Olympic taekwondo rules: How many rounds in taekwondo as Bianca Walkden aims to go a step further than Lauren Williams?

Published 26/07/2021 at 14:20 GMT

Bianca Walkden is aiming to go a step further than her Team GB team-mates Jade Jones and Lauren Williams in her own quest for Olympic gold in taekwondo. And she will have extra help, with the defeated Jones revealing "I will tell her my mistakes so she doesn’t make them." Watch every unmissable moment from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games live on Discovery+ and the Eurosport app

Jones suffers shock defeat, Walkden left in tears

Taekwondo is becoming increasingly popular for British fans watching the Olympics thanks to the athletes getting among the medals.

Despite Jade Jones' shock defeat in the first round at Tokyo 2020, Lauren Williams secured a silver medal in a closely fought encounter with Croatia's Matea Jelic.

It wasn't to be for Williams and despite Jelic being behind with seconds remaining, a head kick turned it in the European champion's favour - eventually winning 25-22 in the -67kg category final.

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The biggest shock in taekwondo saw Jones' dream of a history-making three successive Olympic Games gold medal come crashing down in a 16-12 defeat to Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorian in the last 16 of the -57kg weight division.

Walkden, who starts her own quest for a first gold medal on Tuesday, July 27, was left in tears after seeing Jones fall to defeat but the latter is now urging her best friend to bring home the gold.

“When I looked up and saw her crying, I knew she was as hurt as me,” Jones said.

“Bianca is amazing and I will tell her my mistakes so she doesn’t make them herself. But it is all there for her to go and get that gold medal.”

Heavyweight fighter Walkden is a three-time world champion who won bronze in Rio and is not the only Brit due to compete in the last day of taekwondo competition - Mahama Cho is looking for a medal after finishing fourth in his category at Rio 2016.

With millions of Brits tuning in for Williams' final and similar numbers expected to follow Walkden's journey, it's time to read up on the rules of a sport that really is a case of blink and you miss it.

Taekwondo rules explained

The main aim of taekwondo is to land as many kicks and punches upon the scoring zones of your opponent.

Scoring zones come from landing hits on the torso and the head and both kicks and punches must be accurate and powerful so the electronic scoring system picks it up.

Whoever has the most points at the end is declared the winner but, like boxing, fighters can win by knocking out their opponent too.

Lauren Williams narrowly missed out on gold for Team GB

Image credit: Getty Images

The scoring is awarded as follows:

One point for a valid punch to the trunk protector
Two points for a valid kick to the trunk protector
Four points for a valid turning kick to the trunk protector
Three points for a valid kick to the head
Five points for a valid turning kick to the head
One point awarded for every penalty (known as gam-jeom) given against the opponent