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A Taekwondo practitioner demonstrating dollyo chagui technique.

Taekwondo, the world's most popular martial art, originated in Korea. In the 1950s and 60's, modern rules were standardized, and Taekwondo became an official Olympic sport in 2000. Taekwondo in the military is an integral part in the Korean land forces. Other Korean martial arts include taekkyeon, hapkido, tangsoodo, kuksoolwon and subak.

The South Korean national football team is widely regarded as the most successful football team in Asia. It currently holds the best FIFA World Cup record among Asian teams and in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan, South Korea became the first and only Asian team to reach the semi-finals, beating Spain, Italy and Portugal in the knock-out stages. The football team, also known as the "Taeguk Warriors", played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany for their sixth consecutive World Cup.

In 1988, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics in Seoul, coming fourth in the world with 12gold medals, 10 silver medals and 11 bronze medals. South Korea regularly comes in the top ten countries in the Olympic Games, performing particularly strongly in archery, shooting, table tennis, badminton, short track speed skating, handball, hockey, freestyle wrestling,baseball judo, taekwondo, and weightlifting. South Korea has also hosted the Asian Games in 1986 and 2002.

Baseball was first introduced to Korea in 1905 and has since become the most popular spectator sport in South Korea. The first South Korean professional sports league was the Korea Baseball Organization, established in 1982. During the 2006 World Baseball Classic, South Korea came third in the world. In the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, South Korea won the gold medal, beating Cuba 3-2 in the finals on a home run by Lee Seung Yub.

In 2007, South Korea hosted a cycling competition called Tour de Korea. It was the first international cycling competition in South Korea in 10 years. In 2010 South Korea will host their first Formula One race to be staged at Korean International Circuit in Yeongam about 240 miles (390 km) south of Seoul.

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