Was the Olympics the right direction for TKD?

[bushido_man96]

I can't say it's all bad, but I wish there would have been more of a focus on the whole Art.

This may change in the future. One of the ITFs is in discussions with the WTF looking to bring some sort of form event to the Olympics. Its a long way off but maybe it could happen.

It is really going to be up to these two organizations to decide to bring more back to TKD than the Olympics can offer. There is no doubt that the drive for the Olympics produces some great athletes. However, there can be great Martial Artists who are not cut out for the Olympics as well.

[GOM]

I doubt the forms will be in the Olympics, as only TKD practitioners would find it interesting. The wider audience would be more interested in the sparring.

[IcemanSK]

I can't say it's all bad, but I wish there would have been more of a focus on the whole Art.

This may change in the future. One of the ITFs is in discussions with the WTF looking to bring some sort of form event to the Olympics. Its a long way off but maybe it could happen.

I also see a change in the addition of World Poomsae Championships (WTF). Perhaps things are starting to move in a better direction.

[NightOwl]

I can't say it's all bad, but I wish there would have been more of a focus on the whole Art.

This may change in the future. One of the ITFs is in discussions with the WTF looking to bring some sort of form event to the Olympics. Its a long way off but maybe it could happen.

It is really going to be up to these two organizations to decide to bring more back to TKD than the Olympics can offer. There is no doubt that the drive for the Olympics produces some great athletes. However, there can be great Martial Artists who are not cut out for the Olympics as well.

The problem that both orgs generally have the same goals towards gaining world recognition. I usually am the last person to say that a martial art is not for real because it has a competitive element and therefore is only a 'spot'. Actually the opposite is usually true. However TKD is turning away from being a martial sport into being a sport sport. In its home country (from what I have heard, I have not been there yet), TKD is taken up like kids take up soccer in the states. A black belt is no big deal as so many people have one, and very young kid BBs and watered down training is hardly a rare sight (some say it is worse than in the US). Are there gyms that have great training? Of course. But if the attitude about TKD training is no better or worse in Korea, you can bet that same attitude is going to be present in a lot of TKD circles all over the world. The Olympics are a huge political event (sports are just a small part of it), and to have your country be considered the best in an event is huge. Look what China did with kung fu- they banned any sanshou for a long time, and tweaked the forms for aesthetics and acrobatics so far that they no longer represented anything you would fight with so that they could create an Olympic sport (currently you'd be better finding kung fu outside of China than in it). The drive to make TKD a major Olympic event has had many negative impacts, and until a kyokushin mentality like subgroup becomes mainstream, it probably won't be getting any better. As for ATA- it is in close association with the WTF and has many of the same objectives. Plus the high belt charges...

[bushido_man96]

I am not familiar with any ATA - WTF relations. I have been out for a while, though. I don't know how many different TKD schools you have been to, but your pereception may be based soley on what you see as far as the internet and Olympic TV goes. I think you are generalizing TKD quite a bit. But, that is just my opinion.

[IcemanSK]

Sadly, the issue isn't like the arguement with, say gymnastics. In gymnastics, all of the same aspects that they teach to kids at the local center are there at the Olympic level. (Albeit at a much higher level in the Olympics). It's not like it only shows one part of the sport on that world stage. In Olympic TKD, they only has the one part, not the other parts that make whole Art.

So, in TKD, students want to "buy" what they see on TV. But they "have to" learn other things that don't resemble what they see on tv much at all.

[NightOwl]

I am not familiar with any ATA - WTF relations. I have been out for a while, though. I don't know how many different TKD schools you have been to, but your pereception may be based soley on what you see as far as the internet and Olympic TV goes. I think you are generalizing TKD quite a bit. But, that is just my opinion.

Oregon is the land of TKD schools- they outnumber Starbucks here . That and what I know from my Korean friends.

[yingampyang]

I didn't like the fact that TKD has been put into the olympics , but i also dont really care , because i wont be going in no olympics anytime soon.

[DWx]

I didn't like the fact that TKD has been put into the olympics , but i also dont really care , because i wont be going in no olympics anytime soon.

You might not be going to the Olympics but it will most likely impact on you in some way. I don't even train the same style as the Olympics but when explaining Taekwondo to my friends, all they know is Olympic style. In fact the only reason they know of TKD at all is because of the Olympics. Also I think that because of its status as an Olympic sport TKD is often viewed as a sport compared to being a Martial Art in itself. Its sort of replaced the pop-Karate of last century and now we have pop-TKD in the form of McDojos.

[yingampyang]

Yes it has, and i dont think its right. I dont believe in placeing martial arts in the olympis.