Tae Kwan Do in the Olympics....soooo crap

[SleepingFist]

Sorry people, moved house, got drunk, forgot I existed, lost my favourite strips of lean tissue, met loads of people from the TAGB and argued until I fell over.

Hardgainer..I meant fencing as in the use of certain techniques to put a likely opponent in a worse situation... like the following exchange..

"You gonna git ya head kicked in!"
"Is you mother called Emily?"
"Wha..?" Smack.......

Or

"I don't like you face..."
"I'm sorry" apologises putting hands forward covering half distance...

or whatever, the methods of standing in possible situations that reduce an opponents options and make you choices less so enabling more control of the situation should an altercation occur...that sort of thing.

The psychologyof the student as well as the aggressive opponent is often less understood by shrinks than people who have persued this sort of thing, and it sounds like you have a cool approach anyhow.

By awareness, I just meant standard street savy, staying in well lit areas, keeping with people, not going down alleys, just not putting yourself in a vulnerable position...

...and yeah, I did mean William Cheung, I laughed out loud when I read my post again...daft bugger I am. I have not seem Bill in action so won't comment but I have found some of his articles a bit disturbing...and some of his books...well, not as bad as Austin Gohs anyway. If you want a book to avoid try The Braking Power of Wing Chun...realy realy bad.

Right, now that I have fallen off the band wagon I am gonna go have another beer, loose some more precious weight and maybe, just maybe, look at the wooden man...see if he wants a conversation about the Olympics...

 

[NinjaX]

i will agree leviathan X about muay thai, but shotokan in its sparring form uses short stances over long ones, the long stances are used to build formal technique, combat implements short quick techniques

 

[gegl]

Back to the begining

Just coming in at the end but here are some of my views. I was involved with the BTC when they were making the Olympic team selections. Been doing TKD for 20 years. I would say the problems are the rules, point - stop start competitions always look like a game of playground "your it" to me. Fighters get so worried about giving a way the one point that loses the match, nothing happens at all.
Add to that, your not getting the best fighters in the country because of the politcs envolved and this is what you get.

You have to remember this is a competition not a martial arts display, its about who can score the most points using legal techniques and staying with in the rules. Its the rules that make it a TKD competition. I am ITF but still competed in and won WTF comps.

I have also done the same with kick boxing, it doesn't matter on your style as long as you keep to the rules. See Prince Nasem and Lenox Lewis, two different styles but both called boxers cos they are the rules they compete under.

If you want to see a different type of fighting, change the rules. Or let anyone try out for a place on the team, any style. In the 100 meters who cares how you run, the fastest runner gets the place in the team.

For me it is all a load of political crap, WTF (BTCB) have Olympic mandate, ITF (BTC) are recognised by sports council. And it just goes on from there.

 

[SleepingFist]

Gegl, you now illustrate the issue perfectly. Whilst many of us have considerable experience in the Martial Arts, what we see in the Olympics is so Alien that we cannot believe it would get a title like Tae Kwan Do....maybe 'Tae Kwan Do Rules' would soften the sense of disgrace.

Ninjax and Leviathan, long stances build considerable strength and force specific mechanics in the early stages of technique...unfortunately many Karate instructors have not taken their formal training far enough to tell the difference between what you use to enhane technique and what the technique is itself. I will agree that by comparison to many arts Shotokan can seem slow and structurally innefficient, yet we must not forget that the strength of Karate is not in its fine lines and structured science but in its discipline and strength. The same way that a Thai fighter has his advanatage in fitness, conditioning and attitude.

I have a love for certain Gung Fu systems yet, when I see them practiced in the West their is a definate lack of umph, and whilst they have technical ability, efficiency of line and so on, they have not the discipline or strength, fitness mentally or physically for a straight out altercation with a well conditioned fighting animal. So all arts, can learn a great deal from each other even if they think they are superior in technique...which a hell of a lot of them think they do.

I would just like to say I have learned a lot about Tae Kwan Do and the Olympics and I am glad that many of you can explain why I am horrified and give me hope in so much as this is not TKD that I am watching but the bollocks I thought it was....I was concerned I was missing some deeper meaning....

 

[absolute hardgainer]

SleepingFist:

You raise a very valid on the naming of the Olympic sport of Tae Kwon Do and whether this sport should be named after the martial art known as Tae Kwon Do.

In my honest opinion, the TKD sport of the Olympics could be more accurately described as kick-fighting or point-kicking or kick-point-fighting. Because that is really all that the competitors do. Also - this sport should be open to anyone who wants to compete in it, not just WTF Kukkiwon recognized black belts.

hardgainer (my two cents)

 

[SleepingFist]

...or kicky pointy flicky girly stuff....

 

[gegl]

Maybe not girlie stuff

Although the competion does look a bit girlie I will say one thing in its favour, it is full contact i.e. you can knock your apponent out.

I have suffered a smashed elbow and dislocated shoulder in WTF comps.

But as I said because scord points are so few, no one will comit incase they give away the one vital point.

 

[SleepingFist]

OK Gegl...I will concede not girly....try...

Kicky Flicky Pointy Ouch That Hurt!

 

[X-Plode]

It should be noted that Olympic style Boxing is also a farce. So I wouldn't be too concerned with he way TKD is portrayed in the Olympics.

 

[Skeeter1]

as far as knowing where your hands are, TKD is a kickng oriented sport, I competed for 10yrs and busted my ass and was in incredible shape (5%bf) and mucho indurance. i guess what i'm tring to say is I dont think you can understand what it takes to compete at an international level by watching it on TV. I it takes a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and skill. the judgmental attitude is not justified.