2012 Olympic Taekwondo Thread

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 8:27pm

So, the fights kick off at 4am tomorrow with the women's flyweight preliminaries.

Diana Lopez won't compete until Thursday, in the Womens' Featherweight class. Diana took bronze four years ago in Beijing in a tiebreaker versus Italy's Veronica Calbrese:

Diana Lopez Wins Bronze

Diana's first round fight is against China's Hou Yuzhou. That won't be an easy prelim, as Hou is a two-time world champion.

Diana's draw is not unique. Each of America's four competitors drew a former champion.

Also fighting Thursday in the Mens' Featherweight set is Terence Jennings. His first round draw is against the number one featherweight fighter in the world, Servet Tazegul of Turkey. Tazegul is one of my favorite fighters to watch, a pinnacle of what the sport of Taekwondo should look like. Like fellow Turk Serkan Yilmaz, Tazegul is known for devastating spinning kicks:

Tazegul defeated Jennings at the qualifiers in 2010, so this is going to be a grudge match. I'm going to be balancing my love of country with my love of seeing Tazegul step on people's faces.

On Friday, America is represented by Paige McPherson in the Womens' Welterweight competition. She's drawn former world champion and darling of the British Taekwondo team, Sarah Stevenson. Paige is just a downhome TKD girl. Her home dojang is not some fancy facility, and while she works with the Olympic coaches, she also still trains under her first sabum. I like her and I'd like to see her do well.

Also fighting on Friday is Diana's brother, Steven Lopez. He'll square off against Ajerbaijani Ramin Azizoz on Friday. Lopez has medaled twice at the Olympics and holds five world championships to his name. Whether Azizoz proves a challenge to that status should be interesting to see.

**Psycho Dad** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:06pm

Taking bets on who'll be the first to kick the referee's head.

**The Question** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:11pm

Let's get this **** started then. Here's hoping a ************ gets knocked out with a fancy kick.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:16pm

Originally Posted by Psycho Dad

Taking bets on who'll be the first to kick the referee's head.

It never gets old. Stay classy, Cuba.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:18pm

Originally Posted by The Question

Let's get this **** started then. Here's hoping a ************ gets knocked out with a fancy kick.

My money is on Terence Jennings eating Servet Tazgul's foot. Backwards.

**Naszir** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:36pm

Bodhi, could you explain Olympic TKD scoring? I am not really sure what to look for. Do the chest pieces have sensors or is it just the eye of the judges? What constitutes a win?

**The Question** · Posted On: 8/07/2012 9:43pm

I hope it's as cool as the 80kg finals from long ago, Athens 2004. That **** was fucking awesome yo. I was jumping over couches saying "what the ****, mayne, did you fucking see that ****? The Greek fellow is still fucked up!".

**Liam Cullen** · Posted On: 8/08/2012 3:25am

I'm personally just looking forward to seeing Aaron Cook bringing home the gold for Team GB... oh wait.

***DerAuslander*** · Posted On: 8/08/2012 10:33am

Originally Posted by Naszir

Bodhi, could you explain Olympic TKD scoring? I am not really sure what to look for. Do the chest pieces have sensors or is it just the eye of the judges? What constitutes a win?

You get one point for a solid hit to the body. Solid is defined as "trembling shock". The body has to move.

You get two points for a spinning kick to the body.

A kick to the head scores you three points, and a spinning kick to the head scores you four points.

Controversally this year, the scoring for head kicks has lowered. Now, you only need to contact the head with a kick to score, as opposed to "trembling shock", which usually results in a knock out. This was done for two reasons. The first is that the Committee felt that this would result in more attempts for head shots, which would make matches more exciting. Secondly, it was thought by lessening the force requirement, it will increase safety for younger competitors.

Personally, I think the second justification is bullshit, because you can't exactly "lessen the force" of a spinning hook kick.

Steven Lopez has commented in interviews his disappointment in the change, stating that the Taekwondo he grew up with is a full contact sport.