Rio Olympics - tae kwon do

Great Britain is doing well again at the Olympics. Like four and eight years ago, I am following the tae kwon do. Tae kwon do means:

• tae - foot or kick
• kwon - hand or fist
• do - art or skill or way

ITF allows punches to the head and face as well as kicks to the body, though in competitions WTF does not. Hence the comment from ITF (International Taekwondo Federation) people that there is not much kwon from the Olympian athletes who fight WTF style. (World Taekwondo Federation). More info here.

We have Jade Jones from Wales and she's won a gold. Her coach, Paul Green, advises her to use her to kick high and fast and use her opponent's weaknesses. I'm somewhat slow of thought and foot. I can't move as fast as Jade and I can't do the spits so I won't get as high, though I have done head kicks, but how can I use my opponent's weaknesses? What coach can I find who'll show me how to do that?

Taekwondo olympics

We won a bronze medal in taekwondo, thanks to Sarah Stevenson. There was some drama over decisions when the referee didn't allow a kick initially, then overturned the decision.

There was even more drama when another taekwondo player, a Cuban called Matos, kicked a referee in the head.

I know from my limited experience that sometimes they just don't see that you've scored a point. They need these instance replayers like they have in tennis. I see various commentators are saying this, such as the BBC. Quite right too.

Fighting Grannies

I hope we do well in the taekwondo Olympics. We lost this morning to the Afghan contender. Sarah Stevenson is our hope for tomorrow, but look what Korean grannies do. And I thought I was the oldest in our club.