Arlene Limas (born February 9, 1966) is an American taekwondo practitioner and multiple international gold medalist….who is of Mexican and Polish descent….who graduated with honors from Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago and received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from De Paul University in 1990. Limas made history when she became the first American to win a gold medal at the 24th Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea in taekwondo….which made its Olympic debut as an exhibition sport….who is currently a member of the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, characterized by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques. Taekwondo was developed during the 1940’s and 1950’s by Korean martial artists with experience in martial arts such as karate, Chinese martial arts, and indigenous Korean martial arts traditions such as Taekkyeon, Subak, and Gwonbeop. The oldest governing body for taekwondo is the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA)….which was formed in 1959 through a collaborative effort by representatives from the nine original kwans, or martial arts schools, in Korea. The main international organisational bodies for taekwondo today are the International Taekwon-Do Federation(ITF), founded by Choi Hong Hi in 1966….and the partnership of the Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo (WT, formerly WTF), founded in 1972 and 1973 respectively by the Korea Taekwondo Association. Gyeorugi ([kjʌɾuɡi]), a type of full-contact sparring, has been an Olympic event since 2000. The governing body for taekwondo in the Olympics and Paralympics is World Taekwondo.
