For the attention of: National Olympic Committees as required
For the attention of: Mr Thomas Bach,
President of International Olympic Committee
Dear Mr Bach, President of International Olympic Committee
Re: Karate
We are trying to bring to the attention of the IOC that many respected karate organisations do not consider that their views are accurately, fairly represented or indeed represented at all by the World Karate Federation, in relation to some critical matters which we must bring to your attention.
We strongly urge you to note that the World Karate Federation is actually an undemocratic organization and that it should not be the only one that governs ‘world karate society’, it truly does not speak in the interests of or represent the views of most respected karate societies and organisations.
It was widely reported that Samaranch sent WKF (ex-WUKO) a letter dated 23 December 1998, in which he approved them as the IF for karate in the Olympics. They have been listed as a provisional IF on the IOC web site for some time. Many have realized that the WKF (ex-WUKO) has been claiming that the IOC had or would approve them, and that karate would be a medal event in the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the Athens 2004 Olympics, neither of which were possible.
In 1993 and again 1997 the IOC Session approved an agreement between WKF (ex-WUKO) and ITKF whereby they would merge into a unified IF for karate. The merger never occurred.
Both ITKF and WKF (ex-WUKO) claimed they worked toward the merger; however, WKF (ex-WUKO) had been requesting that the IOC remove the merger and claimed that the IOC had agreed to their request.
We must draw to your attention the question that still remains: Did Samaranch have any authority to approve an IF, particularly to repudiate the terms set by the Session for approval of such an IF?
From the point of view of many Karate Organisations, there have now been 2 decades of undemocratic rules in the WKF; the global Karate community expected WKF President Mr Antonio Espinós to take full responsibility and resign from his post when Karate was unsuccessful in its Olympic bid for a 3rd time, as the honorable decision to take. Yet Mr Espinós did not take such an honorable decision. Subsequently a letter from the WKF secretary clearly pointed to large scale corruption and 'miss-management by the President' at the heart of the organisation. This letter is still unanswered by Mr Espinós and the secretary was removed illegally from his position. Why? (WKF’s Statue 15.2: The Executive Committee will appoint an independent qualified accountant, or a firm of qualified accountants, who will be given the task of auditing annually the accounts of the WKF and reporting to it on them. For each Ordinary Congress, the appointed accountant will moreover provide a succinct report on the audit of the WKF accounts).
Further, with regards to undemocratic rules in WKF, may we bring to your attention on behalf of our many colleagues, WKF’s 21.9 statute which states: The WKF expressly prohibits their National Federations, and their components from the double affiliation with any karate organisation as it may be determined by the WKF Executive Committee to be a dissenting organisation, and also statute number 21.12: affiliated members and Individuals shall commit themselves to accept no authority other than the one of the WKF.
An appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS / CAS) is only possible after having exhausted all the internal resources foreseen in the WKF Statutes and Disciplinary Rules.
see one of the CAS decisions (CAS 2014/A/3516)
Many of the world’s most elite athletes of karate are very frustrated that the IOC can still recognize WKF as a Karate governance body and that the World Karate Federation is still using IOC recognition as a hammer for sanctioning unhappy members.
WKF policies have already divided world karate society to 3-4 large different groups. There is absolutely no unity and the situation has been much worse since August 2013 particularly when Mr Espinos’ sanctions applied directly to 4 international karate tournaments in Russia, Montenegro, Greece and Kosovo.
Most of us Senior Karateka believe passionately and wholeheartedly in the symbol of the modern Olympic Games is five coloured rings linked together. We respect that these rings represent the original then continents of North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. They also symbolize the uniting of athletes from all over the world to compete at the Olympic Games.
We also believe Mr Espinós is largely responsible for the lack of unity and harmony in World Karate. Rather than use the WKF mandate to encourage groups to join, he has sought to bully them to join through the imposition of Rule 21.9. This has created disharmony and resentment in many countries and in a number of cases led to court action against WKF on grounds of violation of human rights, most if not all of them successful.
We look forward to your guidance on this matter, many Senior, experienced and passionate Karateka like ourself feel strongly about this matter and act purely in the interests of Good and Best Karate practice and appropriate world stage recognition of the athletic skill, utter discipline of mind and body, expertise and dedication involved.
Source; World Karate Campaign
