The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) was founded on 28th of May 1973 and is based in Seoul.
The WTF has 204 (as of March 2013) national federations with over 30 million members. The WTF succeeded in having taekwondo recognised as an Olympic sport on 4th of September 1994. The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney were the first in which it was allowed to participate and officially included in the medal count, after Taekwondo had already been represented at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and 1992 in Barcelona as a demonstration competition.
The WTF has been a member of Sportaccord (GAISF until 2009) since 1975 and was recognised by the IOC in 1980. It competes with the International Taekwondo Federation, which was founded in 1955. It is not to be confused with the World Taekwondo Headquarters (Kukkiwon).
The WTF President since 2004 is the Korean Choue Chung-won, his predecessor was Kim Un-yong from 1973 to 2004. The Secretary General of the WTF is Yang Jin-suk.
What is the new abbreviation? The "Federation" will simply be dropped in future - the federation will now be called WT.
The "World Taekwondo Federation" has been abbreviated to WTF for 44 years. Now the name has been changed - just in time for the World Championships taking place in Muju, South Korea
The name is no longer up to date, said the president of the world federation, Chungwon Choue. In 1973, the Internet did not yet exist - and therefore no globally widespread double meaning of WTF. As the federation also wants to appeal to "young people", the "negative meaning" - i.e. "What the Fuck" - should not be associated with the federation World Teakwondo.
The Kukkiwon, also known as the World Taekwondo Headquarters and home to the World Taekwondo Academy, is the official Taekwondo government organisation of South Korea. It is overseen by the Department of International Sports of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In May 1973, the Kukkiwon and the Korean Taekwondo Association organised the first Taekwondo World Championships with 200 competitors from 17 countries.
The Kukkiwon sees itself as a global centre for the training of taekwondo teachers. It is home to the World Taekwondo Academy and issues official Dan and Poom certificates.
The main objectives are:
To help people to strengthen their intellectual and physical powers by spreading the cultural heritage of Taekwondo
To present the philosophy and possibilities of Taekwondo in order to increase the national prestige of Korea abroad
The DTU is the only taekwondo federation authorised by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) to send athletes to the Olympic Games. The DTU therefore organises all corresponding taekwondo championships in Germany. The association is based in Munich.
The German Taekwondo Union or its predecessor has already organised the World Championships twice, in 1979 in Sindelfingen and in 2003 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After 1978 in Munich and 1984 in Stuttgart, the European Championships were once again held in Germany (Bonn) in 2006.
- Berlin Taekwondo Association (BTV)
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Bavarian Taekwondo Union (BTU)
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Hessian Taekwondo Union (HTU)
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North Rhine-Westphalian Taekwondo Union (NWTU)
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Taekwondo Union of Lower Saxony (NTU)
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Taekwondo Association of Schleswig-Holstein (TVSH)
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Taekwondo Association of the States of Berlin/Brandenburg (TVBB)
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Taekwondo Union Thuringia (TUT)
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Taekwondo Union Saar (T.U.Saar)
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Taekwondo Union Saxony-Anhalt (TUSA)
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Taekwondo Union Saxony (TUS)
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Taekwondo Union Southwest (TUSW)
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Taekwondo Union Rhineland-Palatinate (TURP)
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Taekwondo Union Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (TUMV)
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Hamburg Taekwondo Union (TUH)
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Taekwondo Union Baden-Württemberg (TUBW)
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Taekwondo State Association Bremen (TLVB)
