William Wayne Blanks is an American actor, martial artist and fitness personality. He was a nationally ranked competitor in semi-contact and point karate during the 1980s, winning a bronze medal at the 1981 World Games, before creating the Tae Bo exercise program.
The World Karate Federation (WKF) is an 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 a hundred million members. The WKF organizes their 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.
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.
Elisa Au is an American martial arts instructor and karate practitioner.
Paul Noel Starling is an Australian martial artist renowned as a Gōjū-ryū Karate master. He was the most senior Caucasian student of Gōjū-ryū Gogen Yamaguchi, and is a world Vice President of the International Karate do Goju Kai Association (IKGA)
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.
Jasem Vishkaei is an Iranian karateka. Vishkaei competed in the 2006 Asian Games in the 75 kg division and won the gold medal. He also won the gold medal in 2010 Asian Games.
Victor John-Charles is a British karateka. He has an 8th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple individual and team medals at the World Championship, World Games and European Karate Championships. Vic Charles came 3rd in 1983 television competition Superstars. Vic Charles was awarded an MBE for Services to karate in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1989. This was the first time the sport of karate had been acknowledged in such a fashion. On retiring from competitive karate in 1990 Vic continued as Chief Instructor of British Sport Karate Association (B.S.K.A.) the Association he established in 1985. The Association dominated English karate competitions and won 2 European Club Team titles. The Association counted 3 World and European Champions as members Mervyn Etienne, Mike Sailsman, and Willie Thomas. Vic was appointed English National Coach in 1996 and became Technical Manager of the Performance Plan in 1997 until 1999. He was a member of the board of Karate England until 1999.
Billy Higgins is a British karateka and former kumite competitor. He holds an 8th-degree black belt from the KUGB, was a winner of multiple European championships, and a gold medalist in men's kumite with the British team at the 1975 World Karate Championships in Long Beach, California.
Eugene Codrington is a British karateka. He has an 8th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple European Karate Championships and was part of first non- Japanese team to win a World Karate Championships. Eugene is a founder member of the English Karate Governing Board (EKGB) for whom he is Senior Coach.
Dominique Valera is a French kickboxer and karateka, based in Lyon. He has a 9th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple European Karate Championships. Since retiring from competitive karate Dominique Valera has starred in French movies such as Let Sleeping Cops Lie.
The 1976 European Karate Championships were held in Tehran from 5–7 May 1976 and were the 11th championship in the series. The event was organized by the European Karate Union.
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.
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.
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 living in Perth, Australia. She is listed among the top 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.
Vinícius Figueira is a Brazilian karateka. He won the silver medal in the men's kumite 67 kg event at the 2018 World Karate Championships held in Madrid, Spain.
Cherupalli Vivek Teja is an Indian martial artist. He has been a martial arts fighter for 19 years. Cherupalli is the founder of the Human Weapon International, a self-defense training organization. Vivek Teja Cherupalli claims that he has trained more than 19,000 women in the art of self-defense. The 27-year-old Cherupalli, who has Judd Reid as his coach, is also training to be a light heavyweight (75 kg) category boxer.
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 84kg 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.
