On 17 July 1980, the International Olympic Committee recognized World Taekwondo Federation at its 83rd Session in Moscow, Russia.

On 4 September 1994, Taekwondo was adopted as an official sport of the 2000 Summer Olympics at the 103rd IOC Session in Paris, France.

On October 8, 1974, World Taekwondo was affiliated to the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), now SportAccord.

The recognition of the IOC towards World Taekwondo at its 83rd session in Moscow on July 17, 1980, was the cornerstone for their Cooperation.

In recognition of his contribution to the Olympic Movement Un Yong Kim was awarded the Order of Commander by Prince Rainier of Monaco on September 21, 1993.

Moreover, Taekwondo was adopted as an official sport of the 2000 Summer Olympics at the 103rd IOC session in Paris, France, on September 4, 1994.

Half a year later, on February 15, 1995, World Taekwondo was affiliated with the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) as a provisional member.

Furthermore, the inclusion of taekwondo in the 2008 Summer Olympics was confirmed on November 29, 2002, at the 114th IOC session held in Mexico City.

Four month later Chung Won Choue was elected as new President of World Taekwondo at the extraordinary General Assembly on June 11, 2004.

[7] In June 2017, the body was renamed World Taekwondo to avoid the "negative connotations" of the acronym associated with the common Internet slang WTF.

[10] As of 2023, the global membership of World Taekwondo stands at 213 national member associations (NMAs), spanning five Continental Unions (CUs).

[3] Under World Taekwondo and Olympic rules, sparring is a full-contact event and takes place between two competitors on a matted 8 meter octagon.

Points are awarded as follows: The competition sparring rules were updated by World Taekwondo General Assembly in November 2016 in order to upgrade the sport so that it "dazzles and excites."

Changes include encouraging more offensive actions with modifications to some of the point scoring and by disallowing certain leg blocks, elimination of mid-game interruptions, and improvements that simplify penalty assessment and foster better officiating.

The referee can give penalties (called "gam-jeom") at any time for rule-breaking, such as hitting an area not recognized as a target, falling, or stalling the match.