World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won hailed the "historic" joint WT-International Taekwondo Federation demonstration ©World Taekwondo

World Taekwondo (WT) President Choue Chung-won hailed as "historic" the joint demonstration between WT and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) here at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. 

The federations have staged a number of performances since signing a Protocol of Accord in 2014, but the significance of hosting one at the Olympic Museum resonated with Choue, whose ITF counterpart Ri Yong-son also attended. 

"This is really historic," he said.

"We have had the performances in other places, but today we are at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Museum.

"I am really happy to be here with the ITF demonstration team."

The demonstration was a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the inclusion of taekwondo on the Summer Olympic programme. 

WT President Choue Chung-won, right, was at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne alongside his ITF counterpart, Ri Yong-son
WT President Choue Chung-won, right, was at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne alongside his ITF counterpart, Ri Yong-son

"It is very important," Choue said of being a part of the Olympic movement.

"It was an exciting moment in 1994, when the IOC Congress made the decision that taekwondo should be included as an official sport at the Olympic Games.

"Since then, taekwondo has evolved after every Olympic Games. 

"We have changed the competition rules and areas, and the most wonderful event for taekwondo was the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

"This was the first time we introduced the Protective Scoring System and the Instant Video Replay system, so I am really proud that the technology from that Games has made taekwondo one of the most fair and transparent in refereeing and judging."

Following the culmination of a week of joint demonstrations tomorrow in Geneva, WT will be focusing on the World Taekwondo Championships in Manchester, taking place from May 15 to 19. 

Today's joint WT-ITF demonstration celebrated the 25th anniversary of taekwondo's inclusion in the Summer Olympic programme ©World Taekwondo
Today's joint WT-ITF demonstration celebrated the 25th anniversary of taekwondo's inclusion in the Summer Olympic programme ©World Taekwondo

"Oh, indeed," responded Choue when asked whether he was excited about May's competition. 

"I heard yesterday that it will be the biggest meeting of taekwondo athletes."

"More than 900 athletes have already registered and I hope it will reach 1,000 athletes, so I am really happy.

"Manchester is one of the cities of sport in the UK so I really enjoy a visit to Manchester."

After the World Championships, attention will switch to Tokyo 2020.

"We will be focusing on the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games," Choue said.

"This Paralympic Games in Tokyo will be the first to introduce Para-taekwondo to the world, so I am very excited."