Jade Jones leads a five-strong British taekwondo team at the Tokyo Olympics, but how does the sport work and what are our chances of success? <\/p>
Taekwondo is one of those sports that suddenly piques the country\u2019s interest when the Olympics come around.<\/p>\n
So every four years we find ourselves googling \u201cTaekwondo clubs in my area\u201d and then realise we\u2019re better off watching the stars on TV.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good sport to follow if you like to watch Brits winning medals, as Jade Jones aims for her third gold in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
RadioTimes.com<\/a> brings you up to speed with everything you need to know about taekwondo at the Olympics 2020<\/a> in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.<\/p>\n Taekwondo runs between Saturday 24th July<\/strong> until Tuesday 27th July<\/strong>.<\/p>\n All four days will feature medal finals with Team GB superstar Jade Jones in action on Sunday 25th July.<\/p>\n Check out our guide on how to watch Olympics 2020<\/a> or see Olympics on TV today<\/a> for more details, timings, and exclusive expert analysis from some of the biggest names in world sport over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Sir Chris Hoy, Beth Tweddle, Rebecca Adlington, Matthew Pinsent and Dame Jess Ennis-Hill are among the stars we have to being their esteemed opinions, so don\u2019t miss what they have to say.<\/p>\n Taekwondo is a competitive South Korean martial art, which was first introduced at the Seoul Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1988, then again in 1992. It was made a full medal sport in 2000 when the Games took place in Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n According to British Taekwondo\u2019s website<\/a>, taekwondo literally translates as \u201cthe way of the foot and the fist.\u00a0\u2018Tae\u2019 means to break or attack with the foot, \u2018kwon\u2019 means to break with the fist and \u2018do\u2019 translates as the art or way.\u201d<\/p>\n The sport is notable for its powerful kicks at head-height. A contest comprises of three rounds, each lasting two minutes and judging officials award points to the fighters, much like in boxing.<\/p>\n The taekwondo events are split into weight divisions, with men and women competing in four different categories.<\/p>\n Only sparring is contested, while other elements of taekwondo do not form part of the Olympic competition.<\/p>\n There are medals\u00a0to be won in:<\/p>\n Flyweight <\/strong>(58kg for men, up to 49kg for women)<\/p>\n Featherweight <\/strong>(68kg for men, 57kg for women)<\/p>\n Welterweight<\/strong> (80kg for men, 67kg for women)<\/p>\n Heavyweight <\/strong>(over 80kg for men, over 67kg for women)<\/p> If you\u2019ve watched Olympic taekwondo, before it\u2019s probably thanks to the brilliant Welsh fighter Jade Jones<\/strong>, who won gold at both London 2012 and Rio 2016 in the featherweight category. Jones will defend her title in Tokyo, and leads a five-strong team of British athletes.<\/p>\n Heavyweight fighter\u00a0Bianca Walkden<\/strong> is a three-time world champion from Liverpool, who won bronze in Rio, while Mahama Cho<\/strong> is looking for a medal after finishing fourth in her category at the 2016 Games.<\/p>\n Doncaster\u2019s Bradly Sinden<\/strong> is a rising star who will make his Olympic debut in Tokyo after becoming Britain\u2019s first ever male world champion in 2019. Meanwhile, former kickboxer\u00a0Lauren Williams<\/strong> is excited to compete in the welterweight category, having been a reserve in Rio.<\/p>\n This is the biggest British taekwondo team that has ever qualified for the Games, and\u00a0GB Taekwondo Performance Director, Gary Hall says: \u201cIt is an incredibly strong and experienced squad, we\u2019ve prepared the best we can and will be as best equipped as we can be.\u201d Sounds promising!<\/p>\n Radio Times Olympics Special issue<\/a> is on sale now.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for something else to watch check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our\u00a0Sport<\/a>\u00a0hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jade Jones leads a five-strong British taekwondo team at the Tokyo Olympics, but how does the sport work and what are our chances of success? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2087,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/taekwondo-at-the-olympics-gb-team-rules-events.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Jade Jones leads a five-strong British taekwondo team at the Tokyo Olympics, but how does the sport work and what are our chances of success?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/2086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When is taekwondo at the Olympics?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What is taekwondo?<\/h2>\n
What are the types of taekwondo competition at the Olympics?<\/h2>\n
Which Team GB athletes will compete in Olympic taekwondo?<\/h2>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"