His 1st World championships, he lived them in... 2005 (not 2015, you read well !). Thus, he was still cadet. 15 years later, he collected 8 medals at the Senior European championships (2 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze), the last in 2016.

At 30, Greece’s Georgios Tzanos (-84 kg) has also experienced different Karates. He who swears first through the basics, the ones that allowed him to score spectacular kicks over and over again, he regrets the evolution of the rules that has led to favor speed over technique.

In this 1st of the 3 episodes of the interview we had with him, he talks to us about yesterday and today’s Karate, his vision of (martial) art, his life as a champion who must work to assume his daily life and his expenses, his worried concern about the future of Karate...

By Ludovic Mauchien / Photo : Kphotos

Karate is his life. But lives, he had several. Student from the age of 5, he was champion with another Karate than today’s one, “more technical, less based on speed”, he explains. And he regrets it. He also fears it for the future of Karate. “Today, with these new rules, everyone is forced to play the same game. There is no longer an athlete with a particular style. Difficult for young people to have an idol if it keeps going”...

At 30, Georgios Tzanos (-84 kg) is regarded as the older generation, the one who fought without a breastplate, where the notion of power still existed, where “without good technical bases, it was impossible to win a competition”.

With his basics, he also tried Karate Combat, kickboxing too. But, that’s the 2nd episode of the 3 interviews we had with him. This 1st opus is dedicated to Karate. The 2012 and 2014 European champion (2nd in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016. 3rd in 2009, 2011), finalist of the 2015 European Games, tells us about his passion, which is also his job. Without any help from his federation, he must provide all his costs, “even registration”.