ABOUT THE FEDERATION
One World, One Sport Taekwondo
About World Taekwondo:
World Taekwondo (WT) is the International Federation (IF) governing the sport of Taekwondo and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
World Taekwondo Strategy 2021
Sustainability, Excellence, Contribution
Vision: The world’s most inclusive and accessible sport.
Mission: To govern, grow and promote Taekwondo throughout the world, from a grass roots level all the way through to an elite level, so that everyone will have the opportunity to play, watch and enjoy the sport regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity or ability.
Values: Inclusiveness, Leadership, Respect, Tolerance, Excellence, Resilience, and Integrity
Strategic Priorities:
The world is changing, fast. Rapid technological evolution seems to be transforming virtually every area of life, and shifting cultural norms and economic realities along with it. This ever-changing environment creates huge opportunities to be exploited and challenges to be overcome.
As we decide on how to mitigate risk and embrace opportunity, first-and-foremost, WT has to consider how best to ensure the long-term sustainability of our 210 Member National Associations and their hundreds of thousands of athletes, officials and other stakeholders (collectively known as the “Taekwondo Movement”).
As the steward of the Taekwondo Movement, WT has identified three strategic priorities to peruse through our General Assembly in 2021:
A) Ensure a sustainable foundation for continuous improvement
B) Ensure the maintenance of an integral ecosystem of members and events
C) Demonstrate strong added-value to the Olympic and Paralympic Movements and to society at large
Strategic Initiatives:
The following are the core initiatives WT is following in pursuit of our strategic priorities:
A) Ensure a sustainable foundation for continuous improvement
- Achieve Exceptional Good Governance Rating: WT will continue to implement governance reforms in line with top emerging governance trends and indicators to ensure governance standards known and agreed by all. We wil.:We will maintain an active dialogue with the IOC, ASOIF, WADA, and other key governing and regulatory bodies and seek to adopt their guidance and best practice recommendations as quickly as feasible. We shall seek to raise our compliance to the ASOIF Good Governance Survey by at least 5% until we received a score of 100%, and to be fully compliant with other governance guidance.
- Ensure Strong Management and Administration Practices: WT will continue to introduce tools and processes for best-practice management and accountability throughout the WT chain, including member associations. At the secretariat level, by the end of 2020 WT shall complete implementation of results-based management and monthly “rolling budget” reviews and establish a new risk management framework and knowledge management system. (For member associations, see Priority B, below.)
- Develop a strong commercial program: By the 2020 General Assembly WT will introduce a clear brand positioning built on our achievements and core values, and align our activities around a state-of-the-art digital strategy and active marketing and communications.
B) Ensure the maintenance of an integral ecosystem of members and events- Evaluate and strengthen member governance standards: WT will continue to introduce new governance tools for our members, and increase our monitoring and evaluations to ensure a high level of governance and management by all members. This will include new model constitutions for national associations and continental unions, and updated surveys of national and continental bodies to verify their current governance practices.
- Elevate event management: Building on the lessons learned from our prior impact studies, WT will continue to introduce new event planning and management tools for members as well as high-level standards along the value chain to be met by all events. This will include updates to event technical manuals and event bidding procedures working in coordination with our Technical Commission and Member Relations and Development Commission. This will also include new training programs for event medical personal (both OC and team), and new education/certification programs for technical officials and coaches. The planning calls for having all this in place by the 2020 General Assembly.
- Continue to expand into new areas: During the 2020 General Assembly WT plans to debut and innovative ‘true’ esport, combining mixed-reality gaming technology with taekwondo athleticism. WT will also launch a new program together with our recognized training centers around the world, as well as make adjustments to our Develop Program taking into account guidance from the new Member Relations and Development Commission.
C) Demonstrate strong added-value to the Olympic and Paralympic Movements and to society at large- Continued to champion the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements: WT will continue to engage in substantive dialogue with the IOC and IPC on reforms and on their impact with the Olympic and Paralympic movements. This includes continuing to move forward with our Sports Peace Corp initiative and cooperation with the UNHCR and other NGOs in coordination with the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation.
- Coordinated action with external stakeholders: WT is a recognized leader in humanitarian actives. We will continue to engage with governments, NGOs, universities and other partners to reach out effectively to the wider community to disseminate Taekwondo values as a way to better enhance life of communities thorough the world.
- Sustainable development: WT will continue to follow the recommendations and roadmap provided by our Sustainability Committee, including the following.
