CTV’s 1976 Tae Kwon Do championship on Wide World of Sports, w Jong Park’s & Chong Lee’s athletes.

This half-hour CTV episode of Wide World of Sports broadcasts the 1976 North American Tae Kwon Do Championship, hosted in Toronto, Canada. It features Tae Kwon Do athletes from the Jong Park School of Taekwon Do (in Toronto) and athletes from Chong Lee Taekwondo School (in Montreal). Grandmaster Jong-soo Park was one of my instructors for years, as I write in my book, “A Killing Art: The Untold History of Tae Kwon Do.“ Many of the athletes in the CTV show were world champions in sparring, patterns (’tuls’ or ’hyungs’), breaking techniques, and so on. The two schools were very competitive with each other for years (Toronto vs. Montreal), and the show is a great demonstration of Taekwon-Do from that era. Also, the competitors know each other, and there’s a lot of etiquette and a bit of camaraderie, especially in the last match between Richard Parris and Ray Nikiel. The show, not including blank spots and credits is about half an hour long. Here are the contents: 0:00-1:07 The introduction shows highlights of the show to come, featuring CTV commentators Bill Inkol and Larry Green. It’s interesting that even in 1976, the old myth about TKD being “ancient“ was alive and well. Green says: “Taekwon-Do is a combination of two martial arts, the Japanese style of Karate and the ancient Korean art of T’aekkyon, which is foot fighting.“ Actually, at that time, T’aekkyon had very little to do with Tae Kwon Do, which was Karate improved with all sorts of modern techniques, including complicated jumping kicks. 2:30-10:34 Master Park Jong-soo demonstrates self-defence techniques against a knife attack and, at 5:23, kicks and breaks a wooden board more than nine feet in the air. Harry Gomez, one of Master Park’s advanced black belts, attacks Park with various knife techniques. 10:48-11:47 Young Bo Kong does Choong-Moo pattern. He’s the referee for the five matches to come. 12:02-14:38 The commentators introduce the 10 fighters and explain how the five matches will work: a two-minute round of sparring for each pair of martial artists and a point system that allows hand or leg technique to the head or body. You’ll notice that the sparring matches are mainly for performance (not full contact), so the fighters are kicking above their opponents heads, pulling their punches, and that sort of thing. The martial artists are (in the ordered they’re introduced): From Chong Lee Taekwondo School: Ray Nikiel Jean Picard Denis (Denny) Langlois Pierre Mercier Nabil Zarra From Jong Park School of Taekwon Do: Alphonso (Gabbi) Gabbidon Do-Hee Lee Dwight Hennings Cees Keukens Richard Parris 14:39-17:45 Dwight Hennings versus Nabil Zarra. Interesting tidbit: the commentator notes that the arena is full of cigarette smoke. At the end of the match, it’s 1-1 (a draw). 17:46-22:07 Pierre Mercier vs. Cees Keukens. At the end of the match, it’s 1-1 (a draw). 22:08-25:06 Alphonso Gabbidon vs. Jean Picard. Gabbidon win, 1-0. 25:07-27:11 Blank screen. 27:12-33:37 Do-Hee Lee vs. Denis (Denny) Langlois. Lee wins, 1-0. 33:38-37:12 Ray Nikiel vs. Richard Parris. At 34:38, Parris pulls off a series of lead-leg kicks followed by a jumping reverse hook kick, and Nikiel ducks just in time. Nikiel wins the match, 4-1. 37:13-41:23 Blank screen and credits. Posted by Alex Gillis on April 14, 2024.