SEOUL, Korea (March 25, 2020) - World Taekwondo fully supports the IOC and Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee’s joint-decision to postpone the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 until next year in order to safeguard the health and well-being of participating athletes and everyone involved.
World Taekwondo shares the IOC and Tokyo 2020’s commitment to safeguarding the health of all its stakeholders as its number one priority. Postponing the Games to 2021 will allow for the remaining qualification tournaments to take place safely so that athletes are given a fair and equal opportunity to pursue their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.
World Taekwondo will work closely with the IOC and IPC to make the necessary adjustments following the decision to postpone the Games, including assessing the process for the remaining qualification tournaments.
Three out of the five taekwondo Continental Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Tournaments safely and successfully took place earlier this year. This means that 68 percent of the available quota places have been allocated through Olympic and Paralympic Rankings and Continental qualifications. The remaining places are due to be allocated via the European and Asian Qualification Tournaments which have been postponed.
Together with the IOC, IPC, and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, we are fully committed to Tokyo 2020 and look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them to deliver the very best taekwondo Olympic and Paralympic competitions in 2021.
In line with the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and national health authorities, World Taekwondo has postponed and cancelled a number of our events scheduled for this year. We are continuing to monitor the situation very closely and will continue to follow expert health guidance and work with our Member National Associations to rearrange postponed events where possible.
In the meantime, World Taekwondo will work closely with our partners to further develop our education programmes. We will engage with our athletes and related stakeholders to provide opportunities for self-improvement during this period leading up to the postponed Games.
Finally, World Taekwondo remains committed to supporting our global family in every way we can, and we are in contact with various stakeholders to distribute to them the 100,000 masks donated by the Wuxi Municipal People's Government.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by COVID-19 and we will continue to support our taekwondo family and the global community in any way we can. Together we will get through these difficult times and emerge stronger. #StaySafe #StayHome
