TOKYO — If any athletes at the Olympics should be able to fight for their lives, it should be the karateka, the men and women competing in the karate tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. Karate is having its Olympic launch, partly as a nod to hosts, who practice it widely, and partly in what its practitioners hope will be a first step to regular inclusion on the quadrennial program. Never before have so many sports either made returns (baseball and softball) or debuts (skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing, 3x3 basketball) at a single Olympics. Karate is new, too, but unlike the other Olympic sporting hatchlings, it is not on the provisional list of competitions for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Ariel Torres Won the First-Ever U.S. Karate Medal, But Must Wait For Another Olympic Moment
