Karate at the Summer Olympics
In September 2015, karate was included in a shortlist along with baseball, softball, skateboarding, surfing, and sport climbing to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics; and in June 2016, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they would support the proposal to include all of the shortlisted sports in the 2020 Games. Finally, on August 3, 2016, all five sports (counting baseball and softball together as one sport) were approved for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program.
Ola Ahlvarsson
Ahlvarsson has been an ardent student of martial arts. He has a black belt in Karate, world champion gold medal in Goju Ryu 1991 in Nha Okinawa. He was the Goju Ryu European champion in 1994, England, Swedish Champion in kung Fu 1996, Swedish kick boxing champion 1996 and World champion in kickboxing (wakko) in 1997 in Dubrovnik. Ahlvarsson still spends time training various martial art activities.
Ahlvarsson made a comeback from 2011–2013 into martial arts world, where he won gold and silver in the Swedish Taekwondo championships and represented Sweden in 2 European and one world championship. He also got a silver medal in the Swedish karate championships, the first karate competition he has competed in for over 20 years.