To be an international Taekwondo referee you need a lot of passion and discipline. The pay is practically symbolic because it is not a professional sport, but whoever participates as a judge, always has Taekwondo in his heart.
That is the case of the Greek referee who has participated for thirty years in competitions, including the official start of Taekwondo in the Olympics (Sydney 2000), and the event that marked the beginning of Parataekwondo in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
It was only at the President’s Cup that he told mundotaekwondo.com about his amazing career.
His name is Kostas Kaloudis and he started practicing TAEKWONDO in 1980. For three years (1984, ’85, ’86) he was champion of Greece in the category (-56kg) Junior.
In 1987 he decides to stop his competitive course and switches to Refereeing the Sport.
In 1991, after successful examinations, he became an International Referee in Ancient Olympia in Greece … the mother of the Olympic Games !!!
In 1992 the ETU invited him to represent his country at the European Men’s Championship in Valencia, Spain and since then until today closes 30 years of uninterrupted course !!
Today, he is 8th DAN of the Hellenic Taekwondo Federation and the 7th DAN of Kukkiwon and also he is an IR, WT grade “S” class Kyorugi & Para and 3rd class Poomsae.
The reference to Mr. KALOUDIS is made because it has achieved something unique for the sport of Olympic TAEKWONDO and especially in the field of Arbitration.
He has participated as a Referee representing Greece both in their first official participation TAEKWONDO in the Olympic Games-Sydney 2000, and in the first official participation of PARATAEKWONDO in the Paralympic Games-Tokyo 2020one !!!
He told us that he still feels strong, full of knowledge and experience and as long as he is healthy he will offer his services to the Sport that he loves and serves non-stop from 1980 until today !!!
He has its own Gymnastic Club (Taekwondo, Rhythmic, Ballet) in Athens and from time to time has produced athletes in Taekwondo of European and World level.
Also, on the occasion of this tribute he found the opportunity to thank for this course, initially all the Administrations and the Presidents of the Hellenic Taekwondo Federation for the support they provided, the WT and the ETU for the trust they showed with their calls to the various games and of course all his fellow Referees (National and International) because without them he would not be where he is !!!
Last but not least, he thanked his family because their love and faith in him, was the driving force that helped him overcome all the difficulties he encountered along the way, and thus achieve his goals !!!》
Carlos Hernández (MT).
