México

WT · Kukkiwon

México es la potencia histórica del Taekwondo olímpico en Latinoamérica: con dos oros en una sola Olimpiada (Pekín 2008), cuatro generaciones de medallistas y la figura de María del Rosario Espinoza — única latinoamericana con medalla en tres Olimpiadas consecutivas — el país lidera el continente en resultados y tradición. El TKD llegó en 1969 de la mano del Gran Maestro Dai-Won Moon y hoy cuenta con más de 1,5 millones de practicantes en 32 estados.

DESPLAZA

1969

primera academia (Moo Duk Kwan, D. Moon)

1976

fundación formal de la FEMEXTKD

oros olímpicos en Pekín 2008 — récord LATAM

1,5 M+

practicantes estimados

3.500+

academias activas

asociaciones estatales afiliadas

先

1968 – 1976

Pioneers

The Pioneers — Dai-Won Moon and Moo Duk Kwan

The man who built Mexican TKD from scratch

Taekwondo arrived in Mexico thanks to a historical coincidence. In 1968, Master Dai-Won Moon travelled to take part in a martial-arts seminar. Dr. Mondragón asked him to stay permanently and Moon accepted. In 1969 he founded the Moo Duk Kwan school in Mexico City — the country's first Taekwondo academy. That same year he conducted the first black-belt examination: Travis Lee Everitt became the first Mexican Dan.

From 1973 — the first year of the WTF World Championships — Moon personally took, trained and funded Mexican athletes through to the 6th World Championship in Copenhagen in 1983. Under his leadership, Mexico took 3rd place at the 1975 World Championship in Seoul. In 1979, Óscar Mendiola Cruz became the first Mexican world champion and the first Latin American to win gold at a WT Worlds: Stuttgart 1979, -68 kg, at age 19. The community calls Moon the Father of Mexican Taekwondo.

“The man who built Mexican TKD from scratch out of his own pocket.”
· Mexican TKD community on Dai-Won Moon

先

先First, pioneer

制

1976 – Hoy

Institutional

FEMEXTKD — federation and the first Pan American Championship

The first federation to organise a Pan American Championship

On 30 April 1976, the Mexican Taekwondo Federation (FEMEXTKD) was formally constituted. Its first president was José Ignacio Campillo. FEMEXTKD is affiliated with World Taekwondo (WT) and the Mexican Olympic Committee (COM), and brings together 32 state associations along with UNAM and IPN.

Mexico does not just compete: it organises. The First Pan American Taekwondo Championship was held in Mexico City from 22 to 24 September 1978, with 152 competitors from 10 countries — the first edition of a continental tradition. In 2025-2026 the federation went through an institutional crisis: WT suspended it for electoral irregularities. A provisional board of directors was put in place while the situation was being normalised.

“Mexico City, September 1978 — the first Pan American tournament in TKD history.”
· FEMEXTKD

制

制Control, mastery

奧

2000 – 2024

Olympic

Mexico at the Olympic Games

The only LATAM country with two Olympic golds in a single edition

Since Sydney 2000, Mexico has been on the podium at every one of the first five Olympic editions. Víctor Manuel Estrada Garibay opened the tally in Sydney 2000 (+80 kg, bronze) — the first LATAM country on the Olympic TKD podium. In Athens 2004, the Salazar siblings — Óscar (silver, -58 kg) and Iridia (bronze, -57 kg) — produced the first Latin American double podium.

The peak came in Beijing 2008: Guillermo Pérez (gold, -58 kg) and María del Rosario Espinoza (gold, +67 kg) made Mexico the only LATAM country with two golds in a single Olympics. Espinoza continued her historic career with bronze in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2016, becoming the only Latin American with medals at three consecutive Olympic Games. In Paris 2024, Daniela Souza and Carlos Sansores competed without reaching the podium.

“Mexico is the only LATAM country with two Olympic TKD golds in a single edition (Beijing 2008).”
· Latin American record

奧

奧Olympic, greatness

世

2000 – Hoy

Present

Mass appeal and generational handover

Over 1.5 million practitioners across 32 states

With more than 1.5 million practitioners and around 3,500 schools across the country, Mexico has the largest base of TKD practitioners in Latin America. FEMEXTKD has active presence in all 32 states. TKD is integrated into physical-education programmes in many states, with CONADE among its main sponsors.

The generational handover is led by Carlos Navarro Valdez (Ciudad Juárez, 1996), who spent 10 months as world No. 1 in -58/-63 kg — a historic milestone for Mexican TKD — and won bronze at the Baku 2023 World Championship. Daniela Souza and Carlos Sansores also stand out as representatives of the new Olympic generation.