| Elisa Au | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | May 29, 1981 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | |||||||||||||
| Residence | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | |||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) [1] | |||||||||||||
| Weight | 135 lb (61 kg; 9 st 9 lb) [1] | |||||||||||||
| Style | Shitō-ryū Karate | |||||||||||||
| Teacher(s) | Chuzo Kotaka | |||||||||||||
| Rank | 3 degree black belt in Shitō-ryū | |||||||||||||
| Website | ElisaAu.com | |||||||||||||
Medal record
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Elisa Au (born May 29, 1981, in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American martial arts instructor and karate practitioner. [1]
Elisa Au was born on May 29, 1981, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Gary and Jane Au. With the encouragement of her parents she began taking karate lessons at age five under the tutelage of shitō-ryū karate master Chuzo Kotaka. In 1990, Au competed in her first major tournament the AAU/United States National Karate Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana. She won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the event. [2]
In 1991, Au received her black belt under Kotaka and his International Karate Federation. [2] [3] As a teenager in her native Hawaii, she began teaching after school karate programs. Several of her students went on to become national champions, including one who would win two junior world championships. [4]
By the age of 18, Au had won three WKO World Championships and two WKC World Championships. In addition to her demanding karate schedule, she participated in figure skating, gymnastics, canoe paddling, and track and field, while attending Punahou School — an elite college preparatory academy in Hawaii. She also excelled academically and maintained honor roll status throughout high school. [5] In 2003, Au graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in civil engineering. [4]
Au continues to compete and make national and international appearances. In addition to competition, she teaches seminars around the world, including Japan, Canada, Australia and the U.S. She also stars in a six-set DVD series entitled SECRETS of Championship Karate that shares her training methods and ideas along with tips on how to succeed in karate competition. [6]
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Karate (空手), also Karate-do is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).
Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including those at Keio, Waseda, Hitotsubashi (Shodai), Takushoku, Chuo, Gakushuin, and Hosei.
The World Karate Federation (WKF) is the largest international governing body of sport karate with 198 member countries. It is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than hundred million members. The WKF organizes the Junior and Senior Karate World Championships, which are each held every other year. The President of the WKF is Antonio Espinós and the headquarters are located in Madrid, Spain. All the styles are officially recognised by the WKF.
The Japan Karate Federation (JKF), a.k.a. Japan Karatedo Federation, is a national governing body of sport karate in Japan. The JKF is officially affiliated with the Japan Olympic Association (JOC), World Karate Federation (WKF), Japan Sports Association (JSA), and Japanese Budō Association (JBA). The styles recognized by the JKF are Wadō-ryū, Shotokan, Shito-ryu, and Goju-ryu. The headquarters is located in Tokyo, Japan.
The Karate World Championships, also known as the World Karate Championships, are the highest level of competition for karate organized by the World Karate Federation (WKF). The competition is held in a different city every two years. Championships in the 2000s included Madrid in 2002, Monterrey in 2004, Tampere in 2006, Tokyo in 2008, and Belgrade in 2010. The competition was initially riddled with controversy regarding karate styles and the ruleset.
Seigokan (正剛館) is the Goju-Ryu Karate-do organization founded in 1945 by Seigo Tada (1922-1997) Hanshi. With its Hombu Dojo (headquarters) in Himeji, Japan, the Seigokan All Japan Karate-do Association (SAJKA) — its official name — has branches in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, the Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, the United States, England, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia and Venezuela.
Atsuko Wakai is a Japanese practitioner of karate who has won many international and Japanese national competitions in kata (patterns), including unprecedented numbers of consecutive titles in World Karate Federation (WKF) and All Japan Karatedo championships. She holds the rank of 6th dan black belt from the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF), training in Seigokan Goju-ryu karate.
USA National Karate-do Federation is the national governing body (NGB) of karate for the United States Olympic Committee and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the United States.
Junior Lefevre is a Belgian-Croatian karateka. He has a 6th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple World Karate Championships and European Karate Championships medals, representing both Croatia and Belgium at tournaments. He is also chairman of C.I.K.A world.
Dov Sternberg is an American karateka.
Luis Manuel Plumahcer is WKF world champion from Venezuela. Aside from winning a world championship in 2004, Luis Plumacher was also a silver medalist in 2006, and in the World Games in 2005. Plumacher was part of the Venezuelan National karate team for 10 years, from 2000 to 2010. During these years he was quite a prolific international medalist. Plumacher kept a very high performance during his competitive years, which made him achieve a reputation as the best fighter on his division, and leading him to 2 World finals, earning him a spot as one of the best world fighters in karate-do competitions.
Karate was first included in the Summer Olympic Games at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Japan. After it was announced to not be included in 2024, in August 2022 it was announced that karate had made the shortlist for inclusion in the 2028 Games.
Jovana Preković is a Serbian former karateka competing in kumite -61 kg division. She is a two-time world champion in the women's kumite 61 kg event and the 2020 Olympic champion, in karate's lone appearance in Olympic Games program.
John Fonseca is a former American karateka most known for being the first karate athlete in the world to win repeat gold medals at the Pan American Games, first American to medal at the Karate World Championships in almost 16 years (kumite), and first American to win the Paris Open in more than 30 years.
Karin Prinsloo is a South African karateka, gold medal winner of the 6th World Games (2001) in the under 60 kg Kumite category and Karate instructor formerly based in Durban, South Africa, now hailing from Perth, Australia. She is listed among the top 100 Karate competitors of all time.
Merve Çoban is a Turkish karateka. She won the bronze medal in the 61 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a gold medalist and a two-time silver medalist in the women's kumite 61 kg event at the European Karate Championships.
Yin Xiaoyan is a Chinese karateka. She won the silver medal in the women's 61 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. At the 2018 World Karate Championships in Madrid, Spain, she won the silver medal in the women's kumite 61 kg event.
Luigi Busà is an Italian karateka. He is a two-time gold medalist at the World Karate Championships and a five-time gold medalist at the European Karate Championships. He represented Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, winning the first-ever gold medal in the men's kumite 75 kg event.
Giana Mohamed Farouk Lotfy is an Egyptian karateka. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 61 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She is a two-time gold medalist in the women's kumite 61 kg event at the World Karate Championships. She is also a gold medalist in her event at the African Games, the Islamic Solidarity Games and the Mediterranean Games.
Youssef Badawy is an Egyptian karateka and a world-classed champion. He won the gold medal in the men's kumite 84 kg event at the 2021 World Karate Championships held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 2019, he won the bronze medal in the men's kumite 84 kg event at the World Cadet, Junior & Under 21 Championships in Chile, marking his debut at the Worlds and introducing himself as a candidate for the World Champion title.
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