Karate World Championships 2000, Munich


Table of contents

Munich, the Bavarian Capital, and Upper Bavaria

Munich, a city of international stature, has developed from a monastic settlement on the Isar and has been influenced by the Wittelsbacher lineage since the 14th century. According to statistical surveys, peopleexperience "love at first sight" with the "white-blue" metropolis and if given a choice, most Germans would choose to live in the Bavarian capital. The reasons for this are numerous. While someone may enjoy strolling around the pedestrian zone with its Old City Hall and Church of Our Lady, others may love to visit Munich's theatres with over 25 stages ranging from the Bavarian State Opera in the National Theatre to the charming small theatres. Still others may prefer to visit the places of Nymphenburg and Schleissheim as well as perhaps the Haus der Kunst, the famous Pinakothek or any other of the major museums.

But Munich is much more. Munich ist the most important economic centre in the Federal Republic ofGermany, a dynamic city of commerce, headquater of science and technology and an international recognized trade fair centre. And Munich was a sport metropolis long before the 1972 Olympic Games. In addition to a multitude of top sporting events, over 300.000 citizens participate in 800 sport clubs or keep themselces fit and healthy on their own through leisure sport.

Munich is also the embodiment of "Gemütlichkeit", a peaceful joy of living, hospitality and cosmopolitanism. Whether in the historic old city, in an idylllic beer garden or in youthfull Schwabing, the citizens of Munich look forward to the guests who arrive from far and near.

The Bavarian capital is the leading tourist city in Germany. More than 52 million day tourists a year choose Munich as their destination. Nearly half of the visitors come from abroad. Guests from the USA lead the list here, followed by Italy, Japan, Great Britain including Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Austria.

The touristic infrastructure is outstanding: over 36.000 hotel beds, 16.000 of which are in the first category, more than 5.300 restaurants, approximately 70 theatres, some 115 well-developed congress and conference halls with a total seating capacity of over 100.000; the Philharmonic at Gasteig, the cultural centre with the largest concert hall in Germany. All of these facilities contribute to making Munich the main destination for guests from around the world.

The countryside surrunding Munich is also world-famous. Upper Bavaria with its green meadows, mountains, forrests and lakes is a landscape, one finds pleasant villages in the middle of the world which, to a large extent, is as it was a century ago. This combines with an apparently inexhaustible wealth of art and culture. Three keywords: royal castles, Wieskirche, Pinakothek. Nature and culture resound harmoniously in a landscape which is colossal and idyllic at the same time.

The Olympic Park

The Olympic tent roof has become the new landmark of the capital of Bavaria since the Games of 1972. The grace and bold elegance of the roof covering 74.800 square meters of the total area are up to now symbols of the cheerful and pulsating life of these olympic grounds.

The large winners' plaque at Coubertin Square reminds people of Olympic records and medal winners. Sports, organizational and visitors' records are still nothing out of the ordinary in Europe's biggest centre for gathering and recreation: more than 100 million registered visitors since the end of the Olympic Games of 1972 speak for themselves.

Since the end of the Games until 1994, the year of the application, 49 million persons have visited 6.000 sporting, cultural and commercial events. 51 million persons have visited the permanent installations such as the Olympic Swimming Hall, the Olympic Tower, the Olympic Ice-Skating Centre or the Olympic Stadium. Many million visitors that "only" took a walk as strollers through the vast park are not even included in these figures.

Life is colourful, manifold, versatile, and it has a wide range of action. Within a few years, the main Olympic arena of 1972 has become the largest stage of Munich's life. The grounds around Coubertin Square remained a meeting place of the world's youth - the purpose they were actually conceived for. They have become even more: an oasis of quietness and relaxation in the midst of the turbulent happenings of the metropolis of Munich.

The cry of "Goal!" from the stadium and the sunbath in the forum, the ecstasy of pop fans and the boat trip on the lake, the brilliance of famous show stars and the picnic in the grove near the Olympic Cycle Stadium, the chase of professional racing cyclists over steep tracks and a leisurely game of miniature golf, the lively blaze of colors of big ice revues and the cheerful paddling of bathing children, the concentration of thousands during congresses and the colourful medley on the ice surface - all this and a lot more stands for the Olympic Park of today. Where at that time Mark Spitz won his seven gold medals, today a real swimming Eldorado presents itself to competitive athletes as well as to ordinary swimmers. Every year, tens of thousands of people perform spins in the skating rink covered by tent roof or leisurely bowl on the bowling alley of the Olympic Hall. Main attraction and focal point, however, remain top events in sports and culture which enticed world-famous stars to come to the Isar metropolis and for whom the Olympic Park has become a must in their athletics career or during their world tours.

