turonaga Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 yes help put karate in the olympics then you join. i'll watch. why did we surrender lord?
Rich_2k3 Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Guys, although it's probably a bad idea, I think its still gonna happen. About 6 months ago when I first saw that karate may be joining the olympics I had a look on the WKF website, I saw a graph that had about 8 sports on it, there were things like ten-pin bowling, water skiing etc and also karate. It was a graph displaying the condtenders for the next sport to be added to the olympics, and karate was winning by a considerable margin. I think its out of our control, karate will most probably be joining the olympics soon. "When my enemy contracts I expand and when he expands I contract" - Bruce Lee
Rich_2k3 Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Dtimes/Pages/articledt16.htm Please read this it should shine some light on the subject. It actually describes how the olympics will try to keep karate's honour and tradition and how karate will change, maybe in a good way. I also found this if anyone wants to support karate in the olympics: http://www.aakf.org/docs/petition.html Its basically a "merger of the ITKF and the WKF into the World Karate Union and wish you to recognize traditional karate with its competition events as an official, fully-recognized sport in the Olympics." I dont know if i'm gonna support it though... what do u guys reakon, after reading the first link? "When my enemy contracts I expand and when he expands I contract" - Bruce Lee
aefibird Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 lol, I just had a sudden funny thought. I wonder if there's a similar discussion going on in the WaterSkierForums? No disrespect to anyone who waterski's (it's a sport I've always wanted to try but never got round to) but I wonder if they're having the same discussion about how entering the Olympics would be bad for the future of waterskiing... Sorry. Just my quirky sense of humour being wierd again. Yeah, I agree that it is quite inevitable that karate will be joining the Olympics, I just wish it wasn't gonna happen. What worries me about it all is the future of kata. What if competitors are only allowed to perform kata from a set list? Who's gonna pick the kata that they can do? What about lesser-known styles of karate? I can see that a new form of karate will be created - Olympic Karate - and then non-martial artists will be under the misguided impression that this watered down version of 'karate' is what our beloved martial art is all about. It will come to it that "Olympic Karate" is 'in' and everything else will be left to struggle along by the wayside. "Was it really worth it? Only time and death may ever tell..." The Beautiful South - The Rose of My CologneSheffield Steelers!
Rich_2k3 Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 I dont think it will be olympic karate as such, but styles that have joined the soon to be created World Karate Union. They say its traditional karate, and they say they will try to keep karate as a honourable and respected martial art, but we'll have to see. I cant imagine it being too different than what we get at the moment in the World Karate Tournements, I mean its the same organisation(WKF) mixed with an organisation that is a supporter of traditional karate(ITKF), thats not a bad mix... "When my enemy contracts I expand and when he expands I contract" - Bruce Lee
aefibird Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 I'm still not gonna get my hopes up about it, though. "Was it really worth it? Only time and death may ever tell..." The Beautiful South - The Rose of My CologneSheffield Steelers!
Rich_2k3 Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Heres a quote on what they are trying to achieve: "In the recent years, karate has enjoyed a rapid growth in popularity, thanks to the current WKF Kumite and Kata Rules which made karate competition fair, fun, exciting and, above all, safe. Although drastic changes in these rules have been proposed by some, we must be very careful when attempting to modify the rules that have brought karate such success, including IOC recognition. Temptations are always there to make the sport more spectacular, appealing and exciting; this, however, would result in fundamentally altering the nature of the sport and losing sight of its original purposes, thus causing the sport to decline due to a smaller number of participants, and the audience to lose respect for the sport. There are many sports that have successfully avoided such a trap: golf, tennis and fencing (European), among others, enjoy their popularity without having had to modify their rules to be more appealing to the mass audience. They accomplished this by educating the public about their sports, rules and traditions, and by inviting the public to join. Karate must remain a participation sport and therefore, the rules must first consider the safety of the athletes: not only of those who compete in the World Championships or the Olympic Games, but also of athletes of all ages and skill levels in local, regional and national competitions, and even of those who do not compete at all. I oppose any attempt to make gladiators out of karate athletes, sacrificing their safety. Professional wrestling and kick boxing may be fun to watch but they do not belong in the Olympics. Promoting karate the right way will take many years of work. We need to provide better training for the referees and judges so that the competition will be fair. We must improve the rules to make it even safer so that more people (including younger children) can participate. And we must educate the general public through a better public relations effort. The stories about the history, tradition, honor, dignity and indomitable spirit of the sport and its athletes must be told so that everyone can understand and share the virtues that karate provides and the traditional wisdom it represents. Traditional karate is like classical music or ballet. The music of Mozart, Beethoven or Bach may be arranged to some degree, depending on the individual musician’s interpretation of the music. However, if it changes the basic nature of the music, it is no longer “classical.” It is tradition that provides the depth in art. Such tradition must remain and stay alive in the sport of karate. Karate must also maintain its own identity as an independent sport. Changing the rules to render karate more similar to tae kwon do, judo or boxing would have a negative effect on karate for many years to come, and will eventually kill it." "When my enemy contracts I expand and when he expands I contract" - Bruce Lee
Sig Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 Karate is scheduled to make its entry in the 2008 games all you need to do is google the olympics and you will find it on there main site. Better have it and not need it than to need it and not have it
Rich_2k3 Posted April 13, 2004 Author Posted April 13, 2004 Oh yeah, theres another martial art on there too; wushu. "When my enemy contracts I expand and when he expands I contract" - Bruce Lee
Sauzin Posted April 13, 2004 Posted April 13, 2004 (edited) I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I'd like to list a few objections in order of the amount that they tick me off. 1. Karate is not a SPORT! It is not competitive and there is no winning or loosing. You’d have just as easy of a time turning abstract painting into an Olympic sport. There's a reason why they call it Karate-do. It's a way of living not a way of competing! 2. The decision to place Karate in the Olympics will only serve to further the publics inaccurate perception that karate consists of people beating the crap out of each other, high flying kicks, and karate chops. Because that is what will win competitions. 3. This will also cause a further rift between those who choose to practice "sport karate" and "traditional karate". Any organization no matter how big that chooses to endorse the Olympic sport will only further separate itself from traditionalists. And I don't mean the big corporate "traditionalists". No I mean the mom and pop arts that are being practiced in the back yards on sand and dirt in the streets of Okinawa. 4. We already have sport karate in the Olympics. It's called Tae Kwon Do! 5. We'll be lucky if the American announcers even pronounce the name right "And next at the 2008 Summer Olympics Karauddie competition!" 6. The fact that this is already happening makes me afraid to take up knitting for fear they might turn it into an Olympic sport too! Edited April 13, 2004 by Sauzin The only two things that stand between an effective art and one that isn't are a tradition to draw knowledge from and the mind to practice it.
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