Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics

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)

Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualification
	Men	Women
	kata	kata
	67 kg	55 kg
	75 kg	61 kg
	+75 kg	+61 kg
v t

Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics was an event held in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. It was the debut appearance of karate at the Summer Olympics. Karate was one of four new sports added to the Olympic program specifically for 2020,^[1] rather than as a permanent sport.^[2][3]

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 (-60kg and -67kg for men, -50kg and -55kg for women) were combined into the Olympic categories of -67kg for men and -55kg for women. The middle categories (-75kg men, -61kg women) were unchanged, while the two heaviest categories (-84kg and +84kg for men, -68kg and +68kg for women) were combined into +75kg for men and +61kg 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 12 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
Americas	2	1 per gender
Asia	2	1 per gender
Europe	2	1 per gender
Africa	1	either gender
Americas	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
	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
	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 NOCs)		8	8	16	32

Men[]

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

Women[]

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

See also[]

• List of Olympic medalists in karate
• Karate at the 2018 Asian Games
• Karate at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics
• Karate at the 2019 African Games
• Karate at the 2019 European Games
• Karate at the 2019 Pan American Games

References[]

External links[]

• Complete Results book of Karate Event in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games