OLYMPIC KARATE?
21/08/2008 17:42 Filed in: Shihan's
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What’s Tae Kwon Do got that Karate
hasn’t?
I’ve just spent the last week or so watching the 2008
Olympic Games from Beijing ...
When I say that I was watching the games from Beijing I didn’t mean that I was in Beijing ... I was staying up late/getting up early and watching it on television here in the U.K.!
I enjoy nearly all sports at a high level, so the Olympics are a virtual feast for me ... especially the Ladies Beach Volleyball but we won’t go into that.
I was pleased to see Rohullah Nikpai win Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal (bronze) in the Men’s -58 Kg category.
However, as a bit of a karate purist, I have to admit that I cringed watching most of the bouts.
Why is it that Tae Kwon Do players never have a guard? They stand there with their arms dangling down and then look surprised when they get kicked in the head!
In fact, I do think that most of the competition looked downright “untidy”.
There was also a fairly limited range of techniques shown - mainly roundhouse kick.
Having spent more than 3 decades as a karate black belt and having attended many, many karate competitions I have to say that Karate competition seems a lot more demanding technically, and more interesting to watch.
So what does Karate have that Tae Kwon Do doesn’t?
Fast punches which are delivered with purpose - I haven’t seen a single TKD punch which looked as if it was anything more than a token gesture.
Sweeps, throws and other take-downs. I’ve seen plenty of TKD players fall over but not a single deliberate take-down.
Forms just aren’t done. The Kata (or Pooms in TKD) are in many ways more demanding and require extremely high skill levels to perform, especially the Group Kata section.
So you can say that Karate has the punches of boxing, the kicks of TKD, the throws of Judo, plus the artistic side of the martial arts - kata.
Maybe this is why it is having such a hard time getting into the Olympics - all aspects of karate are already being shown (to a greater or lesser degree) in other disciplines (except for the kata).
Some have said that it is because it is similar to TKD, but so is Beach Volleyball to Volleyball.
Go to YouTube and watch the world TKD competitions, then watch the world Karate competitions and decide for yourself which you think is “better”.
While there, take a look at the finals of the Karate Group Kata in Finland ... now that’s just amazing.
Oh well, maybe one day Karate will get the recognition it deserves.
When I say that I was watching the games from Beijing I didn’t mean that I was in Beijing ... I was staying up late/getting up early and watching it on television here in the U.K.!
I enjoy nearly all sports at a high level, so the Olympics are a virtual feast for me ... especially the Ladies Beach Volleyball but we won’t go into that.
I was pleased to see Rohullah Nikpai win Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal (bronze) in the Men’s -58 Kg category.
However, as a bit of a karate purist, I have to admit that I cringed watching most of the bouts.
Why is it that Tae Kwon Do players never have a guard? They stand there with their arms dangling down and then look surprised when they get kicked in the head!
In fact, I do think that most of the competition looked downright “untidy”.
There was also a fairly limited range of techniques shown - mainly roundhouse kick.
Having spent more than 3 decades as a karate black belt and having attended many, many karate competitions I have to say that Karate competition seems a lot more demanding technically, and more interesting to watch.
So what does Karate have that Tae Kwon Do doesn’t?
Fast punches which are delivered with purpose - I haven’t seen a single TKD punch which looked as if it was anything more than a token gesture.
Sweeps, throws and other take-downs. I’ve seen plenty of TKD players fall over but not a single deliberate take-down.
Forms just aren’t done. The Kata (or Pooms in TKD) are in many ways more demanding and require extremely high skill levels to perform, especially the Group Kata section.
So you can say that Karate has the punches of boxing, the kicks of TKD, the throws of Judo, plus the artistic side of the martial arts - kata.
Maybe this is why it is having such a hard time getting into the Olympics - all aspects of karate are already being shown (to a greater or lesser degree) in other disciplines (except for the kata).
Some have said that it is because it is similar to TKD, but so is Beach Volleyball to Volleyball.
Go to YouTube and watch the world TKD competitions, then watch the world Karate competitions and decide for yourself which you think is “better”.
While there, take a look at the finals of the Karate Group Kata in Finland ... now that’s just amazing.
Oh well, maybe one day Karate will get the recognition it deserves.