Taekwondo, Tae Kwon Do or Taekwon-Do is a Korean martial art, characterized by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques.
World Taekwondo, called the World Taekwondo Federation until June 2017, is the international federation governing the sport of taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF). The body was renamed in June 2017 to avoid the "negative connotations" of the previously used initials WTF. World Taekwondo was established on May 28, 1973 at its inaugural meeting held at the Kukkiwon with participation of 35 representatives from around the world. There are now 208 member nations. Since 2004, Choue Chung-won has been the president of World Taekwondo, succeeding the first president, Kim Un-yong. On July 17, 1980 the International Olympic Committee recognized World Taekwondo at its 83rd Session in Moscow, Soviet Union. First, Taekwondo was adopted as a demonstration sport of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea; later, on September 4, 1994 Taekwondo was adopted as an official Sport of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games at the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, France. According to World Taekwondo,
Taekwondo is one of the most systematic and scientific Korean traditional martial arts, that teaches more than physical fighting skills. It is a discipline that shows ways of enhancing our spirit and life through training our body and mind. Today, it has become a global sport that has gained an international reputation, and stands among the official games in the Olympics.
The Kiribati national football team is the national men's football team of Kiribati and is controlled by the Kiribati Islands Football Association. Kiribati is not a member of FIFA but is an associate member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and is therefore not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup but may enter the OFC Nations Cup. It became a provisional member of the N.F.-Board on 10 December 2005.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often referred to informally as "Nationals". Medals are awarded in four disciplines: men's (boys') singles, ladies' (girls') singles, pair skating, and ice dancing in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth) on five levels, senior, junior, novice, intermediate, and juvenile. The event is also used to determine the U.S. teams for the World Championships, World Junior Championships, Four Continents Championships, and Winter Olympics, however, U.S. Figure Skating reserves the right to consider other results.
The Pacific Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympic Games, with participation exclusively from countries around the Pacific Ocean. It is held every four years and began in 1963.
The XIV Bolivarian Games were a multi-sport event held between September 7–16, 2001, in Ambato, Ecuador. Some events took place in Guayaquil and in Quito. The Games were organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO).
Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics made its first appearance as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison. Taekwondo was again a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Taekwondo became a full medal sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and has been a sport in the Olympic games since then.
Association football has been regularly included in the Pacific Games, the multi-sports event for Pacific nations, territories and dependencies, since 1963. Until 2011 the competition was known as the South Pacific Games.
The 1998 Asian Games was a multi-sport event held in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to December 20, 1998. A total of 6,544 athletes from 41 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in these games, competing in 376 events in 36 sports. This edition of the Games marked the addition of three sports—squash, rugby union and cue sports—to the list of Asian Games sports; squash was included after seven years of lobbying by the Asian Squash Federation.
Croatia competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Taekwondo competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto was held from July 19 to 22 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. Due to naming rights the arena will be known as the latter for the duration of the games. A total of eight taekwondo events were held: four each for men and women.
Rugby union at the Pacific Games has been contested since 1963 when included as one of ten sports at the first games held in Suva, Fiji. Rugby sevens is the form of rugby now played at the Pacific Games, with men's and women's tournaments included in the current schedule. The women's competition was added for the first time at the 2011 Pacific Games held in Nouméa.
The 1999 South Pacific Games, held in Guam from 29 May to 12 June 1999, was the eleventh edition of the South Pacific Games.
Netball at the Pacific Games has been played by women's netball teams from Pacific nations since 1963. It is the oldest Oceania regional tournament.
Golf at the Pacific Games has been contested since 1969 when the sport was included as one of fifteen sports at the Third South Pacific Games held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Men's and women's tournaments are contested by teams of four golfers per country, and medals are awarded for individual and team winners. Golf has also been included in many of the Pacific Mini Games, starting with the second edition held at Rarotonga in 1985.
Archery at the Pacific Games was first contested at the 1971 games at Papeete. It has also been included in the Pacific Mini Games, firstly at Norfolk Island in 2001 and then Port Vila in 2017.
Taekwondo at the Pacific Games has been contested since 1995 when it was introduced for the tenth edition at Papeete, Tahiti. Women's taekwondo was added in 1999 for the games held in Guam.
Taekwondo at the 2019 Pacific Games was held on 16–18 July 2019 in Apia, Samoa.
