This summer in Paris, taekwondo sees its seventh Olympics, now as a more captivating and fairer sport with new sparring rules under landmark settings, according to the World Taekwondo (WT) president.

The Olympic taekwondo venue is in the heart of Paris, where the sport was officially selected as an Olympic sport 30 years ago. The stadium is the historic Grand Palais, where the World Expo was held in 1900.

“I have high expectations for the event being held in this stadium, which is a more special venue than any other Olympic stadium in history,” WT President Choue Chung-won said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul ahead of the Summer Olympics.

“We’ve been making changes since Sydney 2000, but this time we have a new set of competition rules and the sparring area will be 한국을 closer to the audience,” he said. Taekwondo first appeared as an official Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Games in the major Australian city.

The stadium at Grand Palais in downtown Paris, which Choue has already visited ahead of the event, seats 8,000 spectators.

Tickets are already sold out and the grand and picturesque atmosphere could overwhelm and even intimidate athletes, judges and spectators, Choue explained, as he expects the broadcast will become “a great spectacle” once it goes to broadcast.