Page 24 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 89

24 Issue #89 April 2020 www.sportsenergynews.com

KARATE KOMMENTS It Is What It Is

Karate at the Olympics By Peter Collins type tactics were commonplace,
Henri wracked up 928 career
penalty minutes.
That being said, the life and
By Jim Riddell,
hockey career of Henri shouldn’t
Seaway Karate Club have taken a back seat to anyone,
hen COVID-19 headlines
Wpushed the recent passing of because the “Pocket Rocket” was
arate will be a demonstration sport at the upcoming Olympics to Henri Richard onto the back pages, a true star. The statistics attest
Kbe hosted in Tokyo. The inclusion of karate in the Olympics will to this: 1,256 games played, 358
it was like a poetic coincidence.
provide a considerable amount of positive exposure to what is already My own recollection of Henri goals, 688 assists, and 9 all star
the world’s most popular martial art. But, if the history of the inclusion game appearances. Those are
of the other two martial arts (judo and taekwondo) in the Olympics is an dates back to the early 70’s when incredible numbers considering
a near 40-year-old Richard circled
indication of what the impact of this decision will be for the sport, then the era that he played in. More
this exposure for karate may come at a bit of a cost. the ice with a wizardry unmatched noteworthy, he was on 11 Stanley
In 2016, an estimated 3.6 billion viewers from across the world tuned by rivals. For much of Henri’s life, Cup winning teams during his 20-
in to watch the Summer Games in Rio de Jainerio. It’s a fact that the he played hockey and lived his life year career, a number that will most
governing bodies of each sport make adaptations to them to ensure that in the shadow of his iconic brother,
the events are as appealing as possible to the television viewers, as Maurice “The Rocket” Richard. likely stand forever. In 1975, the
well as the spectators at the venue itself. For example, judo, which first The Rocket was a live wire, Habs retired their former captain’s
appeared in the 1964 Olympics, has made several rule changes over the bombastic, and passionate about the #16, followed up by his induction
years, eliminating certain techniques and placing more of an emphasis game, and he played with a ferocity into the Hockey Hall of Fame in
on throws and less on grappling. Judo was designed by Jigaro Kano that was unsurpassed. Henri was 1979. In 1998, when The Hockey
as a means for a smaller individual to neutralize the size, strength, and much more subtle, partially due News ranked the NHL’s greatest
weight advantage of a larger person. With the seven different weight to his slighter stature (5’7”- 160 players, Maurice Richard’s little
classes, competitors now tend to maximize their strength within each lbs). Henri used incredible ability brother ranked 29th.
class and relying less on technique. to outthink his opponents to Not a lot of giants measure 5’ 7”;
Taekwondo has only had an Olympic presence since 1988 but has
seen many changes made for the spectators’ sakes. Scoring is now strategically gain advantage on the but in the case of Henri Richard,
done by PSS (Protector Scoring System) where a system of electronic ice. Despite his size, Henri was no giant is the word that describes
wallflower – in an age where goon- him best.
impact sensors is built into the protective equipment of each competitor
and is remotely linked to the electronic scoreboard. When a targeted
area of an opponent’s body or head is struck, points will flash on the
electronic scoreboard. More points are awarded for flashier techniques,
such as head kicks. The days of full-contact body kicks (in the Olympic
version) seem to be a thing of the past with athletes trying to light up the
scoreboard in a lead leg game of tag.
The only other Olympic combat striking sport is boxing, which has
benefited from Olympic exposure. Although winning Olympic Gold is
no guarantee of success, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman,
Micheal Spinks, Sugar Ray Lenoard, and many others have used it as a
stepping-stone to very lucrative professional careers.
The inclusion of karate into the 2020 Olympics will bring both
positives and negatives to the sport. The positive is that it will bring WE LOVE FOOTBALL
exposure to all styles and types of karate and provide recognition to
traditional and self-defense factions, even though they have no interest
in training or developing sport karate athletes. On the negative side,
rules will have to be standardized (adapted) for participants of both
Kumite and kata events. The WKF rules focus on safety, with only “very
light contact” allowed and prohibiting leg kicks and open hand strikes.
In the kata division, only forms from four styles will be recognized:
Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, and Wado-Ryu. This excludes some
exceptional athletes from Shorin-ryu, Chito-ryu, Isshin-ryu, and many
other recognized styles.
To any martial artist reading this, what do you think? Is the inclusion
of karate as an Olympic event good or bad? How will it affect the
sport in the future? Do you think that judo or TKD have been affected
negatively or positively from their inclusion into the Olympics? Should
karate and TKD fighters compete as one sport with full contact, using
the 10-point-per-round scoring system used in boxing and kickboxing? Joe St. Denis Field, 504 Fourth Street East
Send your opinion to jimriddell@cogeco.ca . I’m looking forward Cornwall, Ontario
to your comments. If there is enough response, I will do a follow up www.cornwallwildcats.com
column!