American Sakura Kokumai wants people to know karate beyond what they see in movies

TOKYO – For Sakura Kokumai to step onto the mat at the famed Nippon Budokan with a chance for a bronze medal in karate’s Olympic debut is a storybook ending of its own.

Kokumai is Japanese-American, born in Hawaii, and lived most of her high school and college years in the very city where she competed Thursday for the U.S. in kata, a form demonstration event comparable to floor exercise in gymnastics. Her parents live in Okayama, an 8-hour drive west of Tokyo.

For Kokumai, ranked No. 7 in the world, to reach the final six at the Olympics – there are two bronze medal matches in kata – wasn’t shocking. Rather it’s fulfilling for a 28-year-old whose parents are Japanese nationals yet identifies with a sport born in Japan (via the indigenous Ryukyu Kingdom, annexed in 1879) through her American heritage.

The first karate world championships were held in 1970 at the Budokan, the starting point for the sport’s half century pursuit of a spot at the Olympics table. When the International Olympic Committee finally loosened its rules to allow an Olympic host city flexibility in adding a few sports for its Games, Tokyo naturally made karate one of its choices.

“The Olympics need karate, the same as karate needs the Olympics,” said Antonio Espinos, World Karate Federation president.

“These Olympic Games will mark a before and an after for karate. Many things will change in people’s perception of karate. Audiences all over the world will see how great our sport is and our many values.”

The macro for karate, though, also has a micro side for someone like Kokumai, who lost her bronze medal match to a familiar opponent, Italy’s Viviana Bottaro.

Both competed a kata called Suparinpei, an advanced form with the most techniques and variations of crane movements with a name meaning 108 hands in Chinese.

Bottaro, who defeated Kokumai at the 2018 world championships and along the way in Olympic qualifying, won again, 26.48-25.40, a large margin in karate. Scoring is a combination of technical and athletic performance.

“One of the factors is understanding who I’m going against,” Kokumai said. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about my performance. I was out there to do my best and that’s all I was focused on.

“I’m very proud of my performance. I would not change anything about it. I’m happy to be back here in Japan. I spent a lot of time here as a kid and a college student. It was a very special Olympics. Unfortunately, I won’t be back with the hardware.”

Spain’s world No. 1-ranked Jaime Sanchez won the gold over Japan’s No. 2 Kiyou Shimizu with No. 6 Grace Lau of Hong Kong taking the other bronze medal.

Even if the results largely were chalk on the first day for a new Olympic sport, a world-wide introduction to kata and kumite (sparring) carried enormous significance for what will be an ongoing push to elevate karate onto the permanent Olympic program.

“I know there’s a lot people watching the sport for the first time,” said Kokumai, who always will be remembered as the first U.S. athlete to qualify for Olympic karate and the first to compete. “I really hope they’re able to see what we do as athletes. Many of them have this image of this movie in Hollywood, but it’s really not. I hope people are tuning in.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet. I believe once I walk out of this venue, when I go back to the U.S., everything will start kicking in and I’ll understand what I did. I’m really proud to represent my country. It’s part of the history, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2021 Olympics karate: American wants people to know sport beyond movies