World Taekwondo introduces artificial intelligence into a new phase of taekwondo development
World Taekwondo has opened a new discussion in Muju, in the Republic of Korea, on how artificial intelligence can change training, judging, broadcasts and the digital experience of taekwondo. The international federation used the 6th Sports Taekwondo International Convergence Conference to announce stronger cooperation with the International Olympic Committee in the field of artificial intelligence and a stronger connection between sport, data and the Olympic digital ecosystem, with an emphasis on the responsible and verifiable application of AI tools. According to World Taekwondo's announcement, the two-day gathering at Taekwondowon was held under the theme “AI and Sports Taekwondo”, and brought together representatives of sports organisations, the academic community, data analytics experts and speakers connected with Olympic AI programmes. In this way, taekwondo, an Olympic martial art that has relied for decades on technological solutions in scoring and television presentation, received a clearer framework for the next step of digital transformation. At the centre of the message is not only the question of whether artificial intelligence can speed up processes, but whether it can make them more transparent, fairer and more understandable to athletes, referees, coaches and the audience.
The conference in Muju as a testing ground for sport, data and education
According to official information from World Taekwondo, the conference was hosted and organised by World Taekwondo and partners from the academic sector, including the Korea Society of Sports AI and Big Data, with the support of Jeonbuk Province, Muju County and the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation. The gathering was held at Taekwondowon, a large Korean centre dedicated to taekwondo, which gave it symbolic weight: the discussion about the future of the sport was placed in a space that simultaneously preserves tradition and serves the development of new programmes. World Taekwondo states that the first day of the conference dealt with the integration of artificial intelligence and the creation of new value in sports taekwondo, while the second day focused on real applications of AI technology and future development paths. Such a structure shows that the organisers did not frame the topic only as a technical presentation, but as a discussion about sports governance, education, performance analytics and communication with a global audience. World Taekwondo President Dr Chungwon Choue said, according to the federation's announcement, that the conference marks a new chapter in which tradition and technology meet, and that artificial intelligence can become a powerful tool for increasing the global influence of taekwondo.
The link with the Olympic AI framework and the concept of trustworthy technology
The broader context of the announcement lies in the Olympic AI Agenda, a document presented by the International Olympic Committee in April 2024. According to the IOC, the agenda sets out the ambition and guiding principles for the use of artificial intelligence in the Olympic Movement, identifies high-impact areas and describes governance mechanisms intended to reduce risks and promote the responsible use of AI systems. The IOC states that the document was developed after the work of the AI Working Group, a group of experts from sport, technology, academia, athletes and representatives of technology companies that the committee convened in 2023. In this sense, with the conference in Muju, World Taekwondo is positioning itself as a federation that wants to practically test the principles from the Olympic framework, especially in areas where speed of decision-making, competition integrity and athletes' trust are crucial for the credibility of results. According to Deloitte, which supports the IOC in implementing the Olympic AI Agenda, one of the important implementation directions includes the development of a Trustworthy AI Framework, a multi-year AI roadmap, a stakeholder engagement programme and learning from the experience of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
From performance analytics to a more understandable broadcast
In Muju, World Taekwondo particularly highlighted the possibilities of artificial intelligence in sports data analytics, coaching, athlete development and the digital presentation of competitions. According to the federation's announcement, Dr Patrick Lucey, Chief Scientist at Stats Perform and one of the contributors to the IOC's AI Agenda, spoke about the use of artificial intelligence and data to create advanced sports statistics and insights. Such tools can help coaches identify movement patterns, the frequency of certain attacks, reactions to opposing styles and changes in the rhythm of a bout. In a sport such as taekwondo, in which decisive points often happen in a fraction of a second, the value of data is not only in large numbers but in the ability to extract an understandable explanation from complex movement. If properly introduced, such systems can improve athletes' preparation, but also help viewers understand more clearly why a particular move was effective, risky or decisive for the outcome of a bout.
Broadcasting is another area in which World Taekwondo sees the possibility of rapid change. Dr John Cullen, Television Director at World Taekwondo, according to the federation's announcement, spoke about how artificial intelligence is changing sports broadcasting, enriching storytelling and enabling more personalised content delivery. This can mean faster extraction of key moments, automatic preparation of highlights, additional graphic layers that explain tactics and better adaptation of content to different platforms. Inigo Cristobal, AI Lead at olympics.com, presented examples of the use of AI tools in digital fan engagement and content curation on the Olympic platform, which is important for taekwondo because the global audience increasingly relies on short videos, mobile applications and personalised recommendations. The available information does not provide a detailed timetable for introducing such solutions into all WT broadcasts, but the direction is clear: artificial intelligence is seen as an aid in explaining the sport, not only as a tool for reducing production costs.
