USA Taekwondo is the national governing body (NGB)

Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...

 of Taekwondo

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...

 for the United States Olympic Committee

United States Olympic Committee

The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...

 and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Taekwondo Federation

World Taekwondo Federation

The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation member of the International Olympic Committee for the competition events of the martial art of taekwondo...

 (WTF) in the USA. It began in the 1970s as the AAU National Taekwondo Association, and later broke away from AAU and created the United States Taekwondo Union (USTU). In 2005, its name changed to USA Taekwondo (USAT) after the USOC took over the governance of the USTU in 2004. In 2006, the first USA Taekwondo Board of Directors was elected by the membership.

In 2010, troubles again appeared in USA Taekwondo. Three directors resigned the USAT BOD in 2010. In 2011 after failing a USOC Audit of its books and best practices, the CEO of USA Taekwondo David Askinas resigned and was immediately rehired by the BOD as a "consultant." 2010 elections have not taken place as of October 2011 and the governance is in disarray. The USOC stepped in after the filing of two Section 10 challenges to the NGB status of USA Taekwondo.

The organization has complete authority over all decisions regarding U.S. national junior and senior team selections for World Taekwondo Federation events, including the Summer Olympic Games Taekwondo competition event. The tournaments that are held by the USAT are big and nationwide and many famous martial artists attend the events. The U.S. Open is one of the largest international Black belt

Black belt (martial arts)

In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...

-only events in the world.

Association Presidents/Chairmen

• Dr. Ken Min (Chairman-National AAU Taekwondo Committee 1974-1978)
• Dr. Dong Ja Yang (Chairman-AAU National Taekwondo Union 1979-1984)
• Grand Master Moo Young Lee (US Taekwondo Union 1985-1986)
• Grand Master Kyongwon Ahn
  Kyongwon Ahn
  Kyongwon Ahn, 9th dan , is a Korean taekwondo master who founded the United Taekwondo Association in the United States.Ahn was born in 1937 in Seoul, Korea, and began training in the martial arts began when he was 12 years old...
  
  (US Taekwondo Union 1986-1988, 1989–1992)
• Grand Master Hwa Chong (US Taekwondo Union 1993-1996)
• Grand Master Sang Lee (US Taekwondo Union 1997-2000)
• Harvey Berkey (Chair USA Taekwondo 2006)
• Ronda Sweet (chair USA Taekwondo 2007-2009)

External links

• USA-Taekwondo.us Official web site