Karate steps up campaign for return to the Olympic Games in Brisbane 2032
The World Karate Federation has stepped up its campaign for karate’s return to the Olympic programme, with the latest step being a series of meetings held during the Oceania National Olympic Committees gathering in Auckland. According to a report by Inside The Games, the delegation was led by Michael Kassis, Vice-President of the World Karate Federation and President of the Oceania Karate Federation, who used the talks in New Zealand to present the growth of karate in the region and to continue pushing for the sport’s inclusion in the programme of the Games in Brisbane in 2032. The original information states that the talks included senior representatives of the International Olympic Committee and the Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee, which gives the campaign additional weight at a time when the sports programme of future Games is being shaped.
For karate, this is a particularly important period because, after appearing in Tokyo 2020, the sport was not included in the Paris 2024 programme, and it is also not among the additional sports proposed by the Los Angeles 2028 organising committee and approved by the IOC. According to the IOC’s official explanation for Los Angeles 2028, the additional sports for that edition are baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash. Such a development has left Brisbane 2032 as karate’s next major Olympic opportunity, especially because the Games will be held in Australia, in a region where the World Karate Federation is now trying to prove both the sporting and social potential of its discipline.
Auckland as the venue for important regional lobbying
Auckland was not chosen by chance as the stage for a new round of talks. According to an announcement by the Oceania National Olympic Committees, the 46th ONOC Annual General Assembly was held as part of a week of events from 17 to 23 May 2026, while the assembly itself was scheduled for 21 May. ONOC described the gathering as a regional meeting of national Olympic committees, athletes, partners and other stakeholders shaping the future of sport in the Pacific, with a special view towards Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032. In such an environment, the talks about karate were not an isolated sporting meeting, but part of a broader discussion on how Oceania wants to use the next Olympic cycles for the development of sport, governance and regional cooperation.
According to ONOC, the gathering in Auckland was additionally marked by the arrival of International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, whose participation confirmed the importance of the region for the Olympic movement. After the assembly ended, ONOC announced that the agenda also included reports on the path towards Brisbane 2032, including an address by Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee President Andrew Liveris. It was precisely such a combination of participants, from national Olympic committees to the top of the IOC and representatives of the 2032 Games host, that created a space in which karate could directly present its case before people who will play an important role in the further shaping of the programme.
Kassis, according to available information, emphasised at those meetings the regional growth of karate and its rootedness in Oceania. His dual role, as WKF Vice-President and President of the Oceania continental federation, allows him to act both as a representative of the world organisation and as the voice of the region in which the Games will be held. For the World Karate Federation, this is important because a bid for an Olympic return cannot be based only on the sport’s global tradition, but must show that karate can leave a concrete mark in the host country and in the wider regional environment.
Karate’s status has not yet been resolved
Despite the intensification of the campaign, karate currently has no confirmed place in the programme of the Olympic Games in Brisbane 2032. According to official IOC information, the initial sports programme for Brisbane 2032 is expected to be determined at the IOC Session in 2026, after an adapted process for developing the sports programme. This means that the talks being conducted by the World Karate Federation may be politically and sportingly significant, but they do not yet represent a decision on inclusion. In practice, international federations seeking a place on the programme must show that their sport corresponds to the criteria of the Olympic movement, the needs of the host, audience interest, the sustainability of the competition and the possibility of implementation without unnecessary expansion of costs and infrastructure.
In recent Olympic cycles, the IOC has opened space for host organising committees to propose additional sports that correspond to the local market and the vision of individual Games. That model enabled sports strongly connected with Japanese and global sporting interest to appear in Tokyo 2020, among them karate, which then had its full Olympic debut. The same model, however, does not guarantee continuity: a sport that appears at one Games does not automatically have to remain at the next. Karate is exactly such an example, because after Tokyo it was absent from Paris, and then also from the Los Angeles 2028 programme.
