This article details the qualifying phase for taekwondo at the 2016 Summer Olympics. The competition at these Games will comprise a total of 128 taekwondo fighters coming from their respective NOCs. Each NOC is allowed to enter up to a maximum of eight competitors, four of each gender, based on the WTF Olympic rankings, such that an athlete per NOC must be among the top six in each weight category. If an NOC has qualified a minimum of two male and a minimum of two female athletes through ranking, it cannot participate in the respective Continental Qualification Tournament unless it relinquishes the places obtained through ranking.
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Four places have been reserved to the host nation Brazil, and another four have been invited by the Tripartite Commission. The remaining 120 places are allocated through a qualification process in which athletes have won quota place for their respective NOC. 48 taekwondo fighters, 24 in each gender and the top 6 in each weight category, are eligible to compete through the WTF Olympic rankings, while the rest through the five Continental Qualification Tournaments.
If an NOC having qualified through a Qualification Tournament relinquishes a quota place, it would be allocated to the nation of the next highest placed athlete in the respective weight category of that tournament as long as the addition of the place does not exceed the maximum quota for that nation.
Men's events
Quota places are allocated to the respective NOC and not to competitor that achieved the place in the qualification event.
Women's events
Quota places are allocated to the respective NOC and not to competitor that achieved the place in the qualification event.