The Karate family is demonstrating its involvement with healthy lifestyles and the importance of the practise of sports by joining the #OlympicDay campaign. Many activities are being held and Karate Stars and Karate fans alike are showing their support to the movement in the different actions promoted by the WKF. 

The Karate family is demonstrating its involvement with healthy lifestyles and the importance of the practice of sports by joining the #OlympicDay campaign. Many activities are being held and Karate Stars and Karate fans alike are showing their support to the movement in different actions. 

Olympic Day – celebrated on 23 June – is a day for the world to get active, learn about Olympic values and discover new sports. Karatekas around the world have been getting off the couch and they have been celebrating how much fun it is to do sports and Karate. 

In Moldova, the Karate National Federation participated in the Olympic National Sport Event – Olympic Fest, a festival of sports organised by the National Olympic and Sports Committee of Moldova. Over 15.000 representatives of various sports organisations gathered at the Grand National Assembly Square in Chisinau to celebrate the impact of sports in the country. This year young Karate athletes and top competitors performed a series of katas and kumites thus impressing the audience with their skills. 

In Canada, nearly 200 karatekas gathered at the Junior National Training Camp which was held in Toronto where all the participants took a moment to celebrate Olympic Day. USA National Karate Federation has also contributed to the movement by hosting different activities throughout the country. 

The Karate celebrations for Olympic Day also reached Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. In the capital of the Central Asia country, youngsters from a local Karate club celebrated a painting contest to commemorate Karate’s inclusion in the sport programme of Tokyo 2020. The young karatekas presented in their inspired drawings their hopeful views on the addition of their favourite sport into the Olympic Games.  

The recognition of the Olympic values was at the core of the World Karate Day, the big commemoration of Karate’s unity which was held on June 17th in Munich (Germany). This year over 2000 karatekas took part at the event that honours Karate’s identity and its many links to the Olympic values. 

Karatekas in Nepal did not want to miss the opportunity to show how active they are and they also staged a celebration of #OlympicDay. Enthusiasts of the sport headed by the Karate Federation of Nepal gathered at the Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu to demonstrate their engagement with the movement and to commemorate Karate’s inclusion in the sports programmes of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018. The participants, who started the celebrations doing an Olympic Day Run also aimed at stating how important Karate is in the country. 

STARS INSPIRE KARATE FAMILY FOR OLYMPIC DAY

Karate’s biggest heroes have also taken the opportunity to lead the way to get active for June 23rd. Four Karate Ambassadors - Antonio Diaz, Douglas Brose, Sara Cardin and Kiyou Shimizu - got involved and showed their abilities in a video that featured some of their highlights at World and Continental Championships. “This is what I do. During the entire month of June get active!” they said the video. 

CLICK HERE to watch the video. 

In addition to this, as a part of WKF outreach campaign, Karate Stars contributed with their videos to encourage fans to join the movement. In the videos, which have been posted on WKF’s social media, fans can see top karatekas in action as they send inspire fans with their messages of support.

“Get active for Olympic Day!” said World Champion Alexandra Rechia, while World ranking leader Damian Quintero said: “Sports lead to a healthy lifestyle, so be active. I support Olympic Day!”. World champion Kiyou Shimizu declared: “Karate gives me lots of friends, emotional moments and experiences. I work hard to be an athlete who can inspire people. We are Karate on Olympic Day”. Two-time World Champion Douglas Brose contributed saying: “Be active on Olympic Day!”, and World champion Sara Cardin said: "You are never too old to practise sport because sport is life. It is good for your health but also for your spirit".

CLICK HERE to go to WKF's Facebook page to watch all the videos of the Karate Stars.

Not only Karate Stars are getting involved. Hundreds of enthusiasts of the sport are showing us how active they are by participating in WKF’s Olympic Day Photo Contest. Karatekas of all ages and from all five continents are sending their best pictures to be the image of Karate for Olympic Day.  

In dojos, on the street, in parks, alone or with family and friends, Karate fans are demonstrating their passion for the sport and the importance of the practice of sport with their participation in the photo contest.