Interesting Article about Taekwondo in the Korea Times

It seems that the World Taekwondo Federation is trying to make Taekwondo fairer and more interesting to watch. I guess that can be a good idea. A lot of times Taekwondo matches at the Olympics can be quite dreadful to watch.

One thing that the article mentions that I fully support is the use of video playback. Taekwondo is notorious for bad judges decisions, or judges getting bribed, or people just straight up cheating. Hopefully an instant replay could help remedy these things.

The article also went on to talk about how other Martial Arts are trying to jockey positions in order to become Olympic sports, while Taekwondo leaders are trying to cock block them.

The W.T.F. should be more proactive in trying to find solutions to include other martial arts. Taekwondo and Karate are nearly the same. Taekwondo and Karate leaders should try to develop a rules system that is fair to competitors from both arts. Also they should lobby so that a forms competition be added to the Olympics. Like gymnastics there could be creative and traditional forms.

Kung Fu practitioners would definitely have an advantage over Taekwondo and Karate athletes in the "Traditional Forms," category since Kung Fu forms are pretty awesome, but an international commission could be set up to determine which forms are usable. For example, the form Bassai dae, is an international form since the form originated in the Shaolin temple, migrated to Okinawa, and has also been practiced by early Taekwondo people. A form could just be an international form that may not be that traditional, but one that many people already know, like Taekwondo's Koryo.

A creative forms competition could be set up where individuals or teams put together martial routines that showcase their skills. Athletes could also perform traditional forms from their own martial arts, that aren't any of the "select international forms," but would be judged according to a similar criteria that is used for gymnastics or figure skating.

Forms competitions at the Olympics for all martial arts would definitely boost viewership. This would be a change to Olympic martial arts like Taekwondo, Grecko Roman Wrestling, and Judo, where people just kind of stand there for a long time without doing anything.

Anyway, we live in a modern age where with youtube people can learn other martial arts forms. It's also possible to both preserve the traditional while pushing the boundaries. Just because something was made up a thousand years ago doesn't mean that it is any better than something from today. But a system that can accommodate for both traditional and modern is probably possible if people would just put away their own selfish interests in promoting their "own martial art," out of national pride.