Announcer Andy Taylor’s Summer Games Taekwondo debut
TAEKWONDO, PARIS 2024. A NEW ROLE AT THE SUMMER GAMES
PARIS 2024 marks announcer Andy Taylor’s fourth Summer Games. 20-years-ago, he made his debut in tennis, during the Games’ centennial anniversary in Athens. He was also the English-language voice of tennis in Rio and Tokyo.
A veteran voice actor and stadium announcer, many recognize Andy as the Voice of the US Open, but his hosting experience in sport goes far beyond tennis. He also emcees international events for squash and padel, and has done extensive voice work for a broad range of sports worldwide – including basketball, hockey, World Taekwondo, even Myanmar’s ancient martial art of lethwei.
TAEKWONDO: Introduced as a “demonstration event” in Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992), the sport first became an official medal event at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. Andy couldn’t be more excited to join the diverse, international team of sport presentation professionals elevating the atmosphere during 4-days of thrilling competition in the iconic Grand Palais.
8 EVENTS. 4 DAYS. GRAND PALAIS DES CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES (7-10 AUGUST)
Governed by World Taekwondo, the Summer Games include 4 weight categories per gender. As a result, 8 different medal competitions take place over 4 days. The Paris 2024 taekwondo schedule is as follows:
07-AUG — FLYWEIGHT (-49kg Women/-58kg Men) — ATHLETES: 17 women, 18 men
08-AUG — FEATHERWEIGHT (-57kg Women/-68kg Men) — ATHLETES: 16 women, 17 men
09-AUG — MIDDLEWEIGHT (-67kg Women/-80kg Men) — ATHLETES: 16 women, 17 men
10-AUG — HEAVYWEIGHT (+67kg Women/+80kg Men) — ATHLETES: 16 women, 17 men
EACH WEIGHT CLASS includes up to 18 athletes, all of whom qualified to compete at the Summer Games in one of six ways:
1) Top-5 ranking at the conclusion of 2023’s World Taekwondo season
2) Gold medalist at the Wuxi 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Championship Series
3) IOC invitation: Refugee Olympic Team, Universality Place
4) Winning Gold or Silver at continental qualifiers (Africa, Pan-America, Asia, Europe)
5) Capturing Gold at the Oceania continental qualifier
6) Reallocation due to denial of (AIN) athletes or national committee governance issue
EACH DAY SESSION begins shortly after 9:00a, featuring 1st-round matches from both women and men. Quarterfinals start at 2:30p, then the Semifinals conclude the day session between 4:00-4:30p.
EVENING SESSIONS get underway at 7:30 with Repêchage Contests – featuring talents who were defeated by the Paris 2024 finalists, battling to earn spots in two Bronze Medal matches per weight category. Finally, the Bronze Medal matches take place between 8:00-9:00p, Gold Medal matches conclude around 9:40p, followed by the official medal ceremonies.
SOUTH KOREA is the sport’s most successful nation. In fact, KOR has captured a quarter of the all the Gold Medals awarded since taekwondo’s 2000 debut in Sydney. There are seven 2-time Gold Medalists, but only four talents have captured 3 medals at the Summer Games – including South Korea’s Hwang Kyung-Seon, Iran’s Hadi Saei, USA’s Steven Lopez, and Mexico’s Maria Del Rosario Espinoza.
