3 years ago when the International Kendo Federation (IKF) entered GIAF and rebranded itself FIK many people wondered whether it was for the protection of kendo as it exists today, or for a push to join the Olympics. Like many others I had assumed (and unashamedly hoped) it was the former. However, a new piece of news caught my attention recently that has made me wonder out loud (see picture).
Since that picture was taken (Dec 2008) it has been decided: a new international martial arts competition – “SportAccord Martial Arts and Combat Sports Games” – will be held in Beijing in September 2010 and kendo will take part.
According to this months issue of Kenso (the ZNKR monthly magazine) kendo’s participation will be some non-shiai demonstration matches and perhaps some individual competition, not something on the scale of the World Kendo Championships. However – I don’t know about you – it seems like a rather large step forward in the direction of Olympic participation.
For a little bit of English information from FIK, see here.
There are a number of event that began as exibitions. We’ve all heard the pro/con argument before so I’ll just say I’m opposed without going into detail. I sincerely hope they don’t push for it but I wouldn’t be suprised if they do.
Realistically I don’t think it’s possible right now. Recently baseball was cut for having so few countries participating. I know there are a good number of nations that take part in the WKC but how many could actually come up with an Olympic team other than the big 5 (think talent pool, pro training, funding, etc.)? I don’t think kendo has developed enough internationally to make the cut at this point in time. Maybe 15 or 20 years down the line, but who knows?
Yeah, I pretty much agree with you. The two main sticking points for me are:
1. I think we just don’t have enough Olympic level athletes. Sure there are some fit people who are very good at kendo (perhaps even of the quality we expect from an Olympian), but i’m pretty sure that not all countries can put forward teams of truly international level.
2. As a current national squad member told me a few moments ago – and I would tend to agree with him – many (most?) countries may have trouble affording it. Not sure how much Beijing will front however.
Kendo has been out there in the world for enough time realistically develop top-level competition kendoka outside Japan… yet only Korea seems to have done so. Mind you, interest in kendo is accelerating, and many more young people are starting… so is another 20 years enough to level the playing field?
Yes, perhaps this is the FIK looking ahead 20 years. Certainly right now the Olympics are too crowded and so many other sports with similar (or greater) levels of international participation to kendo are falling over themselves to get into the Olympics. Thanks for posting this one George. b
After this post I have feeling that author is thinking that “the direction of Olympic participation” is a right direction.
So, I have a question – is it really necessarily for kendo to be in the Olympic family?
When I say kendo I mean martial arts, but very often I read another word – “sport”.
Sport and martial arts are not the same.
PS^ sorry for my english
Hi Jane, I am the author, and i’m 100% against kendo being added to the Olympics. I probably have the same feelings on the matter as you yourself do…. so dont worry!
It would be interesting to know what FIK’s hopes to get out of their participation in Beijing in 2010.
The short term activities must be part of a long term strategy. Are there any insiders (Alex Bennett???) who are willing and able to shed some light on this?
Like others, I’m against a move towards Olympic competition.
There are too many Olympic events as it is, in my humble opinion. C’mon, synchronized diving? But seriously, it’s getting to the point that a host nation (if it’s not already a developed country) has to take a significant financial risk to be able to build all the required venues. And then what happens to those little-used venues (such as the baseball stadium in Athens)? They become relics.
And don’t even get me started about allowing pros in events like tennis, basketball or hockey, which already have dominant professional outlets. Make them amateur-only or get rid of the Olympic events, this grumpy ol’ man says.
Relics? I dunno… The Aussie canoe slalom fraternity got a very nice artificial white-water course (cost: approx A$60m I believe). Bascially it’s a circular river. That’s a left-over from Sydney 2000. And canoe slalom has about the same number of registered participants in this country as kendo. Although buggered if I know what we could do with $60m. Build a great dojo for 10 and then sit on the rest maybe. If all we have to do to get that kind of dough is take drugs and behave badly then maybe it’s a good compromise… b
I went to meet Mr. Ducarme (EKF President) at the airport when he was coming to Moscow for this meeting. Later next day I also went for dinner with him, Kurose-sensei (AJKF Secretary, if I understood correctly) and Sato-sensei (FIK Secretary General). While, of course, they didn’t discuss these topics with us, none of them ever mentioned the plans to join the Olympics.
I understand alot of people here are against the “kendo into Olympic ”
business and where they are coming from. However personally I believe
If Kendo is in Olympic that means it will bring China into the participation
of Kendo. That , will fundamentally change the level of competition in the
world Kendo community.
>>If all we have to do to get that kind of dough is take drugs and behave badly then maybe it’s a good compromise… <<
Had I known that was the secret to making an obscene ammount of money I would have stayed the course!
がんばってリーヴ君！b
Here is an update on the matter:
http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-page/english-page2/GAISF-2009-7-28.html
And from the SportAccord (formerly GAISF) website itself:
http://www.sportcentric.com/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,5148-197860-215083-nav-list,00.html