Muay Thai aspires to be Olympic sport

**smoothsake** · 07-07-2008, 08:01 PM

From an e-mail sent to me:

The United States Muaythai Federation (USMF) and XFight Promotions proudly presents “WAR of the HEROES”., a Muay Thai fighting event featuring five championship title bouts held in the heart of Silicon Valley. “WAR of the HEROES” will be held on Saturday, June 21, 2008 from the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California.

Winners of the five title bouts will be offered a spot on Team USA which will represent the United States of America at the 2008 International Federation of Muaythai Amateurs World Championships to be held later this fall in Busan, South Korea.

“Our goal is to make Muay Thai an Olympic sport and the fighters who win their championship bouts at the WAR of the HEROES event will get a chance to compete as part of Team USA at the Busan TAFISA World Sport for All Games, an event featuring hundreds of athletes from around the world competing in dozens of sports and, most importantly, held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee,” said Anthony Lin, President of the USMF.

The art of Muay Thai, the national sport of Thailand, was prominently featured on mixed martial arts’ live debut on major network television and has become synonymous for effective stand-up striking. This ancient martial art is growing in popularity for its direct and practical application in combat sports.

vapor · 07-07-2008, 08:44 PM

That event in Busan will be huge...I received a briefing about it earlier this year when I was in Seoul....

It will be good exposure for Muay Thai, as well as the other martial arts that will be participating.

vapor

Dent · 07-07-2008, 08:52 PM

Osu!

I've been part of IFMA for a few years, and I can tell you that the amount of work, and money, that has gone into reaching this point is nothing short of staggering.

Osu!

**tmd** · 07-08-2008, 01:38 PM

Will be interesting too se how this plays out - Would be interesting to have a full contact MA involved in the Olympics but there'd be the same huge question of what is an Amateur as there are with other sports, most of the best Thai fighters start earning a living as kids so should they would all be excluded from being able to represent Thailand? Seemingly small points such as this are usually what ultimately undermine these endeavors, I think Knockdown would be an easier sell if it cold be done as one.

STA · 07-08-2008, 01:45 PM

I wouldn't mind if Kyokushin was in the Olympics, they will probably rap us up with pads & head protectors.

Dent · 07-08-2008, 01:52 PM

Osu!

There are enough precedents regarding professional players in the Olympics to kill any argument from other MA. Tennis, Football, Basketball and others all have pure pro's on the team, and as far as Athletics goes, all the "names" are professionals.

I think the biggest question is, how many amateurs are left?

Osu!

cochito · 07-12-2008, 06:09 PM

I think I once read one of Mas Oyama's autobiography that IOC approached Sosai but he rejected the offer. I might be wrong since I don't have any physical proof, so don't just believe what I just wrote blindly. Maybe, Kakatootoshi might know about this

.
Well, according to "Muay Thai: A Living Legacy" by Kat Prayukvong, there remains difficulties to adapt Muay Thai to Olympic, including its own name:"Olympic sport cannot incorporate the name of any country" (Muay Thai: 48).
I personally believe Olympic became too corrupted nowadays, so I don't want any MA to be part of it. Am I getting too political here? Well, I should stop here.
Peace!

**jcbel** · 07-12-2008, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dent

I think the biggest question is, how many amateurs are left?

Dent, I think the question is how many amateurs were there to begin with!

Interesting background reading here...

Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dent · 07-12-2008, 10:38 PM

Osu!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcbel

Dent, I think the question is how many amateurs were there to begin with!

Interesting question you ask, JCBel. I know that the original games had professionals, while the founding of the modern games strove for something else. In the end though, it seems as though even the highest ideals can give way to a price tag...

Osu!

**tmd** · 07-12-2008, 10:52 PM

I think there has for some time been a BIG gap in most major amateur sports between those who's countries support them with everything but direct cash and those who are there on Sunday and back to work on Monday.

Look at that thing about the old swimmer trying out for the Olympic team, she'd spend oner $100.000 which was all sponsorship - in another world a guy I knew represented England at the Commonwealth games as a weight lifter and had to pay for his trainers flights and his own 'team' jacket. It has not been a level playing field for years.

Dent · 07-13-2008, 12:02 AM

Osu!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmd

Look at that thing about the old swimmer trying out for the Olympic team, she'd spend oner $100.000 which was all sponsorship - in another world a guy I knew represented England at the Commonwealth games as a weight lifter and had to pay for his trainers flights and his own 'team' jacket. It has not been a level playing field for years.

Good thing there's nothing like that in the Karate world...

Osu!

vapor · 07-13-2008, 07:30 AM

In the small midwest town I grew up in, a guy a few years older than I qualified as a weightlifter for the olympics, and he was having pancake breakfast fundraisers in order to try to get enough money to get to the games and pay for the lodging!

vapor

kakatootoshi · 07-16-2008, 10:07 PM

Karate has the possibilty to become an Olympic sport if Tokyo wins the 2016 bid next year.

OSU!

Dent · 07-16-2008, 10:09 PM

Osu!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kakatootoshi

Karate has the possibilty to become an Olympic sport if Tokyo wins the 2016 bid next year.

OSU!

Even in a best-case scenario, that wouldn't include us.

Osu!

**tmd** · 07-16-2008, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kakatootoshi

Karate has the possibilty to become an Olympic sport if Tokyo wins the 2016 bid next year.

OSU!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dent

Osu!

Even in a best-case scenario, that wouldn't include us.

Osu!

Which is why it's unlikely - too many different types, styles and orgs, just the sort of BS that the Olympic committees dislike.

**DKKC** · 07-16-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dent

Osu!

Even in a best-case scenario, that wouldn't include us.

Osu!

Thanks Heaven for that one!!!

I have seen the English Karate team sparring the Swiss last year in August - they were all tall, very skinny, very fast athlets - they have been training for 3-7 months and that was all they knew. There was no kata, no kihon, no Japanese terminology - their bow was rushed as well. It happened that I was attending a course with Sensei Higaonna (Goju Ryu), Sensei Gushi (Uechi Ryu) and the founders of the Chinese White Crane style (sorry, can't remember their name) - and this fight was on as a 'treat' - to show what Olympic karate would be. The kids did not take part in the course - had never heard of any of the instructors or styles. I was dissapointed. The hall half emptied within 15 minutes when they started fighting. They were fast and flexible and had nice kicks - but it wasn't interesting.

I don't want Kyokushin to end up like that!

kakatootoshi · 07-16-2008, 10:25 PM

The possibility of we seeing any Kyokushin is quite low, but such a scenario could be a very good opportunity for a unified world championship to be held. But the possibility of cooperation between major groups is next to nothing.

OSU!

powerof0ne · 07-16-2008, 10:27 PM

It's going to be hard for muay thai because a lot of the people competing at this level of "amature" level are also fighting pro fights. Trevor Smandych actually got in some trouble for this a few years ago(he was the first one out on Asian Contender). IMTF is more or less a sister org to the WMC and if under those rules it could work out very well for the olympics but like I said I know that Kit Cope, Ben Gracia, and many others are the level of people that have competed in these "amature" "olympic style muay thai" tournaments.
If Karate is ever under the olympics it's going to be WKF rules. I know for a fact that the WKF and USANKF have been working with the IOC for years. Heck, I just looked at a USANKF certificate of mine from '96 that says "member of the united states olympic committee". Unless this has changed since than which it may have but when I was competing under these rules there was a huge push for it.
For muay thai the line is very blurred for what's amature and what's professional. IMO the olympics should be all amature and kept that way.

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