Taekwondo at Paris 2024 Olympics

Jade Jones (right) won taekwondo gold medals for Great Britain in 2012 and 2016

Taekwondo has been on the full Olympic programme since 2000.

Here’s all you need to know about the sport at Paris 2024.

Taekwondo schedule and venue at Paris 2024

Taekwondo is taking place at the Grand Palais in Paris from 7 to 10 August.

Medal matches:

7 August: women’s -49kg, men’s -58kg

8 August: women’s -57kg, men’s -68kg

9 August: women’s -67kg, men’s -80kg

10 August: women’s +67kg, men’s +80kg

Scoring, rules and rounds in taekwondo

Taekwondo is a martial art with roots originating in ancient Korea more than 2,000 years ago.

The idea is simple: kick and punch your opponent as often as possible. (Taekwondo translates as “the art of kicking and punching” in Korean.)

In Paris, matches will be decided in best-of-three-rounds format, with the score resetting at the start of each two-minute round. To win the match, athletes must win two of the three rounds.

Matches take place on an octagonal mat, with points awarded according to the difficulty of the technique.

There are two legal scoring areas – the body (blue or red area of the trunk protector worn by the athletes) and the head. Hits below the waist are not allowed.

There are electronic sensors in the body and head protectors and the socks to pick up kicks. Punches are scored manually by judges, who also decide whether a scoring kick involved a turning motion and is therefore worthy of two additional points.

Strikes can only be delivered using certain parts of the body, for example a kick must be delivered with part of the foot below the ankle.

Points are scored as follows: punch to trunk (one), kick to trunk (two), kick to head (three), turning kick to trunk (four), turning kick to head (five), gam-jeom (penalty - one point to opponent).

If a round is tied, there is a list of criteria to work through to separate athletes, including technical scores and high-value technique points. If they still cannot be separated, the referee and judges will decide the winner.

Athletes can also win a match by knockout (with a 10-second count from the referee) but this is rare.

Who has won the most taekwondo medals at Olympics?

South Korea are the most successful country with 22 medals, including 12 gold.

Great Britain have won nine Olympic medals, including two golds (Jade Jones in 2012 and 2016).