The just-concluded Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games added five new sports: karate, baseball and softball, rowing, surfing, and rock climbing. Unexpectedly, in three years, karate and baseball and softball will become the "outcasts" of the Paris Olympic Games, replaced by the popular breakdancing on the street. Therefore, karate is called the Olympic "round trip" by some media, why is this?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" > the addition and cancellation of the Japanese karate project</h1>
The Olympic Games have a fixed operating model: each event is finalized 5 years ago. In this way, the host will be given time to prepare, such as venues, news centers, athletes' village construction, etc.; the second is to leave enough time for the IOC to coordinate; the third is to reserve a cycle for athletes' training, selection, and competition.
With the change of the times and the diversification of needs, the International Olympic Committee has proposed three major elements: streamlining the Olympic Games, gender equality, and meeting the needs of young people. The Paris Olympic Games were approved by the International Olympic Committee, with a total of 32 major events, 329 minor events, four new events of breakdancing, skateboarding, surfing and rock climbing, the abolition of karate and baseball and softball, a reduction of 10 minor events, and the reduction of modern pentathlons from two days to 90 minutes. The 4-stage weightlifting, men's 50 km race walk and men's and women's sailing RSX class were also eliminated in order to gradually achieve the goal of streamlining;
Five years ago, the International Olympic Committee in Rio, Brazil, adopted the Japanese traditional sport karate as a new event in the Tokyo Olympic Games, with a total of 8 gold medals, 3 more than our "national ball" table tennis, which is not a major event, but a middle event. The eight gold medals were divided between Iran, Egypt, Italy, Serbia, France, Spain, Bulgaria and Japan. The Chinese team achieved mediocre results, with Yin Xiaoyan winning 1 silver medal and Gong Li winning 1 bronze medal. The International Karate Federation has more than 130 member organizations on five continents and more than 50 million regular practitioners.
Chinese player Gong Li
The cancellation of karate at the Paris Olympics sparked a strong reaction from the international sports scene. For example, Francis, president of the French Karate Association, and Costa, a French athlete who won the karate gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, both called for karate to remain in Paris, and their appeals were supported by many French parliamentarians, including 115 parliamentarians who wrote a joint letter to the International Olympic Committee, but both were rejected.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="7" > karate's "one-round trip"</h1>
According to the Beijing Evening News, a survey shows that the traditional sports audience has shown an aging trend, in the 25 mainstream sports, the average age of the audience is only 5 under 45 years old, and as many as 16 people over 50 years old. In response to the growing reality of young people's entertainment options, IOC President Thomas Bach said: "Instead of expecting them (young people) to come to the door, we (the IOC) have to make a difference." "So, in December 2014, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) adopted the Olympic Agenda 2020, one of the important elements of which is to increase the attractiveness of young people. In this way, skateboarding, rock climbing, surfing and other sports that appear on the streets, beaches, and parks enter the Tokyo Olympic Games. These trendy projects cater to the characteristics of contemporary young people who love excitement, adventure, challenge themselves and mavericks, and have played a positive role in the sustainable development of the Olympic Movement, which has been valued and warmly welcomed by the Olympic family, and promoted the prosperity of related industries and government grants. On the contrary, if those "four flat and eight" projects are not reformed, they will lose people's attention. Although karate is a new Olympic sport, its similarity is not uncommon, which is one of the backgrounds of its tragic round trip.
Karate is a traditional sport in Japan that took the place at home with the host's home field advantage. In a way, karate was able to enter the Olympics and enjoy the dividends of the hosts. With the changes in the global economy, the popularity of the Olympic bid is not as good as yesterday, giving the host some "privileges" to stimulate the motivation of the bidding city, which seems to have become an "unspoken rule". As the world's most prestigious fashion capital, Paris does not need to use karate to earn gold medals for itself, and it is inevitable to abandon it.
Baseball and softball are one of Japan's hottest sports, and Tokyo Olympic torchbearer 81-year-old Wang Zhenzhi (from Qingtian, Zhejiang) is a household name for himself as the "king of baseball", and despite his mobility problems, he staggered into the main venue and was still touched by the global television audience. Wang Zhenzhi is a world-class superstar on a par with boxing king Ali and ball king Pele, which shows the Japanese people's love for baseball!
Whether a project can enter the Olympics is very different. Each Olympic cycle is four years, (the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed to 5 years due to the epidemic), and after becoming an Olympic event, even if it is a "round trip" like karate, most of the 206 members of the IOC will pay attention to it in this cycle, and the government will give strong support in terms of people, finances and strength. China set up a karate training team at the first time, with the famous coach Guan Jianmin as the head coach, and the speed of promotion and the wide range of influence can be imagined. For example, baseball and softball entered the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, until the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which were voted out twice. After four Olympic Games, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics returned to the field. If karate can sum up the experience and keep pace with the times, it may make a comeback. In the past, there was a saying that the Olympic Games had 28 basic events, and the rest were temporary events, but now the "turbulent situation", especially after the epidemic, uncertainties have increased, and everything is possible.
The Olympic cycle generally cannot be changed, and once it changes, the domino effect is unpredictable. It is reported that the economic loss of the Tokyo Olympics postponed for one year exceeded $6 billion. TV broadcasts, sponsors, venues, tickets, hotels, transportation, etc. will need to be rescheduled.
For athletes, after a year of delay, veterans may lose the opportunity to compete, and the training cycle needs to be re-adjusted. In this Olympic Games, the overall performance of China's wrestling soft sports has declined, is it related to the fact that it has not been adjusted to the best state or the best state has been turned over? Otherwise, it's hard to explain the fall or passing by expectations of the famous players who had achieved great success before the game.
In addition to the Olympic Games, there are many events every year, especially high-prize commercial competitions, related to the livelihood of athletes, for the sake of national honor, some events will make way for the Olympic Games, so the Olympic games, projects, rules, etc. are difficult to change once they are set. The Tokyo Olympics were postponed by one year, the name is still "2020", but not "Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games", the most affected is the Paris Olympic cycle shortened to three years, how much impact, it is difficult to quantify.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="16" > left for reflection on Chinese martial arts</h1>
Karate has a long history and a long relationship with Chinese martial arts, becoming popular on the Japanese island of Ryūkō as early as 500 years ago, and later combined with Chinese boxing techniques, known as "Tang Hand".
China Sanda
The history of karate is not as long as that of martial arts, but it entered the Olympic hall before martial arts, and many aspects are worth learning, learning and reflecting on.
New sports at the Paris Olympics: breakdancing, skateboarding, rock climbing, surfing, not only for young people, but also for Western culture. When will the projects led by oriental culture break through the popular trend and become the world's favorite sports trends? This is an issue that cannot be bypassed before us.
This article is reprinted with permission from Chinese Wushu magazine
Some of the pictures are from the Internet, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete
Author: Wang Youtang
Editor-in-Charge: Burning Shadow