Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Karate
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Karate; at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
	Pictograms for kata (left) and kumite (right)
Venue	Nippon Budokan
Dates	5–7 August 2021
No. of events	8
Competitors	82 from 36 countries; (including 2 EOR athletes)

Last updated January 10, 2024

The karate competitions at the 2020 Olympics featured eight events.^[4] Two karate disciplines were featured: kumite was the sparring discipline and had three weight classes each for men and women; kata was the solo form discipline, and had one event each for men and women. Competitors chose the kata to demonstrate from 102 kata that were recognized by the World Karate Federation. Competitors were not allowed to demonstrate the same kata twice during the tournament.^[4] Each event had 10 competitors.

The three weight classes in Olympic competition for kumite were in contrast to the five normally used by the World Karate Federation (WKF). The two lightest (-60 kg and -67 kg for men, -50 kg and -55 kg for women) were combined into the Olympic categories of -67 kg for men and -55 kg for women. The middle categories (-75 kg men, -61 kg women) were unchanged, while the two heaviest categories (-84 kg and +84 kg for men, -68 kg and +68 kg for women) were combined into +75 kg for men and +61 kg for women.

Rules

For both kumite and kata, WKF rules, effective as of January 2018, have been adopted.^[5]^[6] In January 2019, a point-based system was adopted for kata.^[7]

Kumite

Two competitors face each other in a matted competition area of 8 m × 8 m (26 ft × 26 ft). Each match is competed for 3 minutes, unless one competitor amasses eight points more than their opponent.^[7] A competitor wins by amassing eight points more than their opponent or by gaining more points than their opponent in the allotted time of 3 minutes. In the event of a tie, the competitor who scored the first point is the winner. In the case of a scoreless bout, the winner will be declared by decision of the five judges.^[7]^[6]

Scores vary from one to three points.

Ippon for 3 points
Waza-ari for 2 points
Yuko for 1 point.^[6]

Penalties are divided into two categories. If 4 warnings are received in either category, the competitor is disqualified.^[6] A competitor can also be disqualified with less than 4 warnings for being deemed an act done maliciously.^[6]

Kata

Each of seven judges evaluates the performance individually within the scale of 5.0 to 10.0, in increments of 0.2 for technical points and athletic points respectively. The two highest and two lowest scores out of the seven scores of each group are eliminated and all the remaining scores are added to make up the final scores, which is weighed 70% for technical points and 30% for athletic points. In the case of a draw, the competitors perform an additional choice of kata to be judged.^[6]

There are 7 criteria of evaluation for technical points: stances, techniques, transitional movements, timing, correct breathing, focus and conformance. 3 evaluation criteria for athletic points are: strength, speed and balance.^[6]

Qualification

There are 80 qualifying spots for karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

A nation can have no more than 8 athletes qualify (up to four males and four females) with a maximum of one in each event.

Summary

The 10 competitors in each event qualify as follows:

1 from the host nation, Japan
4 from the Olympic Standing ranking as of 5 April 2021
3 from the Olympics Karate 2020 Qualification Tournament
2 from continental representation or Tripartite Commission invitation

Because World Karate Federation rankings are based on five weight classes instead of the three weight classes featured in the 2020 Olympics, some of the Olympic events are based on a combination of two WKF classes. In those cases, the top 2 from each of the WKF classes qualify for the combined Olympic class (for a total of 4). Where the Olympic class matches the WKF class, the top 4 in that class qualify.

The qualification tournament features the same weight classes as the Olympic weight classes. Only National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that have not qualified through Olympic standing for a given division are eligible to enter an athlete in the qualification tournament. The top three finishers in each division at the qualification tournament qualify for the Olympics.

