Olympic Karate KO.

[Bill Mattocks]

Wow.

Iranian Olympian left unconscious in karate wins gold after opponent disqualified

An Iranian Olympian who was left unconscious during a karate match took home the gold medal after his opponent was disqualified.Iran’s Sajad Ganjzadeh won the karate kumite competition in the …

thehill.com

 

[Buka]

Lean way to the right and block a kick with your face. Yeah, that's one way to win a gold medal.

Ptooey.

 

[_Simon_]

Oh boy... can o' worms Bill 🤣

I'm on the fence. Completely ridiculous that he got a great kick in, seemed like the fellow leaned into it, and to win it through disqualification.... ugh.

But on the other hand in any other WKF tournament that rule simply applies. It's a part of the ruleset. Excessive contact especially through negligence and lack of control is penalised, as it's meant to be a show of good technique, control, timing and accuracy etc. Although I don't think this was the fault of the kicker, he did seem to lower his head to chudan/body level and into it too...

A real shame... the guy was absolutely gutted...

 

[punisher73]

It's this exact type of thing that will kill karate being accepted as a legit sport with rules like that.

Can you imagine this same situation in boxing? Getting ko'd and then winning because of it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

If I knew it was that easy to win a gold medal, I'd have tried out for the team.

IMO, this is just plain ridiculous. Get knocked out, and win a gold medal. Yet in the TKD bouts...get knocked out, you lose..... this makes no sense at all

 

[CB Jones]

It sucks. But every competitor out there knows it is their responsibility to control contact to the head.

DQs for excessive contact is just part of the sport.

I think this was one of the main drivers for Karate Combat.....a league that allows full contact.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

It sucks. But every competitor out there knows it is their responsibility to control contact to the head.

DQs for excessive contact is just part of the sport.

I think this was one of the main drivers for Karate Combat.....a league that allows full contact.

I broke a guy's nose in a tournament because he dropped his guard to look down to see where the ring ended. I did not intend that, although I intended to hit him. I cannot control what the other person does after my attack is launched but before it lands. I was awarded the point. I felt bad about it, but he was a good sport and recognized that his mistake led to it happening.

 

[JowGaWolf]

It's this exact type of thing that will kill karate being accepted as a legit sport with rules like that.

Can you imagine this same situation in boxing? Getting ko'd and then winning because of it.

Why not. I got kick out of a kung fu school because "I focused too much on kung fu application and sparring" Sound about right for today's world lol.

I like the statement "In olympic karate... the participants are not supposed to follow through with the strikes." That makes complete sense to me.

 

[CB Jones]

I broke a guy's nose in a tournament because he dropped his guard to look down to see where the ring ended. I did not intend that, although I intended to hit him. I cannot control what the other person does after my attack is launched but before it lands. I was awarded the point. I felt bad about it, but he was a good sport and recognized that his mistake led to it happening.

Pre Covid my son competed in around 20 tournaments a year across the country. Most competitors hate winning by DQ and most competitors DQ'd due to injury understand that is just part of competition.

One of our college students won a fight due to her tooth being knocked out by a roundhouse kick a few years ago. She will admit that is her responsibility to protect herself but her opponent also admitted she threw that kick way to hard....she just got caught up in the competition and trying to score.

Heck, a few years ago we drove 14 hours to a competition for Jacob to get DQ'd twice for busting a kids nose and knocking a kid squirrely . They were intentional and Jacob will tell you it was worth the DQs.

It's just part of competing.

 

[CB Jones]

I like the statement "In olympic karate... the participants are not supposed to follow through with the strikes." That makes complete sense to me.

You have to control your technique and power. You can't punch or kick through your target. Its controlled sparring where you pull the power on your techniques.

 

[punisher73]

Just me, my concept of "budo", I would've given the gold medal to the other guy on the podium. He admits he was already losing on points and then wakes up to find out he won? I couldn't take a medal like that.

 

[punisher73]

You have to control your technique and power. You can't punch or kick through your target. Its controlled sparring where you pull the power on your techniques.

On the one hand I understand that concept. On the other hand, in the "fog of war" when the opponent moves into your strike after it is thrown seems to be ridiculous. Unless you throw half assed strikes or only trying to strike when the guy is standing still.

 

[CB Jones]

On the one hand I understand that concept. On the other hand, in the "fog of war" when the opponent moves into your strike after it is thrown seems to be ridiculous. Unless you throw half assed strikes or only trying to strike when the guy is standing still.

I agree. It can suck. But you go into the competition knowing the rules on the amount of contact permitted.

Jacob got DQ'd this year in one division at nationals for giving his opponent a black eye (his training partner). His training partner told the ref he wanted to keep fighting and that they hit each other harder at the dojo all the time. Didn't matter.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I was expecting a killer kick. The kick wasn't hard. The guy just got caught with it when he was least able to defend against it.

