Sure, they wear pads but we're not talking Bruce Lee here. Just honest fighters, who've mastered the wicked art of kicking, chopping and maybe even the odd punch. With bare hands and feet no less. You've just got to respect that. Not to mention the sound effects. Though gold mightn't come easy, there's no loss of honour to lose to the Koreans. Just don't ask them for a drug test.

Okay, so these are the first Games to actually feature Taekwondo as a medal event but it's about time. There ain't many sports which can claim beginnings as far back as the Olympics themselves. And it may come as a surprise to learn that Taekwondo is practised in almost 200 countries. That's a lot more than some of the other fancy stuff they're throwing in these days. And does life not imitate art? One look at these guys (and gals, of course) and you'll rarely feel more insecure. - Ian O'Riordan

"Tae" means "to kick or smash with the foot"; "Kwon" means "to destroy with the fist" and "do" means "the art or way of". And so we have Taekwondo, an Olympic sport. You might wonder why the art of destroying with foot and fist is appearing this year for the first time as a medal sport when boxing and judo corner the market.

The answer might be had in the sports president, Dr Kim Un Yong, who just happens to be the vice president of the International Olympic Committee. Mr Yong pushed Taekwondo into the Seoul games in 1988 as a demonstration sport where all of the bouts were, astonishingly, won by Koreans.

That didn't look too good to outsiders who foolishly believed that Taekwondo was a Trojan horse for a Korean assault on the gold medal table. Given that the sport was created in 1957 and the first world championships were in 1973, its infancy was indeed extremely short.

Those who have witnessed bouts have been able to make several excursions to the fridge only to return to find little had changed. Like beach volleyball they may think of asking the women to wear G-strings and the men lycra to attract an audience. Then again, this is Korean martial farce. Bring on Sumo. - Johnny Watterson