Olympic taekwondo: Faster, higher but not stronger

The next generation of taekwondo arrived at the London Games.

The ancient Korean martial art reinvented itself for the Olympics with electronic scoring and rule changes that favor quick action and a light touch rather than the devastating power and knockouts that used to characterize the combat sport.

Like nearly any other kind of revolution, the kids adapted the fastest. Some of the week's most entertaining fights also involved some of the newest fighters.

As the competition wrapped up on Saturday, medals went to countries not normally known for their martial arts prowess: Serbia, Italy and Gabon.

"It's the changing of the guard," said Juan Moreno, a U.S. Olympic coach.

Two of Moreno's athletes, Terrence Jennings and Paige McPherson, made their Olympic debut in London. Both are going home with bronze medals, unlike their more established teammates.

"It's harder for the older fighters because they've worked their whole life to fight in a different style and breaking that habit is hard," Moreno said. "The new style is more like fencing or what I call 'chicken fighting,' with very fast kicks that are like jabs."

Taekwondo was once dominated by stars like American Steven Lopez, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Iran's Yousef Karami, a former double world champion. Both were renowned for their deadly knockout kicks — and both got ousted in their opening bouts on Friday, though Lopez had a broken leg.

Karami seemed to struggle to score with the electronic system in his fights on Friday. He rarely went for head shots, which scored only one point when he first started fighting, as opposed to the three to four they are now worth.

"I love the beauty of the timing and combination kicks of traditional taekwondo," Moreno said. "But you don't see much of that anymore because it doesn't score."

On the women's side, Britain's Sarah Stevenson was favored to take her division after winning bronze in Beijing and a world championship. But the veteran fighter got eliminated in the first round by a much faster and more accurate McPherson.

At 19, Britain's Jade Jones took gold in the women's 57-kilogram category, seeming to surprise even herself as she outkicked more experienced competitors from China and Japan. Jones often used a kick off her front leg to attack, which is less powerful than a traditional taekwondo roundhouse kick off the back leg, but easier to score on the electronic system.

Officials at the World Taekwondo Federation changed the rules recently to grant points for head kicks even when they don't have any force behind them. Merely touching your opponent's head with your foot scores three to four points.

"We want the fights in taekwondo to be much more dynamic and fast-paced so it's exciting to watch," said Jean-Marie Ayer, the federation's secretary-general.

He said the athleticism demanded by the new style of taekwondo likely would be tougher on aging players.

"It's for the coach to decide, but probably when athletes get to 30, they start slowing down," he said.

At 33, Lopez was the oldest competitor in London and the 29-year-old Karami wasn't far behind.

South Korea's Hwang Kyung-seon was one of the few medalists who is also an Olympics veteran at 26. She is also the only woman to win three Olympic taekwondo medals.

Key to her success has been her willingness to ditch the martial art's traditional fight style.

"The rules have changed so there is no special advantage for doing traditional Korean taekwondo," Hwang said.

Moreno predicted there would soon be a new group of taekwondo stars.

"The gold has tarnished on the older athletes, people see they're not invincible anymore," he said. "Steven Lopez and Yousef (Karami) will always be legends, but they need to change or they'll fall by the wayside."