He may easily be taken as one of the taekwondo practitioners or even fans who sat in the crowded and sweaty Sarhadchi Olympic sports center to watch through just another session of competition in Baku.

But what made him different from the other present taekwondo practitioners and fans was his insight he resorted to while following closely the competitors down on the limelighted mats, even though the competitors did not necessarily have to come from his native China.

Zhao Lei is a name which more Koreans know than do the Chinese, in that he is the one who spread the Korea-originated sport in China and he did it so fast and so efficiently that his proteges have combined to garner four Olympic gold medals and one bronze from the three Olympic Games in which taekwondo was listed as competition events.

"More often than not, the Koreans would ask me why China has done so well at their sport in such a short period of time," said Zhao while still glueing his eyes on the central mat, where the reigning world champion Joel Gonzalez Bonilla from Spain and Asian Games champion Wei Chen Yang from Chinese Taipei were just eliminated.

"In the past I keep myself informed about the sport (of taekwondo) by officiating the competition," said 50-year-old Zhao thoughtfully, "Now I keep myself informed about the latest trends in the sport by watching it from the spectators stands."

Refereeing the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics already turned Zhao Lei different from his referee colleagues, for he is so far the only one who has officiated three successive Olympic taekwondo contests.

In between the 2012 Olympic qualification matches, Zhao looked back into what had happened in China after the International Olympic Committee decided in Paris back in 1994 to include taekwondo as a competition event in the 2000 Olympics.

The then Chinese Sports Commission decided to form in 1995 a special taskforce team to learn the sport and prepare the country's competitors for future Olympics.

"I was given the honor to have been chosen for the task," said Zhao, sounding with enough pride after his team had proved to have been succeeded in preparing China well for the Olympics and the world championships.

Apart from the four Olympic golds, China has also collected as many gold medals from the worlds between 2007 and this year.

"The key to the Chinese success lies in the fact that we started the sport in urban areas of China," recalled Zhao. "You know, one needs not only the physical quickness to master an exacting sport like taekwondo. He or she also needs the mental quickness to do it and to get the smack of the sport. That's why the sport of taekwondo caught up with such urban areas in China as Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu which have produced lots of the country's top-echelon taekwondo practitioners."

Now already the secretary-general of the Chinese Taekwondo Association and a member on the executive board of the World Taekwondo Federation, Zhao led the Chinese delegation to the Baku world taekwondo qualification tournament for the 2012 London Olympics.

Even though Zhao does not have to officiate any of the world qualification matches in the Azerbaijani capital, he nonetheless paid no less attention to what happens on the mat and off, so as to keep himself abreast with the trends of the newest tricks up on the mat.

As a new sport facilitator who has achieved as much, Zhao is modest. "It's a mission unthinkable. I laid down the pens which I used to use as an office clerk with the (Chinese Sports) Commission to be among China's firsts to learn the kicks, punches, sweeps and throws, first in Australia and then in the Republic of Korea, before I could do anything with taekwondo in China."

Thanks to the hardworking efforts of Zhao and China's starting taekwondo practitioners, the Chinese have made themselves felt at the world taekwondo arenas.

Entering the Baku 2012 Olympic qualification tournament, China produced two reigning world champs to be seeded atop the women's minus 49- and minus 57-kilogram categories.

"But you see," Zhao added, pointing to the just emptied central mat, "taekwondo's attraction lies right in its unpredictability due to its competition format of single elimination. You can enter a competition as the reigning world champion but you can leave the mat beaten unexpectedly by someone no one ever expected him or her to do it."

As to taekwondo's other merits, Zhao said that more Chinese parents are sending their kids to taekwondo halls and houses, not to learn the fighting and self-defense tricks, but rather they send their kids to learn self-discipline and respect for the society.

"The Oriental social value is just another merit taekwondo boasts to attract the attention from millions around the world."

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