Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sunnyvale]

I watched it for five minutes yesterday. The score was -1 to 0. Does that sound exciting to you?

[Typhoon]

I watched some too and was really surprised at how boring it was. I thought it would be an exciting sport to watch (kind of like Judo), but it is horrible. Jump around and wait for the other guy to attack, but he just jumps around and does the same thing. Then the ref starts to take away points. It was pretty ridiculous.

[cazzy3]

i think they should take off the chest protectors and helmet and just see who is standing after five minutes. almost all of the points are on counter-attacks so there is so little attacking style in the sport.

at least we're not subjugated to watching synchronized swimming...oh wait..that was on for a few hours yesterday!

[Ramen]

There were more warnings given out for not fighting then the actual score.

They need to get rid of it from Olympics.

[The Hammer]

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=ixZ3mhUJoGo&feature=related

[traxxe]

It's worthless to watch and fairly worthless to practice.

I'd rather fight a black belt in Taekwondo than an idiot off the streets any day.

[ChinaBoy]

There is nothing interesting in the Olympics. Nothing.

[Kiarell]

It's a pity they call that Tae Kwon Do. It's some martial sport. The Olympic sparring is so stupid. Unfortunately most of the TKD world is split into one of two camps. 1) Mythologize Taekwondo, talk about purity and never do contact sparring. 2) Dilute Taekwondo and train in gymnastics while neglecting proper posture, all the while preparing for point sparring.

I've seen far more interesting sparring in regular classes I had back in the states. When we practiced full contact we didn't do point sparring that often. I can see people "win" at Olympic TKD who would lose in real life to the other guy. They just hop around and score points. The better way to score is subjective, like in Boxing. Have a panel of judges vote on who was in control, had more power, speed, etc. It'd work out a lot better. Or at least demand more power in the kick or strike to get a point.

Are they in great shape? Yes. Is Olympic TKD a martial "art"? Hell no.

[hugekebab]

Yeah it's actually the pits to watch.

[endo]

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9098/0jp2uk5.jpg

Well, it's certainly not as exciting as woman's wrestling!

[I-am-me]

I agree. Why eliminate baseball? Eliminate Taekwondo first. Its boring to watch and all they have to do is kick each other 2 or 3 times. I can do that!!

[gangpae]

It is the most insanely insipid sport at the Olympics. The worst part is when the wimp calls out their own point with an annoying shriek. Absurd sport.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Kiarell]

it's a little silly to think that someone with a black belt would be wimpier than the same person without the given training. Even learning Olympic TKD gets you into shape. It's not like it makes you "forget" how to punch. I don't know how some people can think that somehow having no experience in this field makes one better. Real TKD is more than just the flashy kicks, it involves hand techniques, too. And a simple but extremely powerful kick is the back kick. Just a simple Taekwondo spinning back kick thrusting with your heel is very powerful and fast. This isn't just speculation, either, there was some documentary Nat'l Geographic (?) did on this stuff.

[i4NI]