Karate after Jonathan Horns was injured

JOnathen Horne screamed in pain. The dream of Germany’s best karate player to win a historic medal at the Tokyo Olympics was tragically shattered. The 32-year-old from Kaiserslautern injured his right arm in the second round of preliminaries on Saturday and had to give up.

Horn was lifted off the cushion by the stretcher. His Georgian opponent, Gogita Arkania, was declared the winner and applauded him. Soon after the accident, sports director Christian Grüner stated that the long-term model athlete of the German Karate Association suffered an elbow injury and was taken to the Olympic Village for further examination.

Only the first and second places in the two preliminaries can enter the semi-finals of the 75 kg heavyweight category and obtain medal rankings. In the beginning, Horne, who started in the Kumite duel discipline, had to be content with a draw with Danijar Juldaschew from Kazakhstan. After being injured in a duel with Akania, the Germans’ competition in the ancient martial arts temple Nippon Budokan ended.

Horn, who was inspired by the movies of legends Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, started learning karate at the age of five and is one of the most popular people in Tokyo. Only a few athletes have mastered the “balance of speed, hardness, and precision” that this martial art requires, such as former world champions and current European champions. Therefore, precious metals are his main target in Japan. “I always compete for victory,” the man from Palatinate said on the eve of the game. “But I also know what I have achieved in my career.”

Karate became part of the Tokyo Olympics for the first time, but will no longer be a part of the Paris Olympics in 2024. So Horn shouldn’t have another chance to win an Olympic medal. “I can’t understand that this is only the current Olympics, it will even be cancelled again before it happens,” Horn complained before the event. For the participants, this is “frustrating.”