what martial arts should be made an olympic sport?

[jedimc]

Actaully i think Wushu's moving in and Taekwondo is getting kicked out. not sure

[AngelaG]

I heard something about misappropriated funds etc. and therefore TKD in the next Olympics is looking a bit dodgy. I fully admit that it is all just gossip and rumour though, so don't ask me to back up my source .

[tufrthanu]

Both the USTU and the WTF had problems with corruption in leadership over the last couple of years. Hopefully those problems have been settled. I think TKD is still in for the next olympics. Wushu will be introduced as a Demo sport at the 2008 Olympics and therefore there will be no official medals given. Kind of like taekwondo was in 1988. The host country of the olympics chooses if they wish to put on a demo sport.

[SevenStar]

I agree with Angela. Look at what the Olympics have done to judo and TKD...made them a sport, not a "martial art".

 

I completely disagree. martial sports ARE martial arts. why do people think that judo, boxing, muay thai, etc. are any less martial than "traditional styles"? IMO, it actually betters the art in that it produces a wider range of capable MAs.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I completely disagree. martial sports ARE martial arts. why do people think that judo, boxing, muay thai, etc. are any less martial than "traditional styles"? IMO, it actually betters the art in that it produces a wider range of capable MAs.

 

OK...I agree that judo, boxing and muay thai are still viable martial arts, and even in a sporting aspect they would be good for street self-defense (which is how I view the martial arts)...but I don't share that opinion with Olympic TKD.

 

The past couple of Olympics that I have seen where TKD competed was, for me anyway, a great disappointment...and quite honestly, a farce in the sense that it was depected as a viable martial arts. My non-martial artist friends that also watched it openly laughed at two grown adults standing nearly nose to nose with each other, and trying to kick each other on the head. They kept screaming "Why doesn't he PUNCH HIM???"

 

I hope this post will not be deleted as it will appear that I am bad mouthing TKD...which I'm not. I am giving my opinion of Olympic Style TKD...not TKD in general.

[tufrthanu]

Here's the problem with the olympic TKD sparring: It's not that the tkd practioners dont do punching during their regular training but the judges never hardly score a punch, so it becomes pointless, literally, for the competitors to attempt to punch each other. With some minor rule changes and instruction to the judges to start scoring punches you would see alot of the hands down chicken fighting disappear.

[AngelaG]

I have said this before, but I still don't understand why the Olympic TKD practitioners don't still keep their hands up. It could help guard against a kick, even if the opponent is unlikely to throw a punch.

[jedimc]

I have said this before, but I still don't understand why the Olympic TKD practitioners don't still keep their hands up. It could help guard against a kick, even if the opponent is unlikely to throw a punch.

Maybe because if a judge sees your hands go down - and block the circle thingy that they have to score points with, the opponent will get scored extra, so they have their hands down all the time so they dont makes mistakes.

[tufrthanu]

The reason I have been given is that raising the hands to a normal fighting posture opens the torso for more hits. Since the judges do not score punches like they should the only real benefit you are getting from raising your arms is to not get kicked in the face, however, the great majority of kicks land on the body and so they feel its more important that thats where their hands should be.

[Shane]

I would like to see Capoeira in the Olympics. I think it would be a very interesting event to watch. After doing some reading online, it looks like some groups are trying to get it in, and they say that in 10 years we might see it in the Olympics