"Karate" Under Consideration For 2016 Olympics

Baseball, Softball, Golf Among Seven Sports Under Consideration For 2016 Olympics

[quote=““AOL Sports””]

            Softball and baseball, which were cut from the Olympic program for the 2012 London Games, will get a chance for reinstatement at the IOC assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2009.

Golf, rugby, squash, karate and roller sports will also be considered for the two openings on the 2016 schedule. All five had failed to win admission into the London Olympics in 2005.

The International Olympic Committee has sent letters to the world governing bodies of the seven sports notifying them that they are on the list for consideration, IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said Friday.

Softball and baseball have been lobbying hard for a return to the Olympics since being voted off the program by the IOC in Singapore in 2005. Both sports will be played at this summer’s Beijing Olympics but will be absent in London.

In Singapore, softball missed out by one vote and baseball by three. After they were dropped, the IOC then rejected golf and the four others hoping to get into the games, leaving London with only 26 sports rather than the usual 28.

Under a new formula approved last year, it will take a simple majority for a sport to be voted onto the program. Previously, a two-thirds majority was needed.

The sports program is fixed seven years in advance of each Olympics. The IOC will also select the 2016 host city during the Copenhagen session, with Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro among the leading contenders.

The same 26 sports on the London program will be put forward for 2016 in Copenhagen. The IOC has set a ceiling of 28 sports, meaning there will be room for only one or two new additions.

Moreau said the IOC will send out questionnaires to the seven sports federations in December, with replies to be returned by March 2009. The IOC program commission will prepare a report assessing the seven sports in April 2009.

For the first time, leaders of the seven sports will make presentations to the IOC executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June 2009. The executive board will then submit proposals to the full IOC in Copenhagen on which sports to include.

The procedure has been streamlined following widespread criticism of the arduous procedures at the IOC session in Singapore, where members voted individually on each of the 28 sports.

Softball, a women’s sport in the Olympics, joined the games in Atlanta in 1996. Baseball debuted as a medal sport in Barcelona in 1992.

Golf, which was last played in the Olympics in 1904, got a boost earlier this month when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem endorsed the sport’s bid to get back into the games.
Rugby, last played at the 1924 Olympics, has proposed a Sevens tournament rather than the traditional 15-a-side competition.
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Source:
http://www.aol.com.au/sport/story/baseball-softball-golf-among-seven-sports-under-consideration-for-2016-olympics/400661/index.html

So now they’re going to have both TKD and karate? Wouldn’t they be really similar?

I hope at least James Earl Jones will be hired as the US team’s head coach.

I would like to see Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the Olympics before Karate. BJJ has a way better Point System and a way larger Fan Base.

Train Hard, Stay Safe,
Good Luck

What kind of karate? Will it be like kyokushin/enshin/ashihara kumite or will it be padded bullshit like Olympic TKD?

Agree with mdrnsamurai though. Maybe instead of having BJJ outright we could just get grappling in the Olympics?

I really wanna see sambo in the Olympics too.

I heard about this too. It pisses me off that Sanda can’t be an Olympic sport because its too similar to TKD, and BJJ can’t be because its too similar to wrestling and judo, and then they pull this crap.

That was explicitly TKD.

Yes, but back in the '80s, anybody who wore a gi was doing “karate.”

I think a good first step to getting MMA or MT in the Olympics would be submission grappling. But I’m doubtful this will be on that level.

I see the Olympics as an opportunity to have many MA from different countries showcased. Seeing mixed matches would be cool too.

The UFC… all over again, but not spawning MMA cos that’s already been invented.

Toby, if you FINALLY start training you might even get a spot in the Para Olympics team.

Fantastic, now we’ll have thousands of kids training to be olympic karate weenies instead of training real karate.

Keep BJJ out of the Olympics

the Olympics ruined Judo

Fuck the Olympics

I belive that the Olympic bigwigs speak with the world karate federtion as their karate org of choice: http://www.karateworld.org/ (the olympics are mentioned on their frontpage at the moment)

…so yes, it would be bad for ‘karate’ just like Judo and TKD. Point sparring FTW!

The Olympics ruined Judo & TKD. They just need a generic striking competition on par with olympic boxing that karateka, taegwonin, sanda fighters, muay thai guys, whoever…

Now that would be great. Sounds like a video game.

Yeah, I actually came up with the concept. It’s gonna hav dudes from various styles in a couple different costumes & they can fight in different venues. Toss in a couple cute Asian chicks. We’ll call it…Tekken.

Your ideas are intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!

Worth repeating.

Fuck the Olympics.

If that’s the case, I call the gymnasts .I used to be so hot for Kerri Strugg & Shannon Miller back in the day.