With karate being included in the 2020 Olympics, will it be a non-contact or full-contact competition? I heard that full contact wouldn't be allowed. Taekwondo Olympic rules make it look like 'foot chess' - bizarre! I hope the Tokyo 2020 rules won't make karate look bizarre too ...
WTF Taekwondo was "foot chess" before it ever entered the Olympics. That's what the sport is, not a result of being in the Olympics. The karate going into the Olympics is World Karate Federation rules (source), so the competition is going to look like any other WKF competition. So if you're looking for WKF kumite, you'll be happy. If you're looking for Kyokushin kumite, or old-school JKA kumite, or 1970s freestyle karate kumite, you won't. If you're not familiar with WKF competition, here's one of the finals from the 2012 world championships: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9kxtJpRmw4"]Final Male Kumite -60Kg. Amir Mehdizadeh vs Douglas Brose. World Karate Championships 2012 - YouTube[/ame]
Tragic, and far to similar to Taekwondo, couldn't they have put in that one were they wear the space helmets and knock the crap out of each other.
I sometimes wonder about folks like this - I mean, obviously they've dedicated a ton of hours to their sports, have had peak experiences and such, are at the top of their game and are likely genetically gifted, but given all that, why would you want to go into this tippy-tappy stuff? I think there's something to be said for point sparring as a drill, but why achieve this if you could dedicate yourself to something like boxing or bjj?
Because they like it? Might as well ask why some people let hurdles get in the way of a decent run, or who on earth thinks jumping over something very high, backwards makes sense but doesn't use a pole to help them? I might happen not to like it much either, but it takes all sorts Mitch
Plus: It works the other way around too. Just yesterday I talked to someone and we said: "Don't get me wrong and I'm sorry - but I watched Judo during the Olympics once, and I thought it totally boring." There are more then enough people out there, who'll never get why anyone on the world would wear a pajama and roll around on the floor with others (especially when they're older then 5), hoping to sit on top of the other or lay next to him (that's what I got what it looks like for people who don't care for BJJ for example). I don't see why people would play golf, but that doesn't make it bad sport, just one I wouldn't want to spent much of my time with.
My son and daughter read through here once in a while. They saw this thread. They love point sparring. Wkf rule set. Now thanks to this thread I have to explain to my 6 yr old that point sparring is not like ping-pong or bowling.
Why would Olympic rowers practice rowing so much when they can just buy a motorboat? Why would Olympic gymnasts practice so hard on the balance beam when they can just walk on wider sidewalks? Why would Olympic shot-putters not just build a mortar? Why would Greco-Roman wrestlers practice a combat sport where laying spread-eagled face-down on the ground is a good strategy when it'll get you killed in a street fight? Because the Olympics is about excelling at sports, not about practical survival skills.
Yeah, I can't see why people get into it combat sport when there are other options but I understand that people do. I mean there are people who watch darts :/ Interestingly, I know a shotokan blackbelt of over 20yrs practice who competes WKF at a national level. He actually hates the sport as a representation of his karate but sort of does it for the sake of it and for a bit of a laugh. Point being, you never know people's motivations.
The other thing to consider is how the wider public would've viewed something like last nights diaz vs mcgregor fight ? I think the average joe with no real experience of full contact combat sport would've been shocked by the blood at an olympic event , and suspect it may actually cause more harm than good.
Yeah, the IOC doesn't want anything that could be characterized by its critics as a "bloodsport." Look at how different Olympic boxing rules are from professional, and how gear differences and scoring differences mean that fights are rarely decided by KO and even the losing competitor rarely has visible injuries.
Am rules being different from pros is one thing,but when the IOC instituted heavier gloves in some divisions and made headgear mandatory the result was a sloppier event which I found less and less worth watching.
90% of my views towards this are summed up in the above comment. 9% comes from that little voice in my head, teenage Liero. Who used to do WKF point fighting until he started getting disqualified for making to much contact. "How hard would it 'really' be to make the national team in point Karate?" "The Olympics would be good, and your injuries are not holding up for TKD" The last 1% is the voice of my judgy self..."Everyone will make fun of you"
Ha! This topic has already ignited several flaming wars between different karate instructors on my Facebook news feed. Seems anyone and everyone who is even remotely connected to the WKF is scrambling to position themselves in the best place possible so they get that lucrative pot of National Lottery funding. Even TKD coaches are chiming in, with the general sentiment being "Those krotty nimrods are going to steal all our funding."
Isn't the point of kumite supposed to be a more or less realistic application of concepts you learn in kata and basics courses, though?
I'd you're learning karate as a defensive art, yes. If you're learning karate as a competitive sport, no. The Olympics is about sport. Likewise, none of the Olympic shooting sports are about realistic defensive firearms use. They're about sport.