For the WKF, the campaign for Brisbane 2032 is therefore more than an ordinary request for a return. The federation must convince Olympic decision-makers that karate was not just a one-off addition to Tokyo, but a sport with sufficient global mass, commercial potential, regional base and social value. According to a release carried by Karate Canada, the WKF points out that karate has about 100 million participants around the world and around 320 million fans, while in Australia almost 200,000 people take part in karate activities annually. The same source states that in Australia karate is among the ten most popular extracurricular sports for boys and girls under the age of 14, which is an argument with which the WKF is trying to connect the Olympic bid with youth development and local legacy.
The Olympic path from Buenos Aires to Tokyo
Before appearing at the senior Olympic Games, karate was included in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018, and then received its full Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020. According to the official Olympic portal, the competition in Tokyo included kata and kumite, that is, a technical discipline in which predetermined forms are judged and a fighting discipline in which athletes compete in direct contest. That format made it possible to display two recognisable dimensions of karate: precision, control and tradition on one side, and dynamic sporting combat on the other.
The absence from Paris 2024 was a blow to the karate community, but also a reminder that the modern Olympic programme is not static. The IOC and host organising committees are increasingly considering sports through the prism of young audiences, digital appeal, gender equality, sustainability and local significance. In that competition, karate faces other sports that also want to take advantage of the Australian context of Brisbane 2032. That is why the WKF is trying to emphasise that karate already has an internationally regulated competition structure, a broad base of national federations and a recognisable value system.
According to the Guardian Girls Karate project, the WKF brings together 201 national federations and is described as the only karate organisation recognised by the International Olympic Committee. That institutional position is important in relation to the IOC because the Olympic system seeks a clear international interlocutor, harmonised rules, anti-doping standards and the ability to organise competitions at a global level. For a sport such as karate, which exists around the world through different styles and schools, unified sporting representation through the WKF is crucial for the Olympic bid.
Brisbane as an opportunity for a wider legacy
The organisers of the Brisbane 2032 Games have been speaking for years about sustainability, accessibility and long-term legacy, while official data from the Australian Olympic Committee state that the Olympic Games will be held from 23 July to 8 August 2032. For sports seeking a place on the programme, this means that they must offer more than the competition itself over a few days. They must show that they fit into existing infrastructure, that they can attract spectators and media interest, but also that they can contribute to the host’s goals in the fields of health, inclusion, education and active living. In that logic, karate is presented as a sport that does not require complex and expensive infrastructure, and can be implemented in schools, clubs, communities and university programmes.
It is precisely because of this that the social dimension of karate is increasingly mentioned in the WKF campaign. The Guardian Girls Karate programme, launched in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund and the Koyamada International Foundation, uses karate to strengthen the self-confidence, safety and practical skills of women and girls. According to the programme’s official information, in 2022 the WKF signed a memorandum of understanding with KIF, and the project was jointly launched that same year as part of a wider initiative. In Australia, the programme gained additional visibility in July 2025, when the national and Oceania launch of the Guardian Girls Karate programme was held in Adelaide.
According to a speech published on the Government House Adelaide website, the launch of the programme in Oceania included representatives of the World Karate Federation, the Koyamada International Foundation and UNFPA, and the programme was then presented as an initiative aimed at preventing violence against women, building self-confidence and emotional resilience. The same speech states that the programme was designed as a free, inclusive 90-minute activity intended for women of different ages and backgrounds. Such projects allow the WKF to present karate in Olympic talks not only as a martial art, but also as a tool for social impact.
Universities and local communities as part of the argument
An additional element of the Australian strategy is connecting karate with the university and research sector. According to a Guardian Girls International announcement, Griffith University in south-east Queensland joined the Guardian Girls Karate programme as the first university platform of its kind in Oceania. The announcement states that the WKF and Karate Australia will work with the university on delivering the programme through the Disrupting Violence Beacon and the Sport and Gender Equity Research Hub, thereby connecting sporting activity with research, violence prevention and gender equality. Since Griffith University is located in the region that will be directly connected with the Games in Brisbane, this example is especially useful for the WKF’s claim that karate can leave a long-term legacy in Queensland.
