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Muju, Korea, to Make Sporting History as Host of Biggest World
Taekwondo Championships Ever
June 16, 2017
The upcoming World Taekwondo Championships 2017 in Muju, Korea, will be the biggest ever, featuring the largest number of participants in the sport’s history.
Nine hundred and seventy-one athletes from 183 countries are registered to fight at the World Championships, which run from June 24–June 30.
Previously, the 2009 World Taekwondo Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, had been the biggest ever with 928 athletes from 142 nations competing.
The event will be officiated by 796 officials and 100 international referees. The venue is Taekwondowon, massive, purpose-built taekwondo training and competition facility set in the scenic Muju Valley in southwestern Korea.
The first World Championships were held in Seoul in 1973, and take place once every two years. Muju will mark the seventh time the championships have been held in Korea. The 2017 World Championships are the 23rd edition of the event.
Moreover, of the total 24 overall medalists from Rio, 21 will appear in Muju. However, the World Championships have double the number of weight categories as the Olympics – eight female and eight male – so some athletes who faced each other in Rio will be fighting in different categories in Muju.
In a show of taekwondo unity and sportive goodwill, a demonstration team from International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) will perform alongside the WTF Demonstration Team during both the Opening Ceremony on June 24 and the Closing Ceremony on June 30.
During the Closing Ceremony, a mixed-gender team competition – a new format for taekwondo, first tested in December 2016 at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final in Baku, Azerbaijan – will take place.
A very special guest will attend on the last day, June 30: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. Other IOC members in attendance during the championships will be Aicha Garad Ali, Ung Chang, Ivan Dibos, Camiel Eurlings, Ser Miang Ng, Seung Min Ryu, Tsunekazu Takeda, Ching-kuo Wu and Zaiqing Yu. Also, ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti will be attending
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