the Olympic Trials and only via USTU events, which the IOC didn't like, as it really only encompassed WTF TKD and there were ways that the USTU was being run that didn't meet IOC standards.)

-Money (There were claims that members of the board (or whatever the USTU higher ups call themselves) were laundering money through the organization and making outrageous expense report claims)

More Politics (There was a rumor that since the USTU was controlled by the Kukkiwon, it ended up being Koreans who were ultimately deciding which American athletes would qualify for the Olympics, which broke IOC regulations so the IOC stepped in and put a stop to it.)

I don't think that any of these rumors were ever substantiated, but these three were the ones I heard the most, and there were others that were even more rediculous. I personally think they just couldn't make ends meet and therefore had to go bankrupt, but who knows what really happened.

[bushido_man96]

I knew that the USTU was having problems. I am not that up to date on it, though. Thanks for sharing, Ottman.

[whitematt]

I used to compete against a guy out of Colorado who is a black belt through the ATA. He went to the Colorado state qualifier for the USTU, and qualified for nationals. He trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for a while, but is still an ATA black belt. As long as you pay the dues to the governing body of the WTF, then things are all good, I think.

ATA out of Colorado? Would that be Jody Horn by chance?

[scad]

i don't see the WTF and ITF merging, i mean ITF is north korean and WTF is south korean. The only reason ITF was started was to run against the WTF. The two federations vary so much, i think it would be hard to find comprimise on many of the differences. i think it would do more harm than it would good

[bushido_man96]

i don't see the WTF and ITF merging, i mean ITF is north korean and WTF is south korean. The only reason ITF was started was to run against the WTF. The two federations vary so much, i think it would be hard to find comprimise on many of the differences. i think it would do more harm than it would good

The ITF was started before the WTF was. The ITF is General Choi's original organization, which might have been called the KTA, the Korean Taekwondo Association.

From the reading I have been doing, it looks like the two organizations are in the process of merging in some aspects. It will be a long process, and we will see if it takes or not.

[frightmaster]

I would see this merger, if it were to happen, as a good thing for us all. Much more techniques qould be opened up for both styles.

[bushido_man96]

I would see this merger, if it were to happen, as a good thing for us all. Much more techniques qould be opened up for both styles.

I think that it would help to alleviate some of the technical differences, but I don't know if that is good or bad.

[frightmaster]

I would think it is up to the practioniers (sp) to alleviate the differences. I am never against learning new things and I can only see this as an oppratunity. Maybe it is my nature to be positive. Who knows. hehe

[stejitsu]

I can see it being good for 'TKD' as a whole but, the big difference is the sparring style

The 'ITF' guys would not want to lose their rights, of punching to the face in sparring.

If this becomes the case as the olympic style 'WTF' uses punches to the body only, then more clubs will form break away groups.