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Olympic taekwondo anybody's game: US coach

From Sports Illustrated • SI Images: Photos from the Games • Michael Farber: Cuba, U.S. renew hostilities on the baseball field • SI For Women's Kelli Anderson: Arab women make breakthrough • Richard Hoffer: Johnson-Jordan follows in father's Olympic footsteps • Grant Wahl: U.S. men more than a soccer story • Brian Cazeneuve: A look at the Games' top swimming moments • Medal Picks: SI's Predictions More Features • Day at a Glance: Fast company • Wake-up Call: Tracking the day in sports • CNNSI.com's Luba Vangelova: Sydney Scene • Viewers' Guide: What to watch for • Statitudes: Mourning By The Numbers • Quiz: Today's Tester Athletes • 10 Questions: Cathy Freeman • Just Checking IN: U.S. baseball assistant Ray Tanner • Head Games: U.S. swimmer Tom Malchow • Athlete Bios: U.S. Rosters Multimedia • Photo Gallery: Fast track • Photo Gallery: Shots of the Day • Multimedia Central: Photo Galleries, Video and More

SYDNEY, Sept 23 (AFP) - US coach Han Won Lee believes the Sydney Games taekwondo competition will be wide open when the 2,000-year-old Korean martial art makes its Olympic debut.

"South Korea, Spain and Iran are all very good. There are a lot of countries that have a good chance," said Lee, who won a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Games when taekwondo was made a demonstration sport for the first time.

"There is not one country that is the strongest across the board. Everyone is catching up with each other," said the taekwondo coach from the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

"It depends on who is having a good day and who has the best attitude going into the tournament."

The United States field four fighters -- World Cup champion Juan Miguel Moreno (men's under-58kg), 1999 Pan American champion Steven Lopez (men's under-68kg), 1998 World Cup champion Kay Poe (women's under-49kg) and Barbara Kunkel (women's under-67).

"We have been together for two and a half months. Right now we are tapering off, taking it easy in practice as we get closer to competition," Lee said. "Our team looks good and I think everyone has a chance to win a medal."

The four-day taekwondo competiton will begin next Wednesday with 100 fighters battling it out in four weight divisions each for men and women.

The Koreans are expected to dominate the explosive combat sport of punching and kicking. But they were allowed to send just four fighters -- two men and two women -- under a quota imposed to prevent a South Korean monopoly.

Moreno, 29, who won the silvers at the Seoul and Barcelona Games, said: "I definitely want to win a gold medal and that's what my sights are set on."

He said it was an "incredible accomplishment" for taekwondo to be recognised as a full Olympic sport. "I think we are finally being recognised as serious athletes.

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