List of taekwondo practitioners

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of highly notable practitioners of Taekwondo.

Grandmasters[edit]

Choi H.H and Original Twelve Masters of Taekwondo[edit]

  • Choi Chang-keun (ITF) – began his martial arts training in the South Korean army in 1956, studying taekwondo and karate.[13] Choi taught taekwondo in Malaysia from 1964, and moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1970.[13] In 1973, he held the rank of 7th dan.[14] Choi was promoted to 8th dan in 1981 by H. H. Choi, and attained the rank of 9th dan in 2002.[13] He is still based in Vancouver.
  • Kim Jong-chan (ITF) – based in Vancouver, Canada.
  • Kim Kwang-il (ITF) – contributed to the introduction of taekwondo into West Germany.[17][18] He was head instructor of the ITF in West Germany, but was relieved of this duty in October 1971.[19] In 1975, Kim was ranked 6th dan.[20] He promoted Rolf Becking, head of the ITF Germany Technical Committee, to the rank of 2nd dan in 1976 in Stuttgart, West Germany.[21] Between 1974 and 1977 Kim had a restaurant in Stuttgart and had completed training as a Brewmeister prior to 1974.[citation needed]
  • Kong Young-il (ITF) – Following a career in the South Korean military, Kong emigrated to the United States just before or in 1968.[22] He and his younger brother, Young-bo Kong, founded the Young Brothers Taekwondo Associates in 1968.[22] Kong was promoted to the rank of 9th dan in 1997 by H. H. Choi in Poland.[23][24] He is based in Las Vegas.
  • Park Jong-soo (ITF) – In 1968, Park settled in Toronto, Canada.[25] In 1973, he held the rank of 7th dan.[14] Park and Choi went their separate ways after Choi insisted on establishing relations with North Korea during a politically sensitive period.[26]
  • Park Jung-tae (ITF → GTF) – Park moved to Toronto, Canada in 1970.[27] During the 1970s, Park established the Manitoba Tae Kwon-Do Association.[28] In 1975, he was ranked 6th dan.[20] At the time, he was ranked 8th dan in the ITF[29] and in November 1984, Park was elected Secretary-General of the ITF.[30] He also held the position of Technical Chairman of the ITF.[31] Park founded the Global Taekwondo Federation (GTF) on 14 June 1990, the year after his departure from the ITF due to North–South Korean political issues.[32][33][34] He created six additional hyung to be practised along with the earlier ITF patterns.[31] Amongst those who affiliated with the GTF was Sabree Salleh in 1998.[35] Shortly before he died, Park promoted Salleh to 9th dan (GTF).[35]
  • Park Sun-jae alias S.J. Park (ITF → WT) – a pioneer of taekwondo in Italy.[17][36] He introduced taekwondo to Italy around 1968.[37] In 1968, he was ranked 5th dan,[38] and in 1975, he was ranked 7th dan.[20] He was elected vice-president (Italy) in the European Tae Kwon Do Union (within the World Taekwondo Federation) at the union's inaugural meeting in 1976.[39] In 2002, he was a member of the arbitration board for the WT's World Cup Taekwondo championship in Tokyo.[40] On 15 February 2004, the Executive Council of the WT elected him as Acting President of the WT following Un-yong Kim's resignation from the presidency of the organisation.[41] He is Vice President (Italy) of the WT.[42] Park was President of the Federazione Italiana Taekwondo (Italian Taekwondo Federation) around 1998,[37] and still held the position as of 2008[43] and 2009.[44]
  • Rhee Chong-hyup alias C.H Rhee (KTA → Rhee Taekwondo)– In the mid-1960s, he contributed to the introduction of taekwondo to Malaysia and Singapore.[50] He arrived in Australia in 1970 and settled in Melbourne, Australia. Rhee is in charge of Rhee Taekwon-Do operations in Melbourne.[51][52]
  • Rhee Ki-ha (ITF) – widely recognised as the 'Father of British Taekwon-Do' for introducing the martial art to the United Kingdom since arriving in 1967.[53] He is also considered the 'Father of Irish Taekwon-Do'.[54]

Other notable grandmasters[edit]

Olympic medalists[edit]

All the practitioners listed in this section are part of World Taekwondo.[63][64][65]

Kickboxers and Mixed Martial Artists[edit]

Celebrity practitioners[edit]

Honorary Black belts[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Present Day Taekwondo (WTF) Retrieved on 29 January 2008.
  2. ^ Son, D. S. (1959): Letter in Seoul Shinmoon newspaper (16 June 1959) Retrieved on 20 September 2007.
  3. ^ International Taekwon-Do Federation Archived 10 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (Headquarters Korea which is officially recognised by Korean Government on 24 June 2009).
  4. ^ International Taekwon-Do Federation (under Choi Jung Hwa, based in the United Kingdom). Retrieved on 15 January 2008; updated version retrieved on 9 October 2010.
  5. ^ International Taekwon-Do Federation Archived 20 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine (formerly under Trân Triêu Quân; now under acting President Pablo Trajtenberg, based in Italy). Retrieved on 15 January 2008; updated version retrieved on 9 October 2010.
  6. ^ International Taekwon-Do Federation Archived 23 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine (under Chang Ung, based in Austria). Retrieved on 28 January 2008; updated version retrieved on 9 October 2010.
  7. ^ General Choi (ITFNZ) Archived 21 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 15 January 2008.
  8. ^ a b c World Taekwon-Do Alliance: Grand Master Nam Tae-hi Archived 2010-01-19 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 22 February 2009.
  9. ^ Grandmaster Van Binh Nguyen, IX degree Archived 2010-01-17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 8 January 2010.
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