Add value to the Olympic Movement: WT recognizes our obligation to contribute to the growth and the success of the Olympic Movement. We do this by aligning our policies and practices with those of the IOC and by continuously improving key indicators including sustainability, integrity and governance. At the same time, WT seeks to champion Olympic Values of education, inclusiveness, friendship, solidarity and fair play, and to contribute to building a peaceful and better world though sports.
Development of Events: WT works closely with organizing committees to ensure cost-efficient, sustainable events that leave a lasting legacy for the local Taekwondo and sporting communities. At the same time, we seek to ensure a coordinated and well-balanced event calendar that allows for participation at all levels and across all regions of the world. The Agenda 2020 of the IOC and the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations constitute overall frameworks for action and source of inspiration for WT activities and objectives.
Development of Member Associations: WT recognizes that development of WT member associations is critical to having both stronger events and greater grass roots growth. To this end WT uses tools such as the Global Membership Systems, MNA Survey, and Development Program to monitor and support the development of members at the governance, administrative, competition official, coach, entourage, and athlete levels including post-competition athletes career.
Inspire the most vulnerable: by engaging in humanitarian activities through Cares and Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) and World Taekwondo Foundation. The field activities represent an opportunity to provide services to those in need including refugees and to develop skills and competences that are required in accessing labor market and other markets. In line with these values Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) seeks to drive refugees as whole to build a society which comes from individual development. This is an important step to re-integrate into normal many refugees.
Development and promotion of sustainable WT policies for: a) the Seoul and Lausanne offices, b) continental unions; c) national federations with attention to local actors and clubs and d) bid and event organizers. These policies will align with IOC sustainability strategy, in particular with the priorities on “workforce, transportation/mobility and climate change”.
Promoting gender equality and women empowerment in WT: WT will build on its achievement with regard to gender parity among referees and athletes and will work towards enhancing inclusiveness, gender diversity of WT workforce, increasing women representation in leadership positions, improving the working conditions of women employees, and diversifying and prioritising support to women empowerment in its humanitarian activities.
Fostering positive changes that will encompass the environmental and social impact of human-centered sport related activities, in particular with regard to empowering youth with leadership skills and building their capacities to become agents of changes and leaders in the world of tomorrow.
- Established : May 28, 1973
- No. of Member National Associations : 210
- Location : Booyoung Taepyung Building 10th Floor, 55, Sejong-daero (Taepyung-ro 2ga), Jung-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 04513
- President : Dr. Chungwon Choue
- Secretary General : Mr. Hoss Rafaty
- Affiliation to SportAccord (GAISF) : October 8, 1975
- IOC Recognition : July 17, 1980 (83rd IOC Session in Moscow)
- Affiliation to ASOIF : February 15, 1995
- Olympic Games Demonstration Sport : 1988 Seoul Olympic Games & 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games
- Official Olympic Sport : Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, September 4, 1994 (103rd IOC Session in Paris)
- Confirmation of Taekwondo as an Official Sport : for Athens 2004 Olympic Games, December 11-13, 2000 (IOC EB Meeting in Lausanne)
- Expansion of Taekwondo quota at Athens 2004 Olympic Games to 124 in eight weight categories, respective four weight classes for men and women, Sep. 18-20, 2001 (IOC EB Meeting in Lausanne)
- Feb. 5-7, 2006: IOC Executive Board decided at its meeting in Turin, Italy to expand the number of taekwondo entry in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games from 124 to 128 (two males and two females were added in consideration of the new establishment of Oceania Taekwondo Union).
- IOC Executive Board decided the number of sports programs of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to be 27, including Taekwondo. The 114th IOC Session held in Mexico City, Mexico on November 29, 2002 also confirmed inclusion of Taekwondo in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
- IOC reviewed the Olympic program for 2012 London, Taekwondo was voted to retain in the Olympic Program of the London 2012 Olympic Games at its 117th Session in Singapore on July 8, 2005.
- IOC selected 26 core sports for 2016 Rio Olympic Games, including taekwondo at its 121st Session in Copenhagen on Oct. 2-9, 2009.
- IOC confirmed taekwondo as one of the 25 core sports for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games at its 125th Session in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7-10, 2013
- International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board granted 'IPC-recognized IF' status to the WT on Oct. 16, 2013.
- IPC final decision on the sports programs of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, including taekwondo, was made at the 69th IPC Governing Board meeting held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on January 30-Feburary 1, 2015.
- Nov. 14-15, 2015: IPC General Assembly in Mexico City, Mexico granted a full membership to the WT (Nov. 15: ratification of new members) on Nov. 15, 2015.