A total of 10 quota places, distributed among the eight events, are available through continental representation. The selection order is as follows:


Continent	Spots
Oceania	2	1 per gender
Africa	2	1 per gender
North America	2	1 per gender
Asia	2	1 per gender
Europe	2	1 per gender
Africa	1	either gender
South America	1	either gender

For each continent, all of the gold medalists at the continental games are considered together. The highest ranked among this group earns the qualification spot unless that competitor is already qualified or otherwise cannot be selected without violating any of the following limitations: 10 athletes per division, 1 athlete per NOC per division, 2 athletes per NOC through continental representation (affecting only Africa and the Americas). If the highest-ranked gold medalist cannot be entered, then the next-highest ranked gold medalist qualifies if possible. This process goes through all gold medalists by ranking, then all silver medalists by ranking, then all bronze medalists by ranking until the continent's qualifying spots are filled. If none of the medalists can be entered, the highest-ranked eligible athlete from that continent in the rankings (regardless of finish at the continental games) qualifies.

Participating nations

List of countries competing in Karate.^[8]

Schedule

Schedule^[9]
Event↓/Date →	Aug 5^[10]	Aug 6^[11]	Aug 7^[12]
Men's 67kg	F
Men's 75kg		F
Men's +75kg			F
Men's kata		F
Women's 55kg	F
Women's 61kg		F
Women's +61kg			F
Women's kata	F

Medalists

Medal table

* Host nation (Japan)


Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan*	1	1	1	3
2	Spain	1	1	0	2
3	Egypt	1	0	1	2
3	Italy	1	0	1	2
5	Bulgaria	1	0	0	1
	France	1	0	0	1
	Iran	1	0	0	1
	Serbia	1	0	0	1
9	Azerbaijan	0	2	0	2
10	Turkey	0	1	3	4
11	China	0	1	1	2
11	Ukraine	0	1	1	2
13	Saudi Arabia	0	1	0	1
14	Kazakhstan	0	0	2	2
15	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Chinese Taipei	0	0	1	1
	Hong Kong	0	0	1	1
	Hungary	0	0	1	1
	Jordan	0	0	1	1
	United States	0	0	1	1
Totals (20 entries)		8	8	16	32

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Kata details	Ryo Kiyuna Japan	Damián Quintero Spain	Ariel Torres United States
Kata details	Ryo Kiyuna Japan	Damián Quintero Spain	Ali Sofuoğlu Turkey
67 kg details	Steven Da Costa France	Eray Şamdan Turkey	Darkhan Assadilov Kazakhstan
67 kg details	Steven Da Costa France	Eray Şamdan Turkey	Abdelrahman Al-Masatfa Jordan
75 kg details	Luigi Busà Italy	Rafael Aghayev Azerbaijan	Gábor Hárspataki Hungary
75 kg details	Luigi Busà Italy	Rafael Aghayev Azerbaijan	Stanislav Horuna Ukraine
+75 kg details	Sajjad Ganjzadeh Iran	Tareg Hamedi Saudi Arabia	Ryutaro Araga Japan
+75 kg details	Sajjad Ganjzadeh Iran	Tareg Hamedi Saudi Arabia	Uğur Aktaş Turkey

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Kata details	Sandra Sánchez Spain	Kiyou Shimizu Japan	Grace Lau Hong Kong
Kata details	Sandra Sánchez Spain	Kiyou Shimizu Japan	Viviana Bottaro Italy
55 kg details	Ivet Goranova Bulgaria	Anzhelika Terliuga Ukraine	Bettina Plank Austria
55 kg details	Ivet Goranova Bulgaria	Anzhelika Terliuga Ukraine	Wen Tzu-yun Chinese Taipei
61 kg details	Jovana Preković Serbia	Yin Xiaoyan China	Giana Farouk Egypt
61 kg details	Jovana Preković Serbia	Yin Xiaoyan China	Merve Çoban Turkey
+61 kg details	Feryal Abdelaziz Egypt	Irina Zaretska Azerbaijan	Gong Li China
+61 kg details	Feryal Abdelaziz Egypt	Irina Zaretska Azerbaijan	Sofya Berultseva Kazakhstan

Related Research Articles

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, although it was ultimately not selected.

