Morton, Arai Make Gold Medal Kata Final

// by Doug Haney - U.S. Olympic Committee () // August 10, 2003

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Aug. 10) – When most think of karate, they think of contact. But for Clay Morton (Hernaudo, Miss.) and Junko Arai (Seattle, Wash.) who qualified Sunday for the gold medal kata final, it’s about five things: balance, breathing, speed, timing and understanding.

The kata final will be at 4:40 p.m. ET on Monday, August 11 at the Combat Pavilion in the Central Olympic Complex.

Kata is a form of karate that is performed individually before a panel of five judges. Athletes are paired against each other in a bracket format, yet do not compete at the same time. After each athlete is finished with their performance, the head judge will blow a whistle and all will simultaneously raise either a red or blue flag to indicate the winner. Majority rules and the winner advances to the next round.

"We’ve got 50 percent of our athletes in the gold medal match already," said coach Jimmy Blanny, who was a two-time kick boxing world champion before immersing himself in karate. "We’ve got two other athletes in Kumite tomorrow, where contact is allowed, and there is the kata final and then we’ll see what we’ve got. As it stands right now everything is looking great, both Clay and Junko nailed it and they haven’t even shown the judges their best stuff yet."

Paired with Morton, who took silver at the Pan Am Championships in May, is Antonio Diaz of Venezuela. Diaz took gold at the Pan Am champs and is also the reigning World Championships bronze medalist.

"Diaz beat me at the Pan Am Championships, so I’m looking forward to the rematch," explained Morton, a former fencing captain at the University of Notre Dame who is currently studying to be a chiropractor. "To beat him, I’m going to have to come out extremely energetic and with a lot of power. My goal is to be really animated and generate a lot of excitement to get the crowd behind me."

Arai, the reigning kata national champ, is also in a rematch situation as she will face Yohanna Sanchez of Venezuela, who defeated her at the Pan Am champs.

"I’ve placed at the Pan American level for the past few years, so I know that I’m up there," said Arai, who holds a BA in Society and Justice from the University of Washington. "It’s just a matter of me pulling off the performance and taking the gold. The two different forms of kata that I did today are the ones I’ve been doing for many years, so I’m really confident with them. I’m proud to be in it tomorrow and I’ll be going to capture the gold."

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