The Iranian had bad fundamentals going on. This is the kick before it landed. Blue is doing a reverse punch when he's not on the ground? So let break it down

Reverse punch = Close range punch. H's not in range not even close
Blue is doing a reverse punch too high in the air. = not going to be able to change direction, stop, or duck while feet are off the ground like this. For some reason blue likes to jump up in the air as a fake before.

Red has a good visual on the target, He already knows at this point where that kick is going to land.
Blue's Foot is off the ground for the reverse punch = Person is reaching beyond the range of the punch, which makes sense. The reverse punch is the short distance punch and not the long range one. It could also mean that there are some bad fundamentals. Good martial arts can develop bad habits just like beginner martial artists.

This is a well placed kick and would be damaging even if the kick wasn't hard. Blue gets kick in the neck when he is least able to defend against it (hit while punching). Sometimes people mistake quickness with power. I don't the kick would have resulted in a KO had the kick landed on the head.

If you were teaching a Karate class. Red would be the example of what to do and Blue would be an example of using the wrong tool for the situation along with some bad fundamentals.

The basics and fundamentals of any sport are key, but sometimes as people become better their fundamentals will start to decay and you start seeing this decay as blips that occur every now and then. No one is immune to it which is why we often hear pro athletes say they still work on the basics.

From a guy who would easily lose point sparring. I just think Blue screwed up and it got him in trouble.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I broke a guy's nose in a tournament because he dropped his guard to look down to see where the ring ended. I did not intend that, although I intended to hit him. I cannot control what the other person does after my attack is launched but before it lands. I was awarded the point. I felt bad about it, but he was a good sport and recognized that his mistake led to it happening.

I think this is what should have happened here. Recognized blue did something stupid and paid the price for it. Like using a slip for punches and thinking it will work equally well against a kick. lol

 

[CB Jones]

I think this is what should have happened here. Recognized blue did something stupid and paid the price for it. Like using a slip for punches and thinking it will work equally well against a kick. lol

In the Olympics, you have to follow the rules as they are written. The rules do not allow for that.

It can be changed after for competitions going forward...but the judges ruled it correctly.

 

[JowGaWolf]

In the Olympics, you have to follow the rules as they are written. The rules do not allow for that.

Rules are measured by the Judges interpretation on what would have been considered as Following through. This is following through at a lower power level. But if any of those kicks land while the person is punching and it lands on the neck, you could easily get the same result. Had the kick landed on the face or on the side of the head then there wouldn't have been a KO. If he gets DQ then not make the excuse of DQ for following through on a strike.

Thank goodness Olympic Boxing isn't like that.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Just me, my concept of "budo", I would've given the gold medal to the other guy on the podium. He admits he was already losing on points and then wakes up to find out he won? I couldn't take a medal like that.

I thought the same thing too. Just for me personally I'm not sure I would want to win a Gold Medal like that. Yeah it's great to have Gold but not so much for getting KO'ed. #1 rule in sparring and fighting. "Protect yourself at all times."

 

[Michael Hubbard]

I saw that kick and thought it was a great kick however it was hard to control that type of kick when the guy leaned in toward it. In the split second it made contact the competitor was out cold. The attacker would have needed to react in a split second to control the kick. I think if the opponent wasn't knocked out then they may have given him a penalty for the kick. The kick itself was guy and perfectly timed. The kicker reflexes were too good to control that kick. He was clearly disappointed after realizing that he was disqualified for catching his opponent with the kick.

Personally I wouldn't have wanted to win a gold medal like that.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I saw that kick and thought it was a great kick however it was hard to control that type of kick when the guy leaned in toward it. In the split second it made contact the competitor was out cold. The attacker would have needed to react in a split second to control the kick. I think if the opponent wasn't knocked out then they may have given him a penalty for the kick. The kick itself was guy and perfectly timed. The kicker reflexes were too good to control that kick. He was clearly disappointed after realizing that he was disqualified for catching his opponent with the kick.

Personally I wouldn't have wanted to win a gold medal like that.

Considering what's ok for the other sports. I wonder if they some how thought karate to be more deadly than what it really is. I wonder if he would have tried that same jumping reverse punch from long distance, if he knew they could punch and hit a little harder.

For me personally, I do all of my stupid stuff when I know it's light sparring. I don't approach the sparring with same concern of being KO. It's the best time for me to try new stuff and stupid ideas. Just how TKD Tag point sparring results in people tagging each other for scores with stuff that isn't martial arts or stuff that doesn't follow fighting logic like hopping around on one leg trying to kick someone.

This Ok

This is Ok

This is Ok

But for Karate. Give them the kiddy rules.