This article details the qualifying phase for karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics. 80 quota places for the Games are entitled to the karatekas coming from their respective NOCs, based on the results at designated tournaments supervised by World Karate Federation. Each NOC could enter a maximum of eight karatekas. Host nation Japan has reserved a spot in each of all 8 events, while four are made available to NOCs through a Tripartite Commission Invitation.

Turkey competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's official debut in 1908, Turkish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles at the period of worldwide Great Depression, and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of its support for the United States-led boycott.

Italy competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Italian athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympics edition of the modern era, with the disputed exception of the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis where one Italian may have participated.

Germany competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's eighth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympic Games after its reunification in 1990.

Serbia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's fifth appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation.

Ukraine competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era with its smallest representation ever.

Taiwan competed under the designated name "Chinese Taipei" at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the nation's tenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.

Cuba competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cuban delegation was their smallest since 1964, which coincidentally was also in Tokyo. It was the nation's twenty-first appearance at the Summer Olympics. Cuba improved on its 2016 result, by winning 7 gold and 15 total medals after 5 and 11 in Rio.

Egypt competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1912, Egyptian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except 1932 and 1980, joining the United States-led boycott in the latter.

Algeria competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1964, Algerian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal because of the African boycott. Unlike Algeria's previous successes in the Summer Olympics, they failed to secure a single medal.

Iran competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1948, Iranian athletes have attended every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1980 and 1984 which they boycotted.

Georgia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

Kazakhstan competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

Latvia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's eighth consecutive appearance at the Games and twelfth overall in Summer Olympic history.

Azerbaijan competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

Tunisia competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's official debut in 1960, Tunisian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the nation's partial support for the US-led boycott.

Morocco competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's fifteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merve Çoban</span> Turkish karateka (born 1993)

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.

Sabina Zakharova is a Kazakhstani karateka. She won the silver medal in the women's kumite 55 kg event at the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. She is also a five-time medalist at the Asian Karate Championships.

References

↑ "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". International Olympic Committee. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
↑ "IOC Executive Board charts the course for future Olympic Games". International Olympic Committee. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
↑ "Breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing provisionally included on Paris 2024 Olympic sports programme - Olympic News". International Olympic Committee. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
1 2 "Tokyo 2020: Karate" . Retrieved 14 July 2018.
↑ "オリンピックの空手組手競技ルールをわかりやすく解説｜2020東京オリンピックを楽しむために！ - 空手ロード". wka.jp.net. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "KATA AND KUMITE COMPETITION RULES" (PDF). WFK.net. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
1 2 3 "Olympic Sports : Karate｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
↑ Karate World Olympic Qualification Tournament Results Book. World Karate Federation. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021
↑ "Karate Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
↑ "Schedule - Thursday 06 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
↑ "Schedule - Friday 07 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
↑ "Schedule - Saturday 08 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

External links

Complete Results book of Karate Event in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Archived 10 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". International Olympic Committee. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

[2] "IOC Executive Board charts the course for future Olympic Games". International Olympic Committee. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

[3] "Breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing provisionally included on Paris 2024 Olympic sports programme - Olympic News". International Olympic Committee. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

[Tokyo_2020_Karate-4] 1 2 "Tokyo 2020: Karate" . Retrieved 14 July 2018.

[5] "オリンピックの空手組手競技ルールをわかりやすく解説｜2020東京オリンピックを楽しむために！ - 空手ロード". wka.jp.net. Retrieved 25 November 2019.

[:0-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "KATA AND KUMITE COMPETITION RULES" (PDF). WFK.net. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.

[:1-7] 1 2 3 "Olympic Sports : Karate｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 28 October 2019.

[8] Karate World Olympic Qualification Tournament Results Book. World Karate Federation. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021

[9] "Karate Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[10] "Schedule - Thursday 06 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[11] "Schedule - Friday 07 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

[12] "Schedule - Saturday 08 Aug Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 8 March 2020.

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