Karate, Wushu in the Running for 2020 Summer Olympics

[Patrick]

http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/13128825/baseball-softball-8-sports-proposed-2020-games

Karate and wushu are among 8 sports that will be considered for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The federations for all 8 will make a presentation in Tokyo in August, and organizers will make recommendations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the end of September. The IOC will decide which sports will be added to the slate.

A number of other sports applied but did not make this cut, including sumo wrestling.

[liger]

I hope they makes it and stay on the list for the rest of all time!

[sensei8]

Interesting news; thanks for sharing it, Patrick!!

[Spodo Komodo]

I kind of hope that Karate doesn't get into the Olympics. I love Karate down to its roots but traditional Karate dojos are already pretty rare around here compared to sports karate/cardio karate/karate kickboxing.

[bushido_man96]

This will be interesting. With the games being in Tokyo, I'd be willing to bet that Karate might end up being a demonstration sport at the least.

But baseball is big in Japan, as well. It'll be interesting to see which gets in.

[wayneshin]

Not holding my breath on this although I am quite involved in WKF competition. We have been down this path too many times.

Our best hope to beat baseball is the inclusion of kata will almost guarantee Japan one or more Gold medals.

[Judodad_karateson]

Sadly, I don' think we would ever see this. Maybe as an exhibition art, but never as a main art. TKD got there first, and it looks too much like Karate to the untrained eye to be placed side-by-side as different sports.

Between Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, TKD, and fencing, I'm not sure there is any more room for another combat sport in the Olympics. Combat just isn't as popular (or at least not a recognized) as traditional sports.

Though, as a side note, if Judo keeps up this practice of creating rules that favor Nage waza over nawaza, they might be able to make a good case for BJJ, submission wrestling, or MMA.

[JR 137]

I've read about this in a few different places. The main argument (I think anyway) is what rules will be followed? There's so many different ways to compete and point systems.

I think karate's best shot at success at this level is knockdown rules. WKF or other point fighting rules would be too close to TKD to the untrained eye. Add to that that more and more people question TKD and Karate's effectiveness (seeing MMA as the truth somehow), and I think you'd have to go knockdown.

I'd also much rather watch knockdown than WKF. I have little interest in point fighting, so probably would watch a round or two at most.

[sensei8]

The more that's added to the Olympics, the more it uninteresting it becomes to watch!! I'm slowly becoming disenchanted with the entire event.

Imho.

[Judodad_karateson]

I've read about this in a few different places. The main argument (I think anyway) is what rules will be followed? There's so many different ways to compete and point systems.

I think karate's best shot at success at this level is knockdown rules. WKF or other point fighting rules would be too close to TKD to the untrained eye. Add to that that more and more people question TKD and Karate's effectiveness (seeing MMA as the truth somehow), and I think you'd have to go knockdown.

I'd also much rather watch knockdown than WKF. I have little interest in point fighting, so probably would watch a round or two at most.

Even then, all the public would see was "punching and kicking in a gi." We are talking about an organization that in recent years has tried removing wrestling ffrom the games. WRESTLING, an achient art practiced in virtually every culture that was part of the Orginial games played by the ancient Greeks! With that low a regard for combat sports, I doubt Karate will get a fair chance at being an olympic sport for at least a generation.