Taekwondo competition
Taekwondo competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London was held from 8 August to 11 August at the ExCeL London. Competition was held in eight weight categories; four for men, and four for women.
Qualification.
The Taekwondo competition at the 2012 Games included 128 athletes, 64 in each gender, 16 in each of the eight weight divisions. Each competing nations were allowed to enter a maximum of four competitors, two of each gender. Each nation would therefore be eligible to compete in a maximum of half the weight categories.
Four places were reserved for Great Britain as host nation, and a further four was invitational as decided by the Tripartite Commission. The remaining 120 places were allocated through a qualification process, in which athletes won quota places for their respective nation.
If a nation which qualified through a Qualification Tournament relinquishes a quota place, it would be allocated to the nation of the next highest placed athlete in the respective weight category of that tournament as long as the addition of the place does not exceed the maximum quota for that nation.
Medal summary.
Due to the increasing controversies happened in the previous Olympics Taekwondo which led to speculations that this competition might be removed from the Olympic program, the World Taekwondo Federation introduced new electronic scoring system and instant video replays in anticipation to make the competition more transparent and fair. The distinction of Taekwondo at these Olympic Games was that this was the first time in the sport that eight gold medals were awarded to eight different NOCs. Europe took the lead and South Korea lost its dominance. The 2012 Olympics was the second time that South Korea, failed to have the best medal record in Taekwondo. Steven López, Alexandros Nikolaidis and Sarah Stevenson, the only three legends who participated in each of the three previous Olympics, were all eliminated in the preliminary round. Lee In Jong and Cha Dong-Min became the first two Korean Taekwondo practitioners who could not secure any medals in the Olympics Taekwondo history. Rohullah Nikpai of Afghanistan defended his previous bronze medalist standing. Anthony Obame originated Gabon's Olympic medalist history in the sport.
Flag bearers.
Eleven taekwondo athletes were flag bearers during the Parade of Nations:
In addition, Sarah Stevenson, representing the host nation, Great Britain, took the athlete's oath at the opening ceremony.
Participating nations.
A total of 128 athletes from 63 nations competed in taekwondo at the London Games. Only six nations brought four athletes: Egypt, Great Britain, Korea, Mexico, Russia, and the United States.
Controversy.
British taekwondo practitioner Aaron Cook was involved in controversy relating to selection for the games. Although ranked number one in the world, Great Britain decided to send Lutalo Muhammad, ranked 59th. Cook appealed the omission claiming that he was overlooked because he stepped outside of Britain's training program and found his own coach, but the World Taekwondo Federation found that no rules were broken during the selection process.
References.
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External links.
 Media related to at Wikimedia Commons