Impress your friends

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  The sport’s Korean roots go back 2,000 years, but the modern rules of taekwondo were defined in 1955

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  Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 Games, but did not become a medal event until the Sydney 2000 Games

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  Knockouts are rare in taekwondo, but Dae Sung Moon won gold at Athens 2004 with a spinning kick that ended Alexandros Nikolaidis’ participation there and then

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  Rohullah Nikpah won Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal by taking bronze at Beijing 2008, a feat he repeated at the London 2012 Games

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  At London 2012, young British fighter Jade Jones delighted the home crowd by beating world champion Hou Yuzhuo of China to win the women’s gold medal

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  Not surprisingly, the Republic of Korea has dominated Olympic taekwondo over the years, taking one third of the sport’s gold medals to date

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  Asian countries dominate the sport, with China the second highest medal-winners with eight, including five golds

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  Taekwondo means ‘the way of the feet and hands’ in Korean

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  Cuba’s Ángel Matos was so upset at being disqualified in his Beijing 2008 bronze medal match that he kicked one of the referees in the face – he was banned for life

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  A revised scoring system and reduced mat size for London 2012 helped make bouts more exciting, and eight nations won the eight gold medals on offer

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  The majority of points in taekwondo are scored in counter attacks, hence its reputation as a sport of reaction and quick-thinking rather than brute strength