Karate is bidding to make the 2020 Olympic programme alongside climbing, roller sport, squash, wakeboard, wushu, and baseball and softball, who are making a joint bid.

Each of the bidding sports is having one of its major Championships accessed by two IOC representatives, one of who is a member of the IOC Olympic Programme Commission and one of who is a member the IOC director general's office.

For the 2012 World Karate Championships, IOC Olympic Programme Commission member Mike Fennell and project officer at the IOC director general's office Pierre Fratter-Bardy are in attendance at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy to access karate's Olympic credentials.

Following the 2012 World Karate Championships, Fennell and Fratter-Bardy will compile a report which will be carefully reviewed by the IOC alongside the reports from the other bidding sports next month.


The IOC will make a final decision on which sport to include at its Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013 and Worldwide Karate Federation (WKF) President Antonio Espinós (pictured above right) believes his sport can make huge strides towards achieving their 2020 Olympic dream here.

"We knew this would be a great event from our past experience of staging the Karate World Championships," Espinós told insidethegames.

"We have been delighted with how things have gone so far and this is definitely the right Championships for the IOC to visit to get a true flavour of our sport.

"This is now our third bid in a row to become an Olympic and we believe this will be the successful one.

"We have been learning from the Olympic Movement during former bids and this has allowed us to improve the WKF and karate, as we are showing the IOC here."

In the bidding process to join the 2020 Olympic programme, eight different members of the IOC Olympic Programme Commission are attending the eight Evaluation Championships to help compile the full report.

This is because the IOC Olympic Programme Commission is responsible for reviewing and analysing the programme of sports, disciplines and events, as well as the number of athletes in each sport, for the Olympic Games

The Commission, chaired by Italy's Franco Carraro, makes recommendations in this regard to the IOC' s ruling Executive Board and presents reports to the IOC Session, meaning that they are crucial in deciding which sport will join the Olympic programme.

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