Judging remains the most sensitive area of application
The biggest challenge for artificial intelligence in taekwondo will probably be judging and the review of disputed situations. Taekwondo has long been a technology-intensive sport, with electronic protectors, scoring systems and video reviews, but this does not remove all questions about interpretation, delay and trust in a decision. According to a scientific paper on the FST.ai system, published in 2025, authors Keivan Shariatmadar and Ahmad Osman describe an AI solution aimed at recognising head kicks in real time, with the goal of reducing the duration of decision reviews and increasing consistency. The authors state that the system relies on computer vision, deep learning and processing on edge devices, with AI providing a recommendation, while the final decision remains under human supervision. Precisely this model, in which technology assists referees instead of replacing them, is crucial for the acceptance of artificial intelligence in competitive sport. If athletes and coaches cannot understand why the system has recognised something, or if there is no possibility of verification, technological acceleration alone will not be enough to strengthen trust.
Why trust is as important as speed
Trustworthy artificial intelligence in sport is not only about the technical accuracy of an algorithm. It includes questions about the data on which the system is trained, possible biases, protection of athletes' privacy, explainability of decisions and responsibility in the event of an error. In the Olympic AI Agenda, the IOC emphasises that artificial intelligence must be developed with a governance and oversight framework, not as a series of isolated experiments without common standards. For World Taekwondo this is especially important because the federation governs a sport practised on all continents, with major differences in resources, infrastructure and access to top-level technology. If advanced AI tools were available only to the wealthiest federations, clubs or production partners, technological innovation could increase the gap instead of reducing it. That is why, in the Olympic context, the principle of inclusiveness is increasingly emphasised: AI should help a wider circle of athletes and organisers, and not become a new obstacle for those who already have fewer opportunities.
In the educational part of the conference, the need to align technological development with the values of taekwondo was also emphasised. According to World Taekwondo, Professor Russell Ahn from UC Berkeley spoke about the balance between artificial intelligence and human values in taekwondo education. This topic is important because taekwondo is not only an Olympic sport but also a martial discipline with an emphasis on respect, self-control, discipline and personal development. Introducing AI tools into training can bring more precise feedback on technique, workload and injury risk, but it cannot replace the relationship between coach and athlete or the pedagogical context in which sporting and personal habits are developed. The most useful systems will be those that give coaches better insights and athletes a clearer explanation of their own progress, without turning training into mere tracking of metrics.
Taekwondo as an Olympic sport with experience of technological changes
According to Olympics.com, taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the Games in Seoul in 1988, and became an official Olympic medal sport at the Games in Sydney in 2000. Since then, the sport has continuously adapted to the demands of television appeal, international competition and more precise scoring. Technological solutions in taekwondo are nothing new, but artificial intelligence opens a different level of complexity because it does not only measure contact or the result, but can analyse patterns, propose interpretations and create content for the audience. This increases the possibilities, but also the responsibility of organisers to clearly separate auxiliary analytical tools from official decisions that affect the result. For a global sport this is especially sensitive because rules and technology must be equally understandable to an athlete from a large national federation and to an athlete from a country with limited resources.
The conference in Muju therefore has a broader meaning than a single expert discussion about new software. It shows that international federations are increasingly joining the Olympic discussion on AI governance, responsibility and innovation in broadcasts. In the available announcements, World Taekwondo did not present artificial intelligence as a replacement for referees, coaches or broadcast editors, but as a set of tools that can improve speed, explainability and reach audiences on new platforms. Therein also lies the main limit of success: AI solutions will have to prove that they raise the quality of the sporting experience while not undermining the basic principles of competitive fairness. If that balance is maintained, taekwondo could become one of the more important testing grounds for the application of trustworthy artificial intelligence in Olympic sport.
Sources:
- World Taekwondo – official announcement about the “AI and Sports Taekwondo” conference in Muju and the speakers at the gathering (link)
- International Olympic Committee – Olympic AI Agenda, official description of the goals, principles and governance framework for AI in the Olympic Movement (link)
- Deloitte – overview of support for the IOC in developing the Olympic AI Agenda, the Trustworthy AI Framework and the multi-year AI roadmap (link)
- Olympics.com – official overview of World Taekwondo and the Olympic history of taekwondo (link)
- arXiv – the paper “AI-Enhanced Precision in Sport Taekwondo: Increasing Fairness, Speed, and Trust in Competition (FST.ai)” on AI support for judging in taekwondo (link)