Five things about the Rio Olympics taekwondo competition

South Korean taekwondo fighter Lee Dae-Hoon (L) during a training session at a gymnasium of the Taereung National Training Center in Seoul on March 29, 2016 AFP PHOTO /

It may be the Korean martial art, but taekwondo has gone global. South Korea tops the all-time gold medal count since the event's debut in 2000, but its pre-eminence is gone. Rio features a veritable United Nations of medal favourites from China, Iran, Turkey, Britain, Spain and elsewhere.

Two athletes are chasing a record third taekwondo gold: Defending women's flyweight champion Wu Jingyu of China, and Steven Lopez of the United States. Wu is famed for her jarring "axe" kick, in which she whips her foot up above an opponent's head then brings it crashing down on their skull. It will be an incredible fifth Olympic appearance for Lopez, who at 37 is likely to be the oldest fighter in Rio but has not won gold since 2004.