World Karate Federation

The World Karate Federation (WKF) is a global umbrella organization for karate . The WKF was founded in 1993 from the former World Union of Karate Do Organizations (WUKO). It is the only world karate body recognized by the IOC and has more than 10 million members in 188 countries. It covers all continents and was long run by the president and founding member Jacques Delcourt . The WKF organizes junior and senior world championships (Karate World Championships), which are held every two years. The current president of the WKF is the Spaniard Antonio Espinos. WKF is based in Madrid , Spain .

History of the foundation

At the beginning of the 1960s there were many smaller associations in Japan that all argued with one another. There was the JKA, the All-Japan-University Karate League , the FAJKO and the All Japan Karate Do Federation Organization . The President of FAJKO ( Federation of all Japan Karate Do Organizations ), Ryoichi Sasakawa , wanted to end this state of fragmentation and organize the first official karate world championships in the world. For this he got in contact with the French karateka Jacques Delcourt . Delcourt was the founder of the EKU ( European Karate Union ). After lengthy discussions, they agreed to found the WUKO. Immediately after its founding in 1970, they organized the first ever karate world championship in Tokyo , Japan. The second world championship followed in 1972 in Paris, France. The third in 1975 in Long Beach ( California ), USA and the fourth in 1977 again in Tokyo. Now it started to get complicated, because Hidetaka Nishiyama , a former WUKO vice president, organized his own world championships after the karate scandal of 1972 (Japan lost to England and refused to compete again). For this he founded the IAKF ( International Amateur Karate Federation ) and competed with the WUKO for IOC recognition. He held his world championships almost at the same time as the WUKO world championships. 1975 in Los Angeles and 1977 in Tokyo. In 1986 the IAKF changed its name to the International Traditional Karate Federation ITKF. After attempts by the WUKO to merge with the ITKF, which initially failed, in 1991 an agreement was finally reached with the ITKF. The WUKO and the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF) then formed a confederation, which two years later was recognized by the IOC as the only world association for karate sport. The two associations merged in 1993 to form the WKF.

Olympic games

The goal of participating in the Olympic Games was achieved on August 3, 2016. The WKF ran an official campaign under the motto “The K is on the way” and promoted the inclusion of the sport of karate at the Olympic Games. During the 129th IOC session in Rio de Janeiro on August 3, 2016, the IOC delegates approved the proposal of the IOC executive and elevated karate to an Olympic discipline at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

World championships

World Champion Team 2014 Kata Women Team

Vice-World Champion 2014 Ilja Smorguner, Kata Men’s Singles

Team Germany 2012 in Paris

Kumite men

Kumite women

The WKF Karate World Championships (WKF, English Karate World Championships ) are the largest competitions organized by the World Karate Federation. The first world championship took place in Tokyo in 1970 . The World Championships have been held every two years since 1980. WUKO World Championships were held from 1970 to 1992, and WKF World Championships have been held since 1994. In 2000 the 15th WKF World Championship was held in Munich, Germany. In 2014 the 22nd WKF World Championship was held in Bremen.

World Championship categories:

Kumite : team and individual ratings (women and men)
Kata : team and individual ratings (women and men)

German successes at WUKO / WKF World Championships

	competition			Medals
rank	year	place	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
-	1970	Tokyo	Japan Japan	0	0	0	0
-	1972	Paris	France France	0	0	0	0
-	1975	Long Beach	United States United States	0	0	0	0
2	1977	Tokyo	Japan Japan	0	1	0	1
-	1980	Madrid	Spain Spain	0	0	0	0
-	1982	Taipei	Taiwan Taiwan	0	0	0	0
6th	1984	Maastricht	Netherlands Netherlands	1	0	1	2
13	1986	Sydney	Australia Australia	0	0	1	1
9	1988	Cairo	Egypt Egypt	0	0	3	3
12	1990	Mexico city	Mexico Mexico	0	0	2	2
13	1992	Grenada	Spain Spain	0	0	4th	4th
11	1994	Kota Kinabalu	Malaysia Malaysia	0	1	1	2
17th	1996	Sun City	South Africa South Africa	0	0	1	1
6th	1998	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil Brazil	1	1	4th	6th
3	2000	Munich	Germany Germany	2	2	2	6th
7th	2002	Madrid	Spain Spain	1	1	2	4th
12	2004	Monterrey	Mexico Mexico	0	1	3	4th
18th	2006	Tampere	Finland Finland	0	0	2	2
7th	2008	Tokyo	Japan Japan	1	1	1	3
-	2010	Belgrade	Serbia Serbia	0	0	0	0
-	2012	Paris	France France	0	0	0	0
5	2014	Bremen	Germany Germany	1	3	3	7th
16	2016	Linz	Austria Austria	0	0	2	2
6th	2018	Madrid	Spain Spain	1	1	0	7th
	Total medals			7th	9	29	45