The Disgrace of Taekwondo
Taekwondo is one of the most beautiful martial arts in the world. It is a Korean martial art, which has gained a lot of practitioners in recent years.
And rightfully so; it’s a highly technical, beautiful yet effective and ‘heavy’ fight sport.
Sadly, however, the sport has been disgraced tremendously by the Olympic Games in Beijing. The reason for this disgrace is not that the event was hosted in China. No, it is an internal problem.
The referees are horrendous. They don’t count point they should count, and they sometimes award points that are not points at all. As a result, some who deserved to win lost during this year’s event and others who did not deserve to win qualified for the next round.
Athletes are complaining about the quality of the referees, and rightfully so.
If the referees do not get their act together immediately, Taekwondo may very well lose its Olympic status, and that after only eight years, and thus three tournaments. That would be a shame; it truly is one of the best events of the Olympic Games.
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I disagree, I think it would be good if Taekwondo lost it’s Olympic status. I say this as a black belt and naturally lover of the traditional martial ART that is Taekwondo.
I can barely watch Olympic Taekwondo tournaments. The beautiful, graceful and effective martial art that I so love has utterly lost it’s soul by becoming a mere sport. It makes me scream to see two capable black belts facing each other with their arms hanging loosely at their sides, no guard up. It makes me shout at the TV to see them end up at very close range, but not throw a single punch, because no points are given for them.
Olympic Taekwondo has become a simple sport, albeit a violent one like boxing. Maybe some people enjoy it, but as someone who has practiced the full martial art it seems like a broken shell of it’s former self. Martial arts, properly practiced, are about both strength and beauty, speed and grace. There is a spirituality, a stillness of mind that comes from practicing them, that seems entirely lost in the Olympic version.
Interesting, I wouldn’t know, I’m only yellow belt.