World Taekwondo Drops the F

(ATR) The WTF is gone; long live the WTF.

WTF is the World Taekwondo Federation. It is also a popular expletive phrase shortened down to fit easier in a 140 character text message. There will be no conflating of the two phrases going forward with the federation’s new rebranding.

The WTF is now World Taekwondo, even if its current championships, are for the time being, the 2017 WTF World Taekwondo Championships.

A new logo and name were rolled out during the world championships, although Jin Bang Yang, World Taekwondo Director General, told Around the Rings the full rebrand won’t take effect for another year. As a result video graphics tend to show the old federation’s logo, while the competition’s field of play showcases the new one.

"We’ve been working for this project almost two years," Yang said to ATR. "We wanted to make the new launch at this time, but it is still not completely covered in every area and every region."

Yang says that the new name should help "expand the scope" of the federation. Ahead of the rebrand the World Taekwondo Federation competed to stand out against numerous other international taekwondo organizations. One such federation, the International Taekwondo Federation, also holds a world championship under different taekwondo styles and rules.

World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue said in a press release that "negative connotations" surrounding the old acronym were a driving force behind the rebrand.

Motivation for the rebrand was threefold, one World Taekwondo official told ATR. The official spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to speak on the record for the federation.

First, the new logo can be slightly altered to be used for a wide range of promotional material, the official said. The kicking figure was chosen because of its instant recognition with the sport, and was designed to look like a "T." The figure is shaded in the five colors of the Olympic Rings.

That recognition is the second motivation, to move "away from the alphabet of federations". Given World Taekwondo’s status as the IOC-recognized body for the sport, dropping "federation" from the name doesn’t lose its tie to the Olympic movement. The rebrand better associates the federation with its humanitarian and social exploits, the official said.

"We’re not just a federation," the official said. "We [also] needed to bridge traditional and new audiences."

Finally, the third motivation was for sponsors. As humorous as the acronym was, sponsors viewed it in a negative light, and it was subjected to internet censorship at times. The official recalled a story where World Taekwondo leaders were shuttled around the London Olympics with a large "WTF Executive Council," sign prompting Londoners to want to take pictures with it.

Regardless, World Taekwondo will lose one of the more instantly recognizable acronyms to the casual sports fan. Yang says the federation is considering going by the moniker "WT," but for now World Taekwondo remains the official nomenclature.

"I think everybody likes to call it World Taekwondo," Yang said.

Written by Aaron Bauerin Muju

Travel paid for by World Taekwondo

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