Argentina
ITF
Argentina es la potencia histórica del Taekwondo ITF en América Latina. Con raíces que se remontan al 22 de junio de 1967 — cuando tres maestros coreanos enviados directamente por el General Choi Hong Hi desembarcaron en Buenos Aires —, el país construyó en décadas una de las comunidades ITF más grandes del mundo. Ha organizado dos Campeonatos Mundiales ITF en su territorio (1981 y 1999), conquistado dos títulos mundiales por equipos (2003 y 2007), y en 2024 fue sede de la Copa del Mundo ITF donde lideró el medallero con más del 70% de las preseas disponibles.
Pioneers
The Pioneers — Kim Han Chang and General Choi's mission
Argentina as the ITF's gateway to South America
On 22 June 1967, three Korean masters — Han Chang Kim, Nam Sung Choi and Kwang Duk Chung — disembarked in Buenos Aires aboard a Dutch cargo ship. They carried a personal mission from General Choi Hong Hi: to spread Taekwondo across South America. Kim Han Chang, the highest-ranked of the three (4th Dan), had been trained directly by Choi and spoke Spanish. The three had originally been bound for Paraguay, but Kim convinced his companions to settle in Argentina.
The martial art quickly attracted young Argentines, and by the early 1970s it was already practised in several cities across the country. Argentina thus became the entry point of the ITF system into the South American continent — a historical debt that the ITF world acknowledges to this day.
“Kim Han Chang arrived sent directly by General Choi — Argentina was the ITF's gateway to South America.”
First World Champ.
Consolidation and First LATAM World Championship — Resistencia 1981
Argentina hosts the first ITF World Championship in Latin America
With the discipline established in Buenos Aires and expanding into the country's interior, Argentina became one of the most important actors in the global ITF. The peak of this era came in August 1981, when the city of Resistencia, Chaco, hosted the III ITF World Championship — the first ITF Worlds held outside the Asian or North American powerhouses. The event demonstrated the country's organisational capacity and projected Argentine Taekwondo internationally.
The practitioner community kept growing independently of the WT, developing its own identity marked by the Sine Wave, the Tul and the Matsogi. Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario consolidated as the main hubs of Argentine ITF.
“The III ITF World Championship in Resistencia (1981) was the first held in Latin America.”
Golden Era
The Golden Era — Prone and the XI World Championship in Buenos Aires
Argentina as continental and global ITF reference
The 1980s and 1990s consolidated Argentina as the regional ITF reference. On the athletic side, Noemí Prone emerged as the standout figure of Argentine ITF — and eventually of all ITF history — winning her first world titles in Montreal 1990 and Pyongyang 1992. General Choi Hong Hi symbolically adopted her as a daughter after watching her perform the Juche tul at a seminar in Buenos Aires.
In 1999, Buenos Aires hosted the XI ITF World Championship (28 August to 5 September), a legendary event for the Argentine community. It was the second time the country had organised an ITF Worlds, confirming its standing as the ITF reference in Latin America.
“Buenos Aires hosted the XI ITF World Championship in 1999 — twenty-one years before receiving another (XIX edition, 2019).”
World Champions
World Champions — two consecutive team titles
The only Latin American country to achieve it
After Choi Hong Hi's death in 2002, the ITF fragmented into three factions. Argentina, far from weakening, navigated that fracture with pragmatism: its athletes were crowned team world champions twice in a row — at the XIII World Championship in 2003 in Seoul and at the XIV World Championship in 2007 in Birmingham. Soledad Serrano contributed individual gold medals at the 2003, 2005 and 2007 World Championships. Noemí Prone added her third world title in Daejeon 2004.
It was the most competitive decade in Argentine ITF history. No other Latin American country has achieved two consecutive team world titles in any branch of Taekwondo.
“Two consecutive team world titles (2003 and 2007) — the only Latin American country to do it.”
Superpower
Consolidated Powerhouse — The modern ITF superpower
127 golds at the 2024 World Cup in Mar del Plata
The second decade of the 21st century saw new generations of champions emerge. At the XXII ITF World Championship in Astana 2023, Argentina collected 41 medals in total (11 gold, 5 silver, 25 bronze). In 2024, Mar del Plata hosted the 9th ITF World Cup with 1,700 athletes from 40 countries — Argentina led the medal table with 127 gold, 124 silver and 271 bronze, taking over 70% of the available medals.
In July 2025, at the Junior World Championship in Barcelona, the Argentine team conquered two new world titles: the women's junior team in patterns and the men's junior team in sparring. FETRA ITF, founded in 2018 and chaired by GM Jorge Condomí, has been recognised by ITF-Vienna as the official body since 2019, consolidating the country's institutional structure.
“At the 2024 World Cup in Mar del Plata, Argentina won over 70% of all available medals.”
Taekwondo en Argentina
- ›Pionero fundador del ITF en Argentina (22 jun 1967)
- ›Enviado personal del General Choi Hong Hi
- ›Abrió el primer dojang ITF en Argentina
- ›IX Dan — Gran Maestro
- ›Figura de referencia del ITF en Sudamérica
- ›🥇 Tres títulos mundiales ITF: 1990, 1992 y 2004
- ›Adoptada simbólicamente por el General Choi Hong Hi
- ›Salón de la Fama del Taekwondo ITF (2011)
- ›IX Dan — primera mujer argentina en ese grado (2024)
- ›Coautora de la Enciclopedia LEGACY junto a GM Choi Jung Hwa
- ›IX Dan — primer argentino nativo en alcanzar ese grado (2017)
- ›Presidente fundador de FETRA ITF (2018)
- ›FETRA ITF reconocida por ITF-Viena como organismo oficial (2019)
- ›Sede Mar del Plata — referente del ITF en el sur de LATAM
Sigue explorando
La historia del Taekwondo continúa en cada dojang, en cada clase, en cada estudiante.