My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the sk
The 3rd WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships concluded in a resounding success for good reasons in Ankara, Turkey on Dec. 18, 2008.The three-day poomsae championships, which took place at the ASKI Sport Hall, drew a total of 371 athletes and 150 officials from 50 countries. Germany, Russia, Spain, the United States and host Turkey dispatched more than 20 players for the Ankara event. It was the first time that the WTF-promoted annual poomsae championships, which were inaugurated in 2006, took place outside Korea. The overall title went to Korea, which won eight gold medals, one silver and
The World Taekwondo Federation held its Council meeting in Ankara, Turkey on Dec. 15, 2008 to approve amendments to its Rules and Regulations and the Competition Rules.The WTF Council also approved the adoption of the WTF world athlete ranking system and the WTF Code of Ethics.Pending final approval by the WTF General Assembly, the approved Competition Rules and others will take effect as early as in 2009. The WTF plans to send the approved amendments to the General Assembly for voting by email or post in late December 2008 or in early January 2009. The voting window will be one month and the
Preparations for the 3rd WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships slated for Dec. 16-18, 2008 in Ankara, Turkey are going smoothly, organizers say.“Everything is okay with our preparations for the championships and we are ready for the event,” said Mr. Metin Sahin, president of the Turkish Taekwondo Federation.“On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we would like to ensure that we will make every possible effort in organizing a successful championship of the highest technical level,” said Mr. Sahin. “About 50 countries have expressed their intention to participate in the Championships.”The th
As part of its ceaseless efforts to make takewondo more action-packed and exciting, the World Taekwondo Federation held a Joint Technical Meeting for the amendment to the WTF Competition Rules in Seoul, Korea on Nov. 14, 2008.The meeting, which was held at the Ramada Seoul Hotel, drew more than 60 taekwondo experts from over 30 countries, including Mr. Dai Won Moon of Mexico, who was recently appointed as chairperson of the WTF Technical Committee.Also attending the meeting were Mr. Philippe Bouedo of France, new chairperson of the WTF Games Committee, and Mr. Herbert Perez of the United State
Back then, much of the American South remained segregated, the races separated from the cradle to the grave. Black people - or Negroes as they were known then - were born in segregated hospitals, educated in segregated school systems and buried in segregated graveyards. Handed down in 1954, the Supreme Court's Brown decision, which called for the integration of southern schools, had been met in many southern communities with a campaign of "massive resistance". For segregationist die-hards it became the twisted metaphor of the age, as they fought to uphold a system of racial apartheid that was
The 4th Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships kicked off for a five-day run in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Korea on Nov. 1, 2008, drawing 1,092 athletes and officials from 37 countries.The annual Korea Open, which takes place at the Suwon Gymnasium, is sanctioned by the World Taekwondo Federation and organized by the Korea Taekwondo Association.Since its inception in 2005, the Korea Open has become of the well-established international taekwondo open competitions. In 2005 and 2006, the WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, which were inaugurated in 2006, were held immediately pri
The World Taekwondo Federation will introduce an athlete ranking system as early as in 2009, after years of study.The WTF athlete world ranking system, which will be announced every three months, is aimed at making taekwondo competitions more exciting both to the public and the media. A quarter of the athletes participating in the WTF-promoted or --sanctioned tournaments will be seeded for every category, according to the master plan of the WTF ranking system. If there are 24 athletes in a weight category, six will be seeded. The system, which will include informative statistics, may eventuall
[NBC-1TV]Korea, the United States and Turkey grabbed two medals each on the second day of the takwondo competition at the Beijing Olympic Games on Aug. 21, 2008.Chinese Taipei won a bronze medal, while Croatia clinched the country’s first medal in the taekwondo competition, which was held at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) Gymnasium in Beijing.In the women’s -57kg final match, Korea’s Lim Su Jeong, the gold medalist at the WTF World Taekwondo Qualification Tournament, brushed aside a stiff challenge of Turkey’s Azize Tanrikulu, the second finisher at the WTF European Ta
WTF President Chungwon Choue has reiterated the importance of fairer judging and refereeing at the taekwondo competition of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.“It is never too much to stress that success of our competitions and fate of taekwondo largely depends on your fair judging and refereeing,” said WTF President Choue in a meeting of 29 referees, who will officiate at the Beijing Olympic Games.He made the remarks in a ceremony on Aug. 18, 2008 at the University of Science and Technology Beijing Gymnasium, the venue of the taekwondo competition at the Beijing Olympic Games.“For the sake of our