Many of Canada’s top Taekwondo athletes are preparing for a battle on home soil. The 2008 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships (CTC) will be the first international tournament to be held in Canada since the World Championships in 1999.

In 2006 Canadian players made the long trip to Australia for the last CTC. This time, it will be the Australians, the English, the Jamaicans, and players from nearly 20 other Commonwealth Nations who will be making the trip to Winnipeg. The event is being organized by members of various Taekwondo schools in Manitoba, and is sanctioned by Taekwondo Canada and the Commonwealth Taekwondo…

Canada dominated at the 2008 Pan American Taekwondo Championships held in Caguas Puerto Rico in early October. The Female Team ranked first (as they did at the last Championships), and the Men’s Team placed third. As a whole, the Team ranked first overall.

Canadian Pan Am Championships Team

The most notable performance was provided by Ontario’s Melissa Pagnotta, who not only won gold in her…

Sergerie fights Australia’s Tina Morgan (photo: Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Karine Sergerie has once again advanced the limits of Canadian Taekwondo by winning the first Olympic silver medal in the sport. This is only Canada’s second Olympic medal, the first being won by Dominique Bosshart at the 2000 Syndney games.

Karine Sergerie fought her way to Canada’s best-ever finish in taekwondo at the Olympic Games, winning silver in the 67-kilogram event on Day 14 of competition in Beijing.

The 23-year-old from Ste-Catherine, Que., lost a close gold-medal bout to the defending and reigning world champion, South Korea’s Kyungseon Hwang… Full article: cbc.ca

» Quarterfinal match
» Final…

Michaud wins his first match against Puerto Rico (photo: Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press

Canadian medal hopeful Sebastien Michaud was eliminated from taekwondo competition Friday after he dropped his quarter-final match by a judge’s decision.

Azerbaijan’s Rashad Ahmadov won the quarter-final match at under-80 kg by superiority… Full article: cbc.ca

» Preliminary match
» Beijing Olymipcs Photos

Ivett Gonda (photo: The Canadian Press)

After losing her first taekwondo bout of the Beijing Games, a protest was launched on behalf of Canadian medal hopeful Ivett Gonda because of what she and her coach perceived to be unfair judging.

The Canadians believe Gonda’s kicks were not properly rewarded in her 2-0 first-round loss to Hanna Zajc of Sweden… Full article: cbc.ca

» Video: Gonda vs. Hanna Zajc
» TSN article
» Beijing Olymipcs Photos

As Canada sits in a ten-way tie for 17^th place in the Olympic medal count, some of our most promising athletes have yet to take stage. Could Taekwondo be the sport that fulfills the Canadian Olympic Committee’s top-16 goal?

Karine Sergerie

If Sports Illustrated predictions are right, that’s exactly what we’ll see. The popular magazine predicts 15 total medals for Canada, an estimate derived from examining every athletes’ international performances. It should be noted that all three Taekwondo Team members made the list. If this prediction holds true, then Taekwondo’s team of three — less than 1 percent of all Canadian Olympians — will…

With only eight days of training to go the Canadian Olympic Taekwondo team is approaching peak condition in Busan, South Korea. The team attended the Opening Ceremonies on August 8, then immediately retreated to Busan for the primary purpose of escaping the commotion and distractions within the Athlete Village.

Sergerie and Michaud training in Busan (photo: Dr. Terry DeFreitas)

Gonda and sparring partner (photo: Dr. Terry DeFreitas)

Two Korean girls who were earlier scouted for their talent have been the main sparring partners for Karine Sergerie and Ivett Gonda. Sébastien Michaud is training with Middleweight Canadian Champion François Coulombe-Fortier. In addition to providing…

The Canadian Hanmadang Team is now competing in the 2008 Hanmadang Games which run from July 16-20 in Anaheim California. The Hanmadang encompases several non-combat aspects of Taekwondo; in a sense, it’s the Olympics for the martial art stream of Taekwondo. Events include poomsae (patterns), hoshinsool (self-defense), and kyukpa (breaking), each of which has a video explanation on the official site.

This is the first Hanmadang in 17 years to be held outside of Korea, a decision intended to make the event more accessible to American competitors according to the hosting United States Taekwondo Federation (USTF). This is also the first…

A new video study has found that the red player may receive favourable scoring by the corner referees.

42 Taekwondo referees were asked to score various clips of sparring video. Even when the colour of chest protectors and helmets were digitally switched, red came out with 13 percent more points, although their performances were identical.

This adds to existing research which shows red clothing positively impacts an athlete’s performance even when they’re not being judged. This is attributed to an association between the colour red and dominance and/or aggression.

So should we be fighting to wear the red hogu at tournaments? In…