I have been competing for a few years right now and it really saddens me that I don't see Karatedo in the Olympics. If you compare Competition TKD and Competition Karate, I can see that TKD is more brutal than Karate. The competitors hit their opponents in full contact and a knockout is considered as a win. In my tournament experience here in the Philippines, I see more of my TKD friends get more injured than me or any of my Karate buddies. The only difference is that Sports TKD wears protective gear and in Karate all there is, is a mouth guard and a glove. So why is Karate not in the Olympics?
I believe (Don't quote me) that Karate is being trialed at the 2008 Olympics and officially being recognised at the 2012 games. This will be the WKF rules system which is very light and continuous, ie spectator friendly.
In the USA the TKD sparring I have seen in competitions is very light point sparring. I never heard that TKD is more brutal than say kyokushin or GOJU RYU in ompetition at least in the tornamnets I have looked into.
Hope you don't mind quoting you IMHO this does not constitute spectator friendly. But then again I think a more "visual" element needs to be introduced before either MA will gain much popularilty in the olympics. Think we need some technolgy to help us here.
couple years ago there was a press release from olympics comitte on which are the recognize olympics sport and karate was one of them and this coming 2004, wkf was formally invited to do some demonstration (i believe they will only doing some kata), and from there the olympic comitte will decide if karate will be introduce in 2008 as an official olympic sport entry. visit the olympic official website and search on their archives http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp
for those who's lazy to search on the web, here's the link for all the recognize olympic sport, watch the word 'RECOGNIZE' ......not OFFICIAL http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/recognized/index_uk.asp
Personally I think making it an olympic sport would be a bad thing for the art. If you look at TKD (and no offence to the TKD-er's here) its become much more competition orientated since it became an olympic sport. Same thing with Judo. I wouldn't like to see karate go down that road myself. Also, I think the level of protection the fighters wear would need to be increased (nothing in my style) and the level of contact allowed would have tobe lessened. No chance would full contact karate be allowed, even though Olympic boxing is full contact. And TKD more brutal than Karate? You need to get your ass to a Kyokushin full contact tourament asap, then see if you think TKD is more brutal!
Imagine the little cameras we could put on our dogis, or on a head band. There's some instant replays for you. lol TWD more brutal than Kyokushin..... *shaking head*....nope Cheers
this is the way i remember this, every olympic event, the host country can propose a new sport to be added to olympics and has the chance to officianate as a legit olympic sports, when japan host the olympics they had a chance to chose from aikido, judo, kendo and karate. the vote was narrowed down to judo and karate, the japanese government choose judo for the fact that the judo group are more organize and has a clear outline for pointing system and rules to follow. when korea host the olympics, they introduce tkd. the next two country that will host the next two olympics (04 & 08) are both european country, and as you know, traditional karate are well spread in europe and they say this give karate an edge to be selected as the next official olympic sports. all of this are just a recollection from what i've read a couple years ago... any comments?
I hope Karate makes it... lol It would be awsome to see it be that broad... however, how would it work in contrast to tkd is the biggest concern of all... and I think it woud allot grabs and throws... but I don't know... I would like to se Wushu make it... but that is offtopic
Yes, In a way I have. JKA rules are not like the WKF rules. In our (JKA) tournaments, fouls are never counted. As long as it's a legitimate technique that has sanchin and rigid application, nomatter how hard the contact is, it is counted as a point. And the scoring is quite simple too. It's an IPPON SHOUBO so the first one who scores a full point wins. I've had a few battle scars I'm proud of.
Yeah, Olympic Sport Karate could be bad for the art. But it sure would be great to see Karate in the Olympics. I just hope that the balance between the sport and the martial arts will be maintained. We at the JKA Phils are proud that we maintained that balance.
Olympic news about 'Traditional Karate'? just wondering if anybody heard any news about the 'Traditional Karate' demostration?
as far as light contact is concerned, as somebody mentioned it, i have been competing for years on different levels, state, international and TKD has never been light contact. it has always been full contact. as far as TKD being spoiled with the sport aspect, as somebody else mentioned, I don't agree. it improved it in my opinion. many people believe that schools in which TKD practitioners go to competitions do only that. maybe there are schools like that. but remember that nothing can be generalised in that way. there are high quality TKD schools out there in which different aspects of the art are practised.
i hate how they make marial ats in the olimpics cus then that makes people who have no talent want to try it and that put sham to the martial artist who have wrked for years and years to perfect the techiniqes so i say leave martial arts as tounamnets and keep it out of the olimpics o and no offense Kyokushin'ers, i do tkd,and kapkido and ujiitsue, i personlly thnk tkd is more brutal, the tounaments i go to are full contact bloodie any thing u can do to win, wile still doin tkd that is lol. but thats just my opinion
Look out the "11 year old black belt". That's one of the U.S.A.'s highest level karate tournaments the kid is competing in. Watching that kid and most of the people that compete in those tournaments shows that karate has already become too "sport oriented". Karate is so far down the sports road in the competitive scene as it is that it really can't get much worse. So it might aswell become an olympic sport. Maybe though, they could setup sparring rules like TKD, and have a forms section that requires TRADITIONAL kata. If they did that (not sure they would, but could) stuff, it would make these so-called black belts that are all flash and nothing else take a hike. So I don't see how it could do any more harm, but there's some potential in the idea. And i also like that idea someone mentioned of allowing some grappling aswell in the fighting, or making the grappling a seperate section.
There are Karate schools that only focus on sport and competitions now as well, but also ones that are traditional and the ones that are at some point inbetween. Making it an olympic sport might increase the number of sport/competition based school, but I highly doubt it would eliminate the other schools. BTW... isn't the 2008 olympics in Bejing not europe?
Didn't see this before I just posted a second ago.... I think you'd want to leave 'judged' parts of it out like the kata's simply to avoid promoting the glitz and fabrication of things like the 11 y/o BB. If you make it point sparring, or full contact fights I think it would be better off.
I don't see why they don't just come up with a universal set of kickboxing rules for the Olympics (such as continuous, full contact, all leg and hand techniques allowed to the head, torso, and thighs, standard kickboxing stuff) that would allow karate-ka, TKD people, kickboxer, thai boxers, etc. to all compete. Having a TKD competition and karate competition separately is kind of stupid IMO. They both use punches and kicks...yet the rules are designed so those styles will excell in them. Sanshou (kickboxing + takedowns) would allow judo-ka and wrestlers to compete, or if they had pankration/pancrase or MMA then everyone could.
