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WTF honors IOC President Thomas Bach
Thomas Bach, IOC President was made an honorary 10th black belt in taekwondo during his visit to the World Taekwondo Federation headquarters in Seoul.
WTF President Chungwon Choue honored the IOC President by personally awarding him the belt himself for the support he has shown taekwondo.
Dressed in a taekwondo uniform, President Bach smashed a board before the ceremony began.
He then said: “Thank you very much for the honor of the 10th Dan black belt.”
WTF President exclaimed; “It was a great honor to have President Bach and his delegation visit our offices today.
There have only been three people in the world awarded the 10th Dan, Former IOC Presidents Juan Antonio Samaranch and Jacques Rogge as well as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The belt is reserved for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the development of sport and promotion of peace and harmony around the world!”
He continued: “At the WTF we are committed to being an excellent partner to the IOC and making a valuable contribution to the development of the Olympic Movement.
Under President Bach’s leadership and Olympic Agenda 2020 I have no doubt we are headed towards a brighter future.”
A round table discussion was held after the ceremony between IOC President Bach, WTF President, and IOC Member and Chair of IOC Coordination Commission for Pyeong Chang 2018, Gunilla Lindberg, IOC Protocol Chief Marina Baramia, IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper as well as WTF Secretary General Hoss Rafaty, WTF Council Member and Russian Taekwondo Union President Anatoly Terekhov and Korean Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Chong.
President Bach was happy to hear about WTF’s ongoing commitment to fostering gender equality in taekwondo.
WTF President Choue updated the IOC President on the growing participation of women in taekwondo. Female taekwondo was also a huge success during the 2015 WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 1, which concluded in Moscow just three days ago.
The IOC President and his company were on a two-day visit to Korea.
Shortly before their visit to the WTF headquarters, they had met Korean President Park Geun-hye to discuss the progress on the upcoming Pyeong Chang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Source: WTM
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