The Olympic year of 2012 has dawned. At the beginning of the New Year, the joyful shouts of young people participating in the 1st Youth Winter Olympic Games rang out in the snowfield of Innsbruck and gave the world hope and excitement.
The expectations of the world for the 2012 London Olympic are much more earnest and greater than ever before because the world is currently faced with serious potential crises such as deteriorating economy and social unrest, global power shift, conflicts and confrontations among the nations, and natural catastrophes, which all generate great anxieties across the world.
The Olympics has instilled and fostered a joy of life, peace and prosperity in the hearts of mankind. This is the reason that people are looking forward to the upcoming London Olympics and anxious to make it a great success.
Under the circumstances, we realize that taekwondo has a great role to play because it originated in the spirit of bringing benefits to all mankind. So taekwondo athletes should stand in the forefront in practicing fair play and showing respect and friendship.
This year, Asian Taekwondo Union plans to hold both junior and senior championships simultaneously. So we will have a launching ceremony for the 2012 Olympic year and get ready for our challenge and expedition to that historic world event.
ATU and its members will give their best to the success of the London Olympics. Secondly, it will launch a new movement in order to solve the problems of young people across the world. Celebrating Taekwondo Day, which is September 4, we will simultaneously hold taekwondo events under the title, “Kicking of Miracles” in all member nations of the ATU. The participating athletes and members are expected to reflect on themselves while practicing the movements of Poomsae and breaking. The success of this event will depend on how much interest we can generate among many young people who are still ignorant of taekwondo. On Taekwondo Day this year, we intend to help all member nations to carry out volunteer programs in accordance with their circumstances so that the taekwondo values can take root in their societies.
We are also planning to have a friendship championship game between the East and West at the end of this year and will have a talk with the authorities of the ETU. If the male and female taekwondo athletes of the East and West get together to have friendly competitions, they will be able to extend the excitement of the London Olympic games and open the new era of cooperation and peace.
The year 2013 is the 40th anniversary of the World Taekwondo Federation. The taekwondo families should be united to promote taekwondo values as well as the Olympic spirit so that we can make contributions to the new world order marked by peace and prosperity. This is the role and responsibility of taekwondo as an Olympic sport.
Dr. Dai Soon, Lee
President of Asian Taekwondo Union
