As a full-contact sport, it requires a head guard, a body protector, forearm and shin guards and a groin guard. After bowing to each other, the two try to earn points by landing successful kicks to their opponent's head and body or punches to the body. There are three rounds of three minutes each in a contest, but athletes can also win by knocking out an opponent. They can also be disqualified if they accumulate three penalty points in one contest. The Olympic taekwondo competition is broken up into four categories for both men and women.
Athletes compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine the gold and silver medallists.
All defeated contestants, however, move to a second bracket and the person that comes out of that wins the bronze. As you might expect, North Korea and South Korea dominate the sport and should come away with several medals. On the men's side, Turkey and Iran are also very skilled, while on the women's side, China and Chinese Taipei could challenge.