How do you score a point in olympic tae kwan do?

Question

i was watching femals do it and it was extremely boring. they just hopped back between there feet for like a minute and then one would scream and launch a wild kick that missed and then they would wrestle a little and the ref would break it up. it didnt look like there was any punching, and there were obvious times when they could have struck but didnt and just stood there and then would go for this wild kick that wouldnt work. whats going on?

Answer 1

you can only score points to the body. there are target zones on the gear. you don't have to hurt or move your opponent back, you just have to make contact on the target zones. tae kwan do is fast and more oriented to kicking than punching.

Answer 2

you have to hit your opponent but if the dont recte in pain, then it wont count, im a blackbelt in taekwondo and i know that if you knock out your opponent then you win automatically

Answer 3

You can only punch to the body.  The punch only counts if there is visible physical change in the opponents position or momentum.  In other words, it has to be really powerful to be counted.

To generate that kind of power, you are leaving yourself wide open to a counter attack, so at the Olympic level, there are very few punches.  At the local level, you see alot more punches.  

Kicks to the body count as 1 point, kicks to the head count as 2 points.  

The match you described sounds like you had two fighters that only wanted to counter kick.  Those matches are boring.  When you have 1 guy that is aggressive, and 1 guy that is a counter specialist, those are the best matches.

James