What I know about karate and the Olympics - Part III

Although Sensei Hidetaka Nishiyama’s International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF) was far smaller than WUKO and didn’t have sufficient numbers to gain acceptance as an Olympic sport itself, he had a sufficient number of both members and high profile supporters to prevent WUKO from being named.

To my knowledge, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) never approached karate (or most likely any other sport) and said anything like, “We have to have you in the Olympics, please, please, please join us!” Most sports go to them and beg to be included. The IOC has long felt they have too many sports already. “Why should we include your sport?” is a question every applicant must be able to answer.

To convince them to accept another sport, it must prove it has a significant number of practitioners around the world. It must be a competitive sport, not merely an activity. It must be represented by a world organization that is supported by a vast majority of the practitioners of that sport. The organization must have rules for competition that are widely accepted and in keeping with the Olympic Ideal. It must host a regular world championship, etc.

Nishiyama kept insisting that WUKO didn’t practice true karate and that the ITKF was the only world organization that did. WUKO countered with letters from many of the most traditional Shotokan stylists (and former dojomates of Nishiyama) – like JKA Managing Director and WUKO General Secretary Fusajiro Takagi, Takayuki Mikami, and others – stating that what Nishiyama advocated was no different than what WUKO practiced. (I read some of these but don’t think I have copies of any of them. If I can come up with one, I will post it along the way.)

From the reports we received, the IOC seemed convinced on several occasions that WUKO was their choice and that karate would soon be in. Then, Nishiyama would mount another attack and things would be put in limbo yet again. This went on for many years.

One of Nishiyama’s supporters was reportedly Mexican Olympic Committee Chairman, Mario Vazquez Rana, who was also president of the powerful IOC New Sport Committee, which heavily influenced which sports got in and which did not. If true, such a friend would be extremely helpful in blocking WUKO’s application and in keeping Nishiyama informed of what WUKO was saying and doing as well as advising him as to how best to thwart WUKO. (From communications I’ve read between Vazquez Rana and Nishiyama, he may have come to later regret his possible part in checking karate’s entrance. But I could be wrong on both counts. I may publish a copy of this communication sometime soon and you can be the judge.)

The IOC didn’t know what to do with karate. They wanted a unified world body, as TKD had been smart enough to give them, and tried to get the two organizations (WUKO and ITKF) to merge. But Nishiyama refused, even though WUKO offered to allow a separate division for his “traditional karate.” With too many sports in the Olympics already, the WUKO/ITKF fight gave the Olympic Committee the excuse they needed to block karate’s entrance.

People talk about “Tyranny of the Majority,” the powerful or numerous forcing their goals or desires on a small minority. But there is also “Tyranny of the Minority,” where a small number (sometimes even just one person) can bring things to a halt. If consensus is needed, one holdout can achieve this. (Court trials often see justice undone by a single holdout, for example.) Such a position can give power to the otherwise powerless (or less powerful), enabling them to achieve their goals or to right social inequities but sometimes it is used merely to stroke someone’s ego.

Someone once defined Nishiyama’s position as “If I can’t run it, I’d rather TKD got in than karate did under anyone other than me.” Many within the traditional karate world considered him a traitor, that by his long battle with WUKO and the IOC he had prevented karate’s acceptance and facilitated TKD’s. I don’t know if this is true or what his motives actually were. Jon Evans, Shotokan stylist and former head of AAU Karate, wrote an article on the subject for Black Belt Magazine in ‘88, blaming Nishiyama’s resistance on a long-standing rift within Shotokan in Japan. If you’re interested in reading more on his theory, the link is as follows: http://www.shotokai.com/ingles/interviews/wuko.html

Well, let me end this for now. I’ll have more to say about this, including a couple of personal observations relative to Sensei Nishiyama next time. Thanks again for your continued support.

What I know about karate and the Olympics - Part II

Something I apparently didn’t make clear last time was that I’m not attempting to lay out a definitive history of karate’s attempt to gain Olympic acceptance. I’ve heard that someone is undertaking such a book and will gladly leave it to him. My goal is just to pass on what I know or was told by knowledgeable people, as well as some of my experiences with some of the participants to give some insights into how these people appeared to think and act.

Karate’s quest to gain Olympic approval began in the mid to late 60s. I (like most traditional Japanese instructors in the country at the time) was contacted in the 60s about plans for the first WUKO World Karate Championships. The event was the brain-child of French attorney Jacques Delcourt and Japanese industrialist Ryoichi Sasakawa, co-heads of WUKO, and organized around rules established by FAJKO – Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organizations – for competition within Japan. It was presented to us as the first step towards gaining Olympic recognition for karate.

Selection and training tournaments, organized under the AAU, were held around the country. I was invited to an event in Stockton, where an event-within-an-event was held at one of Ron Marchini’s tournaments. Minobu Miki and, I think, Fumio Demura and Kiyoshi Yamazaki came up to teach us the rules to be used by the world organization and ultimately the Olympics.