The outstanding sport hits until 1994 have been twenty-three world, eleven European and sixty-four German championships which held sports enthusiasts from all over the world spellbound just as much as the sensational Tennis Davis Cup Final in December 1985, the brilliant Davis Cup Semifinal against the USA in summer 1989 or the ski parallel slalom of the worlds best woman slalom racers at the Olympic Hill. The football matches of FC Bayern in national and international contests offer first-class sport and also, of cause, exciting entertainment to hundreds of thousands.

Since 1972, the Olympic flair and the always optimal conditions have invariably inspired the best athletes of the world to give their best.

The Olympic Hall

Munich's Olympic Hall is the jewel of the Olympic Park. When sold out, up to 13.500 people can enjoy whatever event is being offered. Whether concerts, the most diverse types of sporting events, or large exhibitions, there are few sites which can offer so much and such variety.

The programme diversity is breathtaking: the famulous "Holiday on Ice" show sparkles every year where, shortly before, the best tennis players fought for prize money and honour in the Compaq Grand Slam Cup. A Sting concert is followed smoothly by a large ice hockey or basketball tournament. The jubilant cries of the ten thousand visitors to the Six-day Races have just died down when, a few days later, daring motocross artists show their daredevil jumps over washboards and tables. Large-scale opera productions or concerts featuring the best tenors of the day are given the same wothy attention as congresses and exhibitions. Around 50 annual events fill up the Hall's appointment book.

The Olympic Hall symbolizes guaranteed success for organizers. The Karate World Championships 2000 will find it an outstanding site for its event.

Technical Data

Architect: Günter Behnisch and Partners

Olympic use: Handball and gymnastics

Post-Olympic use: sporting events; cultural entertainment; exhibitions and congresses

Until 1994, a total of more than 14 million people visited over 1070 events

Construction: Reinforced concrete foundation. Height of the stands above the arena: 15m. Exterior front is a glass facade reaching up to 18 meters. Around 13.500 spectators can be accomodated in the Hall, whereas the use of the space depends upon the various events. Following the Olympic Games, a 200-meter cycling track, an indoor skating rink and a complete track-and-field facility were installed and the sound and lighting systems were improved in state-of-the-art quality.

Luminosity of up to 2400 lux (new value). Four scoreboards with integrated large-scale video walls are mounted above the arena on the technical bridge in an approximately 106 qm cubicform. The large-scale video walls provide dimensions which are unique in Germany. When necessary, it is possible to section off the arena into various sizes by means of giant curtains.

The northern underground section of the Hall is divided into the Minor Olympic Hall (924 sqm), a gymnastics room (192 sqm) as well as a room for fitness training and equipment rooms.

The Hall consists of four levels

Karate in Germany

Karate - which just came to Germany in the mid-fifties - is becomming more and more popular. The German Karate Federation (DKV) today numbers more than 120.000 karateists and is the "Number One", the by far largest associsation in Germany for this Far-Eastern sport. Integrated into the German Athletic Federation (DSB), Karate is practised in all 16 federal Länder.

The Judoka Jürgen Seidel participated in a Shotokan Karate training course held by the Japanese champion Hiroo Mochizuki in France in 1957. This was the beginning of Karate in Germany.

On June 17, 1976, the German Karate Federation was founded as the umbrella organization of German Karate association (DKB), Goju Kai Germany (GKD) and German-Japanese Karate Federation (DJKV). A short time later, three more associations joined: the German Karate Union (DKU), the Karate Division of the German Judo Association and Wado Kai Germany (WKD).

Since its foundation, DKV has produced a number of very successful athletes: Birgit Schweiberer, for example, was eight times European kata champion in the eighties. Marijan Glad was similarly successful in these years. Toni Dietl, the current federal kumite trainer for woman, also ranks among the most successful athletes. In addition to winning six European championships, he won the World Cup and World Games once as well as third place twice in world championships. Silvia Schnabel (nee Wiegärtner) has won several second and third places and one first place in European woman contents, a second place in the World Cup and a third place in the 1992 World Championships. The only world champion so far is Dirk Betzien from Berlin who won the title in Maastricht in 1984.

