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Taekwondo Kicks

The rules of Olympic taekwondo allow for competitors to score with their feet or their fists.
But athletes know the best way to make an impression on the judges is to score with the feet.
Nothing gets the attention of a judge -- or one's opponent --than a swift kick to the side of the head.

"Taekwondo is like 'Rock, paper, scissors, If there's an offensive move, there's a defensive move.
There's a counter to defense moves, and counter to counter moves, and counter to offensive, and so on.
Most world-class taekwondo competitors know the techniques. The key is to recognize opportunity."
Quote by: U.S. national coach Han Won Lee,  two-time Olympian and a bronze medal winner
when taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Gamesin Seoul.

Here are some of the most common kicks and the strategy behind them:

Counter roundhouse:
"Counter roundhouse kick (also known as badochagi kick) is countering the opponent's technique
with a roundhouse kick. When the opponent is attacking with the back side, whether it's the
roundhouse kick or ax kick, you counter with a back leg roundhouse kick by drawing the front foot back
and turning the hip over and kicking with the back leg."

Roundhouse:

"There are many different types of roundhouse kicks, and in taekwondo competition, 90 percent of the points are scored with a roundhouse kick. Less than 10 percent includes a back kick, ax kick, spin hook kick, and so on. This type of roundhouse kick is more of an offensive roundhouse kick."

Back kick:

"The back kick is a counter kick to anything coming towards the open side.
If an opponent attacks with a roundhouse kick or ax kick to the open side, the best best way to counter that move is with a back kick."

Turn kick:

"This is called Narabang, or turn kick. As you can see, they turn and kick.
It gives you a little bit of an illusion that the person's going to do a spinning hook kick, or a back kick.
But it turns out to be a roundhouse kick. So there's a little bit of a hesitation,
and that's enough for you to come and score with a front leg roundhouse kick."

Spinning hook:

"The spinning hook kick is very difficult to connect with. We call it the 'lottery' kick. You don't win lotto every day.
It is also a very powerful and intimidating, so we use this kick to intimidate the opponent so they don't always move in with ease."

Ax kick:

"The ax kick can be used as an offensive or a defensive technique. But in this particular exercise, Barbara is doing an ax kick counter.
Liz is kicking with a roundhouse kick to the back side, then Barbara is countering with the back leg ax kick."

Double:

"There are many different types of double kicks, but in this case, we demonstrate the offensive,
back-leg-lead double. When we do a single kick, to the back side for example, the person can counter
the first kick. So, in this case, by throwing the double kick to the back side and coming back towards
the front side, it gives you less chance of getting hit by the counter kick."

Credits: Page content courtesy of nbcolympics.com