Chapter 27: Road to Olympics

On September 17-20, 1988, Taekwondo was a demonstration sport in the 24th Olympiad, with 192 players from 25 nations (male) and 16 nations (female). On August 14-17, 1991, Taekwondo was included in the 11th Pan-American Games held in Havana, Cuba. On August 3-5, 1992, Taekwondo was a demonstration sport in the 25th Olympiad, in Barcelona, Spain.

In 1986, Taekwondo was adopted as an official event by the All Africa Games and the by Federation International du Sport Universitaire. On September 4, 1994 in Paris, the 103rd Session of the IOC adopted Taekwondo as an official Olympic sport for the 27th Olympiad  in 2000 in Sydney, Australia at the Sydney Exhibition Center, in Darling Harbor.

Taekwondo has consolidated its position in world sports faster than any other martial art sport. It is contested in the World and Women's World Championships, World Cup Taekwondo, CISM Taekwondo Championships, and in the FISU World University Championships. It is now played as an official medal sport in most international multi-sport games such as World Games, Pan American Games, All Africa Games, Southeast Asian Games, and Central American Games. With the announcement that Taekwondo would be a full medal Olympic sport in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Taekwondo gained worldwide recognition as a sport.

As stated before, the ITF and WTF developed along different lines. One was stayed with traditional Taekwondo while the other led in changing Taekwondo into a worldwide sport.