Tomorrow is the big day. This is the start of the Karate events at the Tokyo Games. The Olympics, it’s 82 athletes, 8 categories, 34 medals. The program, the Games in numbers, the athletes... All the information to have a blast in front of the Karate Olympics. Let’s go for the show !
By Ludovic Mauchien / Photos : Kphotos
Tomorrow begins both the beginning and the end of a new era. Tomorrow, for the 1st time in history, Karate will be on display for the entire world to see. The Karatekas will discover a new universe and experience an unprecedented adventure : the Olympic Games. Nothing to do with what they’ve been through before.
Even if the party is muted by the Covid and by the very restrictive restrictions on place, the champions have been waiting for this moment for so long. It must be theirs and they will do whatever it is for that. The chance to become an Olympic medalist is unique since they will also be the last. In 3 days, a new era will begin, that of the post-Olympics. But, first, let’s go for the show !
THE SCHEDULE
Thursday 5
- Kata F: 10 h : eliminatories / 11 h 25 : ranking matches / 19 h 30 : bronze / 1950 : final
- -67 kg : 12 h 05 - 15 h 05 : eliminatories / 20 h 05 : 1/2 finals / 20 h 40 : final
- -55 kg : 17 h : eliminatories / 20 h 22 : 1/2 finals / 20 h 50 : final
Friday 6
• Kata M : 10 h : eliminatories / 11 h 33 : ranking matches / 19 h 30 : bronze / 19h50 : final
- -75 kg : 17h : eliminatories / 20 h 22 : 1/2 finals / 20 h 40 : final
- -61 kg : 12 h 28 - 14 h 55 : eliminatories / 20 h 05 : 1/2 finals / 20 h 50 : final
Saturday 7
• +61 kg : 14 h : eliminatories / 19 h 20 : 1/2 finals / 19 h 55 : final
- +75 kg : 16h50 : eliminatories / 19 h 37 : 1/2 finals / 20 h 05 : final
ALL ABOUT ATHLETES
- A special Olympics edition of 110 pages.
82 athletes, 82 photos, 82 records, 82 stories, 82 bets, 1 clic :
https://www.karate-k.com/en/e-store/magazine/hs-special-tokyo-detail.html
THE OLYMPICS IN NUMBERS
- 4 / The number of years of practice of Chinese Gong Li. Qualified directly via the ranking, she plays for the medal in Tokyo. Talent doesn't wait for years.
- 7 / Turkey has 7 qualified out of 8 possible. Kazakhstan, Egypt and Italy have 5. Germany and the US have 4. France, Azerbaijan, Venezuela and Ukraine 3. Spain, Taiwan and China, 2.
- 18 / They are 18 World champions to claim an incredible doublet.
- 19 / The age of Anna Chernysheva and Nurkanat Azhikanov, the 2 youngest athletes at the Olympics. Sofya Berultseva, Gong Li and Ivet Goronova are 21 years old.
- 23 / The number of years of presence at the highest level of the Venezuelan Antonio Diaz. He won his 1st international medal in… 1998.
- 32/ 8 in gold, 8 in silver and 16 in bronze. 32 medals will be distributed at the Games.
- 37 / Georgian Gogita Arkania is the oldest fighter, ahead of Rafael Aghayev (36), Darkhan Assadilov (35), Luigi Busa (33) and Stanislav Horuna (32).
- 37 / The countries represented at the Olympic Games, with Wael Shueb’s Syria, under the Olympic banner.
- 38 / Europe is best represented in Tokyo with 38 athletes. Asia follows with 16 qualifiers (+8 Japanese), America (9), Africa (7) and Oceania (2).
- 41 / At 41, Antonio Diaz is the oldest Karateka at these Olympics. Sandra Sanchez is 39 years old. Follow Damian Quintero, Ilja Smorguner and Gogita Arkania, 37 years old.
- 82 / The number of athletes at the Olympics. 32 qualified via the ranking, 24 through the OQT, 12 via the continental representation, 8 Japanese, 2 by a WKF invitation and 2 under the Olympic banner.
- 112 / The champions will first go head to head in pools of 5 (round robin). The first two are qualified for the crossed ½ finals. The winners will play for gold. In all, it represents 112 fights.
- 635 / World n°635 and Olympic n°328 are the rankings of Kazakh Azhikanov. At 19, he only played 2 Senior competitions, including the Olympic qualifying tournament.
ALL ABOUT KARATE : OUR VIDEO TUTOS
- Do you want to better understand the competition rules ? This series of videos with David Felix and Jamal Belmir is made for you ! They explain everything you need to know to enjoy Karate in front of your screen.
Video 0 : Presentation
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/843-understand-karate-with-one-click.html
Video 1/6 : context of a tournament
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/845-le-karate-en-un-clic.html
Video 2/6 : rules
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/846-le-karate-en-un-clic-episode-2-karate-in-one-click.html
Video 3/6 : winning techniques
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/849-le-karate-en-un-clic-episode-3.html
Video 4/6 : penalties
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/851-le-karate-en-un-clic-episode-4-les-penalites.html
Video 5/6 : The Olympics, how it works
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/852-le-karate-en-un-clic-episode-5-jo-et-tqo-kesako.html
Video 6/6 : Kata
https://www.karate-k.com/fr/sport/actus/853-le-karate-en-un-clic-episode-6-6-le-kata.html