For Olympic decision-makers, such examples may be important because the question of including a sport is no longer reduced only to the number of medals and competitors. Sports are expected to show how they contribute to the wider picture of the Games, especially in a period in which the size of the Olympic programme, the costs of hosting and the need not to build unnecessary facilities are increasingly being discussed. In this sense, karate can highlight the fact that competitions can be held in indoor spaces without the specialised infrastructure required by some other sports. Still, the final decision will depend on the entire package of criteria, including global competitiveness, television and digital appeal, gender equality and compliance with the IOC’s programme limits.
The Oceania Karate Federation and Karate Australia are especially important in this campaign because they can show how the inclusion of karate in Brisbane would have a direct effect on the domestic and regional base of the sport. According to information carried by Karate Canada, Australian karate is already included in school and extracurricular programmes, and Karate Australia has become a national sporting partner in the Sporting Schools programme. This gives the WKF an argument that Olympic visibility could encourage a greater entry of children and young people into the sport, develop coaching and judging structures and additionally open space for international competitions in Oceania.
Competition for a place on the programme will be strong
Although karate has recognisable arguments, the process will not be simple. In official information about Brisbane 2032, the IOC stated that the initial programme will be determined in 2026, while decisions on additional sports must fit into the general discussion on the sustainable size of the Games. Los Angeles 2028 will already have a very broad programme with additional sports, and the Olympic movement is at the same time trying to maintain control over the total number of athletes, disciplines and logistical requirements. This means that every candidate for Brisbane must prove not only that it is attractive, but also that it can fit in without burdening the organisational model.
Karate benefits from having a long tradition, a developed global network and experience in holding competitions under Olympic rules. Working against it may be the fact that after Tokyo it has already twice remained outside the programme, which shows that it has not achieved the status of a permanent Olympic sport. The WKF is therefore trying to change the frame of the discussion: instead of presenting karate as a sport seeking a return because of past merits, the federation is trying to portray it as a modern, global and socially useful discipline that fits into Brisbane’s vision. The meetings in Auckland are part of that strategy because they directly connect the world federation, Oceania sporting structures, the IOC and the host of the Games.
For now, the most precise thing to say is that karate is a serious candidate that is actively building political and sporting support, but that its inclusion in the Brisbane 2032 programme has not been officially confirmed. The IOC’s next decisions on the sports programme will be crucial for answering the question of whether karate will return to the Olympic stage after Tokyo. Until then, the World Karate Federation’s campaign is likely to continue through meetings with organisers, strengthening programmes in Australia and Oceania, highlighting global participation figures and connecting the sport with themes of education, safety and social legacy.
Sources:
- Inside The Games – WKF campaign for Brisbane 2032 and meetings in Auckland (link)
- Karate Canada – WKF data on talks with Brisbane 2032, global reach and development in Australia (link)
- ONOC – announcement of the annual assembly in Auckland and context towards LA28 and Brisbane 2032 (link)
- ONOC – report on the conclusion of the 46th assembly, Kirsty Coventry’s participation and Andrew Liveris’s address (link)
- IOC – information that the initial sports programme for Brisbane 2032 will be determined in 2026 (link)
- IOC – decisions and process for developing the sports programme for LA28 and Brisbane 2032 (link)
- Olympics.com – karate’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and absence from Paris 2024 (link)
- Australian Olympic Committee – official dates of the Brisbane 2032 Games (link)
- Guardian Girls Karate – programme description, partnerships and WKF status (link)
- Government House Adelaide – speech on the launch of the Guardian Girls Karate programme in Australia (link)
- Guardian Girls International – Griffith University’s involvement in the Guardian Girls Karate programme (link)