The DKV has proved equally capable serveral times as regards the organization of major international championships. In 1980, the IAKF World Championships took place in Bremen, in 1983 the EAKF European Championships in Munich. In 1990 and 1991, they were followed by the Woman European Championships and the Juniors' and Seniors' European Championships in Hannover. In 1993, the DKV hosted the WSKA Shotokan Cup in Saarbrücken and the Wado Ryu European Cup in Nürnberg. One year later, the EKU Team Cup in Karlsruhe also organized by the DKV was a further international highlight. In 1995, Frankfurt will host the WKF World Cup. In the German Karate Federation, six styles are represented today. In addition to Shotokan which is practiced by about 85 %, other styles such as Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu, Kyokushinkai, Shorin Ryu and Shito Ryu have their fans, too.

Additional Facilities

Munich and sport - sport and Munich - a symbiosis which at the latest since the 1972 Olympic Games has become a concept which has made the Bavarian capital Gemany's number one city of sport.

However, it is not just since 1972 and not only on the Olympic grounds that over 300.000 Munich residents have participated in approximately 800 sport clubs. There are additional facilities where leisure time sport enthusiasts as well as top athletes are offered ideal possibilities for training and education.

Aside from Munich's Olympic Park, the sport school in Oberhaching will also be affected by the Karate World Championships in the year 2000. The facilities at Munich's gates will provide the framework for the World Karate Federation course of instruction for judges from November 9 - 11, 2000.

Ever since it opened on June 9, 1994, the sport school of the Bavarian Federal Land Sport Association and of the Bavarian Soccer Association has provided the following facilities for instruction of all types, competitive sports training and competitons, conferences and meetings as well as seminars, nine gymnasiums (among others a swimming pool, two large gymnasiums and a squash court), six leisure sport facilities (two grass playing fields, one artificial turf playing field, three small playing fields), a training area with auditoriums, seminar rooms, media workrooms and a library as well as, naturally, living accommodations (a total of 110 double rooms and 40 single rooms) and a generous dining area.

The judges at the World Karate Federation will enjoy the course in the pleasant atmosphere of the sport school in Oberhaching.

The General Programme

Munich, the Olympic city, is not only perfectly equipped to offer all athletes, officials and guests of the large karate festival a hearty welcome and to guarantee a pleasant stay in Munich. The brilliance of the 1972 Games was also decisively influenced by the cultural variety and the scenic beauty of the Bavarian capital. This will also undoubtedly be extremely influential in the international awarding of the world title bouts to the entrant city Munich.

It is no wonder that Munich is nationally, and even more so internationally, one of the most popular cities. The proverbial hospitality of the Munich natives will be, among others, felt by the guests of the World Championships 2000 at the receptions held by the Free State of Bavaria or the capital of Munich.

The general programme of the World Championships will be just as broady diverse as Munich's extensive cultural and entertainment offerings.

Placed within a magnificent landscape of mountains and lakes, the official guests will get to know Bavaria's worldfamous treasures such as the Wieskirche and the Neuschwanstein, Linderhof or Herrenchiemsee castles. As a supplement to the athletic events, Munich will offer the participants of the Karate World Championships adequate artistic experience such as performance of the Bavarian State Opera, a concert of the Philharmonic at Gasteig or a musical in the Deutsches Theater and naturely, a look into the city's numerous museums.

As it did in 1972, the typical and charming Munich flair will again captivate and unite all of the young and "young-at-heart" guests in the year 2000. There is thus no better meeting place than the Olympic Park - today still a gathering place for the world's youth.

It goes without saying that the world title bouts in the Olympic Hall beneath the world-famous tent-shaped roof will start on an upbeat note with a lively opening celebration and culminate in an equality impressive colsing ceremony.

Traffic Connections and Motor Transport Pool

With the new airport Munich II - one of the largest airports in the world and which is situated 30 minutes by car from the city centre - Munich, the Bavarian capital, is optimally integrated into the international traffic systems.

Approximately 130 international trains arrive daily at Munich's Central Rail Station, a junction for inner- European rail connections as well as for the intercity and Eurocity networks.

The Bavarian capital is radilly connected to the European road systems by six motorways which can be reached largely via circular roads.

The inner city is joint to the outskirts by means of eight suburban fast train lines which run every 10-20 minutes. Currently, there are six subways in Munich. One subway (U3) runs directly from the city centre to the Olympic grounds. The Olympic Park is additionally serviced by buses and trams.

The entire Olympic grounds are situated on an urban motorway (Mittlerer Ring) which offers a smooth arrival and depature to the corresponding motorways. Altogether 4.000 parking spaces are available in the area immediately surrounding the Olympic stadium. Parking facilities for an additional 20.000 vehicles are found in the vicinity of the Olympic Stadium.

A motor transport pool effective during the Karate World Championships will ensure the smooth and comfortable transport of officials between hotels and the Munich Olympic Park.

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