Taekwondo - what is it? Short description and history

Among the martial arts, most masters consider Taekwondo to be the most effective. What is Taekwondo, what are the history and subtleties of this method of fighting, described in the article.

Description

Taekwondo is a martial art without the use of weapons. His homeland is Korea. The literal translation from Korean means "the way done by bare feet and hands". And the legs have a special role, they are more actively involved in blocks and blows than hands.

When Choi Hong Hee, the one who revived this ancient skill, was asked: "Taekwondo - what is it?", He replied that it is not just a powerful fighting technique without weapons to defeat one or more opponents, it is a cult, a way of life.

The main principles of Korean martial art are high spirituality, conscience, endurance, determination.

History

We already know that what Taekwondo is, what this term means. But few people know that the first mention of hand-to-hand combat, the elements of which are very similar to taekwondo, refers to the 1st century of our era. Images of soldiers found on the imperial tombs of the Kogury dynasty. This period historically refers to the era of the Three States. It was in this period that Korean martial art originated.

The next stage of its development took place during the heyday of the state of Koryo, when for the first time a separate school of taekwondo was allocated, the accumulated knowledge was systematized, and students, mainly soldiers and officers of the active army were organized.

The third period dates back to the time of the existence of the state of Joseon from the 14th century to the Japanese occupation in 1910-1945. During this period, taekwondo was banned, but the teachers nevertheless coached the disciples underground.

The fourth period - since 1945 (liberation from the Japanese occupation) to this day. He revived the traditions of Korean martial arts Choe Hong Hee.

Current state

Today, Korean martial art is the most common form of martial arts, including children's taekwondo. Formed three international organizations, the headquarters in Vienna (Austria), GTF, the office in Toronto (Canada), WTF, the headquarters in Seoul (Korea) - this association is the main, it has 206 branches around the world, has nearly 30 million athletes.

Noteworthy is the fact that the masters make the main bet on the development of martial arts techniques from a scientific point of view. Maybe it was the scientific approach that determined the fact that to date sport of taekwondo is the most powerful kind of single combat, in its arsenal there are a lot of spectacular techniques:

• Breaking a hand of two bricks;
• Breaking with a foot in flight boards, fixed at a height of 3 meters;
• Kick in flight through 11 people in line;
• Knocking out successively two goals with a foot in the jump (this is one of the most difficult tricks);
• Knocking out a rider from the saddle of a horse (another super task for masters of sports).

Competition

Taekwondo has been part of the Olympic Games since 2000 . In the competitions men and women participate in the categories of super light weight, light, medium and heavy weight.

From 2000 to 2012, most of all the awards were taken by Korea - 10 gold medals, 2 silver and bronze medals.

The second place was shared by China, the United States and Taiwan. They collected only 8 medals, of which Chinese athletes - 5 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, American fighters - 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals, Taiwanese participants, respectively, 2 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze medals.

Mexico, Turkey and France took six medals. Russian athletes were able to earn only 3 medals, and they did not take any gold.

Taekwondo Belt System

As in other martial arts, the level of the athlete's skill is determined by the belt system. The school of taekwondo has 10 levels (kyp) of colored belts. Starting from the 10th level - white, white-yellow, yellow, yellow-green, green, green-blue, blue, blue-red, red and 1st red-chested - shows the highest level of skill in this category.

The next level after color is black belts, which correspond to 9 dan. Athletes under the age of 15 do not have the right to wear a black belt. A new dan is awarded, including for the amount of hours worked.

Dress

During training and competition as a kind of sportswear a kimono is used. For taekwondo, there are 3 of its kind, depending on belonging to the world school:

• ITF - students wear a jacket with velcro smell. The kimono is trimmed from below with a black edging. Material - cotton or mixed fabric. On the back, chest and trousers is embroidered ITF. Belt tie in 1 turn.
• GTF - athletes wear the same kimono for taekwondo, like ITF participants, only the edging is colored, and the emblem on the jacket with its abbreviation.
• WTF - in the complete set of the sports form there is a jacket of one-piece cut in the form of a rasp, which can be white, black or black-red. Bottom on the back and front of the jacket embroidered WTF. The belt is fastened for 2 turns.

Fighting Techniques

Taekwondo - what is it? This is a well-known worldwide martial art. The combat technique consists of a number of elements - 12 racks, 19 blocks, 13 kinds of punches, 25 kinds of kicks (frontal, lateral, scissors, with a step, slope, circular and others), can be used with open hand, fingers and Other.

One of the unique techniques of taekwondo is tkhil. It represents multiple repetitions of one movement. It is done in a concentrated manner, is associated with proper breathing, a kind of practice of meditation. As a result, working out the techniques goes to the unconscious level, the body works independently, reflexively reacting to enemy attacks.