Can we over come the Olympics

[terryl965]

My question is a serious one, can TKD overcome what has happened thoughout the entire Olympics? What realistic changes can be done to help with judging and competition as the world looks at the sport as a failure? What do you believe the WTF or the Kukkiwon will do to make it afair and equal playing field for all competitors?

 

[mango.man]

At the risk of sounding "racist" I don't think that there is anything that the WTF or KKW can do without starting by cleaning their own houses of the corruption that seems so deeply engrained in the organization by virtue of being run by a culture that seems to embrace such corruption over a fair and level playing field for all.

This includes not just the Korean bodies though but all NGBs, including USAT and all the others.

There needs to be a serious house cleaning of everything involved in Olympic Taekwondo.

 

[terryl965]

At the risk of sounding "racist" I don't think that there is anything that the WTF or KKW can do without starting by cleaning their own houses of the corruption that seems so deeply engrained in the organization by virtue of being run by a culture that seems to embrace such corruption over a fair and level playing field for all.

This includes not just the Korean bodies though but all NGBs, including USAT and all the others.

There needs to be a serious house cleaning of everything involved in Olympic Taekwondo.

I completely agree with you, so how do we start this process and get it done.

 

[mango.man]

I completely agree with you, so how do we start this process and get it done.

At the risk of sounding "pessimistic" this problem is much bigger than you and I Terry. Deeply rooted in decade after decade of corruption and politics.

USAT is holding several elections this year. I suppose the best you or I could do to have some impact on change, would be to get our names on the ballot and get elected. However I do not believe it is possible to really change anything. Like most elected officials, they run for office promising change but when they actually get into office they realize it is virtually impossible to actually change anything.

A sad but true commentary on the state of Olympic Taekwondo.

 

[Kwanjang]

At the risk of sounding "racist" I don't think that there is anything that the WTF or KKW can do without starting by cleaning their own houses of the corruption that seems so deeply engrained in the organization by virtue of being run by a culture that seems to embrace such corruption over a fair and level playing field for all.

This includes not just the Korean bodies though but all NGBs, including USAT and all the others.

There needs to be a serious house cleaning of everything involved in Olympic Taekwondo.

Well Said-

 

[Windsinger]

However I do not believe it is possible to really change anything. Like most elected officials, they run for office promising change but when they actually get into office they realize it is virtually impossible to actually change anything.

If I may, at the risk of sounding naive, is it not better to try to enact change and fail than to say, "Oh, well. Can't do anything, so we'll leave it be"?

I haven't been involved in TKD long enough to really know much about the workings at the upper levels, but the things I've heard (mainly here, which is populated with people whose opinions I've come to trust and respect), I can believe there's a lot of problems. I could easily see the attitude of "We're higher up in the organization than you, so we know better."

And to Terry and mango.man, I'd vote for you.

 

[Twin Fist]

I dont think we SHOULD overcome it

Olympic style anything should DIE, go away and never come back.

Instead we create a practical combat form that is fun to watch, and exciting to compete in that doesnt completely betray the origins of our art

 

[zDom]

I posted in another thread about what I think happened:

In short, the REAL TKD practitioners have been excluded from the sport while a whole, new sport-oriented bunch seized power, highjacked and distorted the "art" for their purposes.

How do you "get them out" when they all "outrank" us? When they probably outnumber us?

A vote sure won't do it.

 

[YoungMan]

The USAT can start by changing the rules so that fighters who are not Ji Do Kwan are equal to those that are. The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization. If you are not JDK, good luck.
Twin Fist, you are being much too harsh. Olympic sparring in itself is not bad. It is certainly more fun to watch than many other combat styles (-cough cough-UFC-cough cough-)

 

[Laurentkd]

The USAT can start by changing the rules so that fighters who are not Ji Do Kwan are equal to those that are. The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization. If you are not JDK, good luck.
Twin Fist, you are being much too harsh. Olympic sparring in itself is not bad. It is certainly more fun to watch than many other combat styles (-cough cough-UFC-cough cough-)

While I am not at all big on the tournament circut, I have never heard that the USAT is JDK org. Can you explain?
please and thanks

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

The USAT can start by changing the rules so that fighters who are not Ji Do Kwan are equal to those that are. The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization. If you are not JDK, good luck.
Twin Fist, you are being much too harsh. Olympic sparring in itself is not bad. It is certainly more fun to watch than many other combat styles (-cough cough-UFC-cough cough-)

Interesting observation RE Ji Do Kwan. If that is the case, then perhaps a name change to Jidokwan would address the issue that Mangoman had brought up regarding a way to separate Olympic TKD and sport TKD?

