Local karate athletes are excited at the news that their sport will be included in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
It was added alongside softball, surfing, climbing and skateboarding today by the IOC. The addition will add 18 events and 474 athletes to the games.
“I am incredibly excited, this is something that we’ve been hoping for quite a long time.” said Curtis Mayes of the Nechako Karate Club “I guess you could say this is the biggest thing to happen to karate since the Karate Kid.”
He thinks karate peaked in the 1970’s and hasn’t grown much since then in North America. He sees this as a great way to raise the profile of a sport with a low barrier of entry.
“It’s huge across the world, but we want to see if we can bring out more people and show them that it is a fun sport” noting that all a person needs to do karate is a ghee, belt and gloves.
He says the Nechako Karate Club already has a track record of competing at a high level with a 5th place finish in overall medals at provincial and competitors taking part in the Pan Am Games.
“A couple competitors, younger guys have said that one of their goals was to get into the Olympics, so now they have their chance.”
