The Olympics are right around the corner, are you paying attention? The school I grew up in did not participate in Olympic style contests much. There were 14 or so schools in the organization, and some of them would Olympic style spar but for the most part all our sport guys were either ITF’ers or Hybrids. Some of them were quite amazing; I know I sparred with the current gold medalist’s guys a couple of times. We always had someone going to nationals but our focus was ITF I suppose.
(Terrence Jennings reacts after defeating Mark Lopez in their U.S. Olympic Team Trials taekwondo match on March 10.) Borrowed from the great article below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/london-2012-olympics-terrence-jennings-of-alexandria-va-earns-spot-on-us-taekwondo-team/2012/04/02/gIQAQfb6qS_story.html
(Cont.)
I don’t really like the style of Olympic sparing but I very much understand and admire certain skill the participants have. The speed, agility, timing and the ferocity of the moves they utilize are quite impressive. All of those things are good and what they do can be really impressive but too much of it wears me out. It does not champion the true essence of Taekwondo.
However, with that being said, I am going to try to follow the TKD Olympics this year. I will try and put up links to make it easy to understand. Keep in mind, my lack of enthusiasm about the Lopez is in no way a reflection of my love for my country. But I also would like to understand more about the competitors worldwide. I only know so many countries so I will search out the teams I can think of and post their videos, if they have any, but I will also keep my eye out for a list of country participants.
Starting Point: The Schedule
http://www.london2012.com/games/sport-competition-schedules/olympic-sport-competition-schedule.php?sport=Taekwondo&venue=&date=&Search.x=41&Search.y=14
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Kick above the belt.