Despite making its successful debut at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan — featuring 80 competitors, allocated between two male and two female divisions (“kata” and “kumite”) — karate got the chop for the Paris Games. The IOC’s decision to remove the combat sport that originated in Okinawa in the 17thcentury has caught many in the martial arts community off guard, especially given the sport’s popularity in France.
According to Reuters, karate was rejected from past Olympic bids because organizers said “the sport lacked entertainment value and the ability to attract a younger audience.” The latter sentiment is hard to argue against as the “kata” division, where athletes execute a series of “fixed defensive and offensive moves against a virtual opponent,” skewed older with an average age of 30 at the Tokyo Games. While the knock against karate’s entertainment value is subjective, to the untrained eye, the sport’s other division known as “kumite” might look more like a frenetic game of tag than the other combat sports featured in the Games, such as judo, taekwondo, wrestling and boxing.
Though fans of the nixed sports in the 2024 Olympic Games might be disappointed this go round, the official list of sports was recently revealed for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, California and, while Karate did not make the cut again, baseball and softball will be back in full swing.
Sourse: https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/what-sports-are-no-longer-in-the-2024-olympics-baseball-softball-karate