RE the UFC, I do on occasion watch it, but I enjoy it for different reasons then I do watching Olympic TKD, as it has many more compenents that Olympic TKD does. I enjoy Olympic TKD for the same reason that I enjoy fencing; fast action and all strikes, which is my thing. I enjoy trying to analyze what the UFC fighters are doing, and analyzing is also my thing

By the way, Youngman, I copied part of this quote and response on my 'Olympic vs. Traditional' thread because I thought your observation addressed something that came up there. Hope that's alright. If not, I'll delete.

Daniel

 

[Windsinger]

The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization.

This is very interesting. I'm curious. Does anyone know if the same applies to Taekwondo Canada? I looked, but haven't been able to find anything about that. (It could be because I just got off a 12-hour shift and am not searching the right keywords.)

 

[FearlessFreep]

The USAT is a Ji Do Kwan organization.

Huh? My instructor is Jidokwan and *his* instructor is very Jidokwan and our style of fighting and sparring is very much unlike olympic style

 

[Twin Fist]

Olympic sparring in itself is not bad. It is certainly more fun to watch than many other combat styles (-cough cough-UFC-cough cough-)

i disagree

as much as i hate mma, and i do in fact HATE mma, you dont see those guys standing there, with thier hands around thier waists bounching for 4 minutes straight.

 

[zDom]

i disagree

as much as i hate mma, and i do in fact HATE mma, you dont see those guys standing there, with thier hands around thier waists bounching for 4 minutes straight.

No, you see them rolling around hugging for 4 mins

j/k ... kind of

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

No, you see them rolling around hugging for 4 mins

j/k ... kind of

UFC: Feel the love

 

[Flying Crane]

I'm not a TKD person and I don't follow the competitions, so I apologize if I'm stepping in where I don't belong.

However, if the situation has truly become unacceptable, perhaps the only solution is to walk away from it. This is of course a personal decision that would need to be made by every instructor, competitor and school, but if enough people simply abandoned the corruption that seems to have taken over the administration in Korea, then those corrupt individuals who hold the power, will simply hold no power any longer.

People only hold power when others allow them to. When enough people simply stop playing their game, then there is no longer a game to be played and they hold no more power. Let them play in their own sandbox, by themselves.

Of course this would probably mean the end of Olympic TKD, for better or for worse, but it may also open new doors for reorganization and possibly a new group could rise to take the reigns and get it right this time.

I don't know how such a movement would be organized. But if the cancer is too deeply entrenched to be removed, abandonment may be the only real alternative. If everyone who was disgusted simply abandoned the cancer, perhaps the cancer will die.

 

[YoungMan]

Check out the backgrounds of every high ranking official of the USAT. I 99% guarantee that they will be Ji Do Kwan. Even if you don't list your style, if they know your Instructor is not Ji Do Kwan, you will not get far. You might win the first round, but that's all.
That's one of the reasons why we never bothered with it.

 

[Kacey]

It's hard to say how much we need to overcome the Olympics. The average student isn't going to come in wanting to be an Olympic level competitor; certainly, if TKD were better understood by the viewing audience, then the Olympic competition might have a greater effect in terms of bringing in new students, and I do think that the Olympics have not had a positive effect - but I don't think that it's as bad as others think, either. Of course, having never been in the WTF, I've never really had to deal with it directly, either.

 

[granfire]

Check out the backgrounds of every high ranking official of the USAT. I 99% guarantee that they will be Ji Do Kwan. Even if you don't list your style, if they know your Instructor is not Ji Do Kwan, you will not get far. You might win the first round, but that's all.
That's one of the reasons why we never bothered with it.

I guess there is a reason WTF and wtf are so similar (I always have to check my mind to notice one is the Organization and the other a popular internet abbreviation....)