Four teams of five athletes were ultimately selected to represent the United States. These included many of our top competitors, including Marchini, Mitch Bobrow, James Yabe, John Gehlsen and Tonny Tulleners (both from my instructor’s IKA dojo), and others. The Northern California athletes worked out together at Sensei Don Buck’s dojo in Marin County.

Tonny Tulleners (left) and me at IKA championships

The first championships were held in Tokyo in 1970. My fellow IKAer, Tonny Tulleners, was the top US finisher, tying for third with the great Dominique Valera of France. First place was won by Koji Wada of Japan. John Carnio of Canada took the silver. John Gehlsen didn’t place in the final group but was awarded one of the Outstanding Fighting Spirit Awards.

According to George Anderson, karate was vastly more popular around the world than TKD. He told me that karate had over ten times as many registered athletes as did the Korean art. Hirokazu Kanazawa had a membership of over one million athletes in just Indonesia alone.

With so many athletes and a series of very successful world championships under its belt, why didn’t it happen?

The general consensus is that karate was largely kept out of the Olympics by Hidetaka Nishiyama. He wanted his organization, the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF), to be named the world governing body for karate. He claimed that what he called “sport karate,” which WUKO and others practiced, was different than true traditional karate and should not be allowed into the Olympics. Or, if allowed, it should be considered a separate sport.

I’m awaiting some documents which I hope to share with you on this subject. So I’ll stop for now, rather than wait longer for it to be tracked down.

I want to thank all of you for your continued support. We recently surpassed 25,000 pageviews of this blog. I greatly appreciate your readership.

What I know about karate and the Olympics

Recently, a martial artist wrote several erroneous statements about why TKD was an Olympic sport and karate was not. As a result, I decided I should probably pass on what I know about this issue before I’m no longer around and the uninformed are the only voices out there.

Much of what I know about the subject came directly from two of the most knowledgeable sources, Jacques Delcourt, President of WUKO (now called WKF) and George Anderson, first VP of WUKO and President of the USAKF (the official national governing body for karate under the U.S. Olympic Committee at the time). Soke Patrick Hickey, an old and trusted friend and Hanshi Anderson’s uchi deshi and chosen heir to his organization and system, also supplied a great deal of valuable insights and information.

Me, Jacques Delcourt, Hanshi Anderson on Guadeloupe

Delcourt, as head of WUKO, then the official world governing body for karate under the International Olympic Committee (IOC), dealt directly with the IOC on karate’s entrance into the Olympics for over 30 years.

Hanshi Anderson, in addition to high rank, title, and positions in traditional karate (Kanken Toyama lineage), also trained under legendary TKD instructors Chull Hee Park and Ki Whang Kim of the SongMooKwan. And he was also friends with General Hong Hi Choi. Hanshi Anderson headed both the Central Taekwondo Association and the USA Karate Federation. So he had a unique perspective on this issue and TKD friends in very high places. He was also directly involved in securing Class C IOC status for karate, which allowed our athletes to train at the Olympic Training Center, among other perks. We also have Hanshi Anderson to thank for getting karate into the Pan Am Games.

I was extremely fortunate to have had Hanshi Anderson as a friend and mentor. It was through him that I met and was allowed to spend a fair amount of time with WUKO President Delcourt. While on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe for a friendly competition between our national team and local karate competitors, which included world champions and members of the French National Team, I was allowed to speak privately with President Delcourt for several hours about many things, including karate’s application for Olympic acceptance. Afterwards, he would occasionally send me cards and letters over the years to keep me informed.

In addition to his top position in world karate, Delcourt also headed the French Olympic Committee. The heads of all of the French national teams reported directly to him, including TKD. He told me in Guadeloupe that senior French TKD officials had just returned from some major world meeting. (I forget where.) They reported that the World Taekwondo Federation (world governing body for TKD under the IOC) had paid Samaranch (long-time head of the IOC) a half-million dollars in hopes of greasing the wheels for TKD’s entrance into the games. He said he wasn’t positive it was true, as he wasn’t at the meeting himself, but added, “Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.” I asked him what WUKO had given Samaranch. He said they gave him a fine leather wallet with the WUKO logo on it – but no cash inside.

If you look at later accusations lodged against Un Yong Kim, then head of WTF, it would seem to give credence to the French TKD seniors’ bribery charge. The New York Times, among many other publications, wrote several articles about Un Yong Kim and the charges of bribery and embezzlement later leveled against him. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/k/kim_un_yong/index.html. (Although the charges that got him expelled from his position with the IOC had nothing to do with the incident reported to me by Delcourt, it does “go to character,” as attorneys say.)

According to both Delcourt and Hanshi Anderson, a variety of factors (not just liberally applied “grease”) enabled Un Yong Kim to get his sport included as a demo sport for the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics and a full sport for the Sydney Games.

