Why was karate removed from the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Karate appeared in the Olympic Games for the first time in its history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as one of 4 new sports adopted in the Tokyo 2020 Games, along with skateboarding, surfing, and climbing, where athletes competed in these sports not only to win the gold medal, But to secure the future of sport as an Olympic discipline.
A total of 80 karate athletes competed for the podium over 3 days, and 32 medals were awarded to the first Olympic champions in the history of karate (8 gold, 8 silver, and 16 bronze).
The Arabs had 4 medals in karate at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (gold, silver, and two bronze). The gold medal was won by Egyptian Feryal Ashraf Abdel Aziz, and Saudi Tariq Hamdi won the silver, while Jordan's Abdul Rahman Al-Masatfa and Egypt's Giana Farouk won the bronze medals.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games may represent the last appearance of karate in the Olympic Games, at a time when karate officials were hoping that the inclusion of the sport in Tokyo would secure its Olympic future in the long term, given the great popularity of the sport in various parts of the world. The Paris 2024 Games announced this sport in favor of “break-dancing”, and no decision has been taken regarding its inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Karate has been fighting for decades for a place in the Olympic theater, in a campaign dating back to the 1970s. The sport was initially denied inclusion in Tokyo 2020 as well, despite a new clause introduced by the International Olympic Committee allowing host countries to propose new sports for inclusion in the tournament to be played on their soil, which is then approved by the IOC.
Among the new sports that debuted in Tokyo 2020, karate is the only sport removed from the 2024 Paris Olympics, while skateboarding, windsurfing, and climbing have been preserved, and karate has been replaced by breakdancing.
