An investigation into the positive impact of karate’s debut in Tokyo 2020 has raised hopes of its inclusion to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Program.
The report, featuring television audience ratings, in traditional media and social networks, compared to other sports, will be revealed and debated in the coming days at the Congress of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in Dubai.
The Congress will be held on November 15, one day before the World Championship in which the vast majority of Olympic and world champions such as Sandra Sánchez of Spain, Ryo Kiyuna of Japan, Jovana Prekovic of Serbia and Steven Dacosta from France will be competing.
WKF President Antonio Espinós declined to go into details about the report commissioned by his federation from the Nielsen Company.
However, Espinós, who has lead the WKF since 1998 and the European Federation since 1997, told Around The Rings the IOC will send each Olympic sports federation an analysis of the respective sport in Tokyo but without comparisons to each other.
In the research conducted by the WKF, karate has been measured against other disciplines and in specific markets such as France and the United States, hosts of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games respectively.
The three parameters investigated were: television audience, traditional and online media coverage and the potential of fans.
In France the comparison of karate has been with the other three sports added to the Tokyo program: surfing, climbing and skateboarding, disciplines that will also be in Paris 2024.
In the United States, the comparison analyzed was with respect to the Olympic judo and taekwondo tournaments.
The French measurement resulted in karate being the highest rated with four million viewers. Under the concept of “Staunch Fans”, three million were registered and under “Interested or Very Interested Fans” almost eight million. The report confirmed karate also had the largest number of online news. “We understand that these data are further proof of the inconsistency and opacity of the criteria put forward by Paris 2024 and supported by the IOC for the ”non-inclusion“ of karate, which I prefer to call exclusion,” Espinós said.
In the United States, according to the report delivered to the WKF, karate compared to the Olympic judo and taekwondo tournaments, was first in television broadcasts (in reference to the one that had bought the broadcasting rights from the IOC), with an average audience per broadcast of 700,000 viewers. With figures of almost 25 million “Staunch Fans” and some 53 million “Interested or Very Interested Fans”, the investigation ensures that this sport had the greatest potential. A similar position was registered regarding the follow-up of information about Olympic karate on social networks. “These data lead us to conclude that due to the media, social and television impact in the U.S., karate should be included by the IOC in the 2028 Olympic Program,” said Espinós.
It is the first time that there is a comparative analysis of karate with other sports, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, a presentation that was also dismissed. Paris 2024 preferred breakdancing, as an urban modality closer to young people, according to its argument.
The Organizing Committee has reiterated that its program is already closed and that there is no intention to modify it amid exhortations from athletes, authorities such as the sports minister Roxana Maracineanu and French parliamentarians in favor of martial art.
France is considered among the world powers of karate. In Tokyo one of the eight gold medals in dispute was achieved by Steven DaCosta in the 67 kg. According to the French press, the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, told French officials the need to increase the number of medals as the host country for the next Olympic Games. Espinós does not rule out a meeting with Bach, already with the two reports from the IOC and the WKF in his hands, but clarifies “Paris is the past, in the end what we have in front of us is the Los Angeles Games.”
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