Taekwondo at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
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Competitors | 128 |
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Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. It was the second time that the sport was included in the Olympic program; it would become an official sport eight years later at the 2000 Games. A total of 64 men and 64 women competed in eight different weight classes. Each event featured a single-elimination tournament to determine the winner.
The head coach for the U.S. Olympic Taekwondo team was the renowned Dong Keun Park, former member of the Korean National Team from 1960 through 1966. He Captained this team for five years, and has been inducted into every Taekwondo Hall of Fame as the Greatest Fighter of his Era. He was undefeated in his lifetime, which included more than 200 competitions with multiple bouts in each as a National team member.
Grandmaster Dong Keun Park was the winningest coach from any nation in any sport at the 1992 Barcelona games, with 13 of 16 USA Taekwondo athletes medaling. He is a ninth degree black belt Senior Grandmaster of the Jido Kwan lineage, and is still actively teaching and coaching at his Jersey City, NJ dojang.