President Un Yong Kim (right)

Kim was a very astute and resourceful leader. He was reportedly former Assistant Director of the Korean CIA. His skills enabled him to become heads of both the WTK and the GAISF, General Association of International Sports Federations, a multi-sport organization that was deemed in competition with the Olympics, although surely to a lesser degree. The IOC reportedly didn’t want the competition posed by GAISF. Kim may have known this beforehand and secured the position in order to give him leverage over the IOC. Or it may have merely been an excuse the IOC head used to justify delivering on some payoff, if there ever was such a payoff. But, in any event, Kim was asked to merge the GAISF with the IOC, or dismantle it (I forget which). In return, the Olympic Games would be held in Korea in ’88 and Kim would be named a senior IOC VP.

At the time, the host country could name two demonstration sports. So for Korea to be named host was a guarantee that TKD would compete on one of the world’s biggest stages and get its foot in the door. Kim took it from there and was able to parlay that into a second demo appearance in the Barcelona Games and compete as a full Olympic sport in the 2000 Games in Sydney.

When Samaranch retired, Kim ran for IOC President. However, his legal problems overtook him and he was expelled.

There are estimates that Kim spent as much as 5 million dollars to gain full Olympic status for TKD. (There are rumors that the money came from the KCIA, which in turn was supposedly money diverted from funds given them by our CIA. I have no idea if it is true or not but the theory is out there. As Kim was supposedly a former Assistant Director of the KCIA, it isn’t hard to see how such a rumor could arise or possibly even be true. If you read the Kido Kwan article listed below, it spells out the argument that Korea saw TKD as far more than just a sport.)

In the West, we tend to look at things from a moral/ethical position different than other parts of the world. And most here would judge Kim’s behavior as wrong. But things often work quite differently in the real world, where bribes are often a normal part of doing business. As a leader, Un Yong Kim did what he thought was necessary to achieve his organization’s goals – Olympic recognition for his sport. And they proved successful in that regard, even though they didn’t serve him so well.

If you’re interested in reading a very insightful and revealing article about all this, and much more (including the fixing of match results), read “The Shocking Confession from Taekwondo’s Past by Chong Woo Lee, The Vice-President of Kukiwon” – http://www.tkdreform.com/yook_article.pdf.

Also see the section entitled “Politics, Nationalism, and the Olympics” in Kido Kwan Martial Art International, http://www.kidokwan.org/?page_id=1535.

Karate’s approach was far from ideal either. Next time, I’ll look at what I know about karate’s long efforts to gain Olympic recognition and why it has failed so far.

New article in the works.

There will be a (hopefully) slight delay getting out my next post. I'm working on a piece on Karate, TKD, and the Olympics. I recently read some very inaccurate comments about why TKD got in and Karate has not. As I was involved in some of this and had direct connections with people actually involved in it at the highest levels, I want to post what I know about it while I'm still around. I just sent the draft off to an old friend, who had direct info as well, to fill in some of the stuff I may have forgotten or gotten wrong. I'll post it as soon as he has a chance to look it over, make his comments, and get it back to me.

English ain't my bestest subject

I received an email last week from the woman critiquing my coming novel, The Arrow Catcher. She thankfully gave it a very positive review. But she also found I had repeatedly made a few grammatical errors and taught me the rules so I hopefully won’t make them again.

It reminded me of something I hadn’t told her before, that English had been my very worst subject throughout high school and into college. The only thing that had prevented me from failing every class was a vivid imagination that I applied to the written assignments.

After getting out of the army, I enrolled at a local junior college. I had come to the realization somewhere along the line that, to become successful at most things in life, a person had to be skilled at writing and speaking. I was inadequate at both.

To correct this situation, one of the first classes I registered for was remedial English (aka bonehead English). I followed up with a slew of English and creative writing classes, at least one every quarter or semester I attended college. To get me over my fear of public speaking and help me become more proficient at it, I took many classes in speech and drama along the way. I even forced myself to act in a few college productions.

I mention this in a martial arts blog because these two are also important skills for martial arts instructors to possess. If you want to be successful in promoting and teaching your martial art, it helps significantly if you can write and speak well.

Writing skills enable you to write press releases to get you and your school’s name into your local press. It also enables you to write articles for one of the many martial arts publications, which can help establish you as a recognized martial arts expert in your area, and not merely a self-recognized one as are so many within our field. It also enables you to write more enticing and effective brochures and promotional materials for your school.

Your ability to logically organize your thoughts and present them verbally in an effective manner can make you a better instructor. It can also enhance your demonstrations and presentations and attract more students to your school.

Anyway, give this some thought and determine if your speaking and writing skills are adequate to advance yourself and your school. If not, improve them. You don’t have to enroll in college or adult education classes. (These are generally best but often meet at times most martial arts instructors are on the floor, teaching their students.) There are many educational opportunities available today via self-help books, YouTube videos, and online courses.

I always try to end each day a better, more knowledgeable person than I was when the day began. I generally do this by reading something that will expand my knowledge of the martial arts or related subjects. I recommend every serious martial artist does the same.

I have had hundreds of articles and monthly columns published in the major martial arts publications over the years. In a coming post, I will go over some things that can help you get your articles published and discuss some mistakes I made along the way. (I’ve posted the cover photo for one of these problematic articles that was written about me by someone else.)

Thanks again for reading my ramblings.