The European Taekwondo Championships are the European senior championships in Taekwondo, first held in Barcelona in 1976. The event is held every two years and is organized by the European Taekwondo Union, the continental affiliate of World Taekwondo, which organises and controls Olympic style taekwondo. An additional event, the G4 Extra European Taekwondo Championships were exceptionally held in 2019.
The championships should not be confused with:
the European Games taekwondo competitions, which form part of a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition;
the EITF European Taekwondo Championships, a championships organised by the European International Taekwondo Federation, the continental arm of the International Taekwondo Federation.[1]
the European Taekwondo Championships Olympic Weight Categories, also organised by the ETU but only a G-1 ranked tournament while the European Taekwondo Championships are ranked as a G-4 tournament and also the most important continental competition.
In addition to the kyorugi (full contact fighting) Championships, there are also Para European Championships[2][3] as well as Poomsae and Para Poomsae Championships held every two years.[4][5]
The G4 Extra European Taekwondo Championships were held in November 2019 as a form of compensation for European athletes to provide them the chance to collect ranking points for the 2020 Olympic Games after taekwondo was dropped from the 2019 European Games program.[7]World Taekwondo Europe (WTE) president referred to it as the continental flagship event.[8]
^ITF is a smaller international federation unaffiliated to either WTF or IOC, and competing under slightly modified rules including the wearing of padded gloves and footwear.
^"World Taekwondo 2020 Magazine". No. 107. p. 231. Europe remains the leading CU in the world with a record number of athletes participating in our events and a record number of 28 G-ranked events on our continent, including European Championships in eight different member countries. Our flagship event, G4 Extra European Championships for seniors in Italy was a huge success. Not only did we see the best of the best competing...{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
