Martial Arts And The Olympics People tend to think of martial arts as being oriental, Kung Fu type fighting. However, the word 'martial' derives from the Latin word 'mars, martis', who was the Roman god of war. 'Martial', therefore, means 'to do with war or fighting'. As a result, martial can refer to Western methods of fighting as well such as boxing and wrestling. These martial arts have been in existence for thousands of years at least and originated on the battlefield where one's competence in fighting was literally a question of life and death. Wrestling was in the Olympic Games more than 2,000 years ago. Likewise, many of the oriental martial arts are equally old and came into existence because peasants were not allowed to bear arms in the social structures of the times. In spite of the age of these martial arts, they did not get popular in the West until Bruce Lee made them popular with his Kung Fu films in the early Seventies. It is a little known fact that when Lee was sent to America at the age of 18 to avoid the anger of a local Hong Kong mafia chief, he wanted to teach traditional martial arts, but was forbidden authorization by the local Chinese community. There was an accepted law that non-Chinese were not to be taught Chinese martial arts. Lee ignored the rule, and he claimed to have received death threats from powerful Chinese underworld leaders from America and Hong Kong. Lee taught martial arts to a select group of well-known Caucasians and even developed his own style called Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do used Lee's amazing speed and power in its moves. Three of Lee's showcase moves were: The Power Side Kick: with one kick, he could kick a 300 pound sack to hit a standard ceiling The One Inch Punch: he could knock a trained fighter over with a punch that had travelled only one inch The Lightning Snatch: with his arm by his side, he could snatch a dime from an open palm three feet away and leave a penny behind in 5/100 ths of a second. Individuals wanted to be able to do the same. However, there are numerous different kinds of martial arts and many countries have their own peculiar style of fighting. China has Judo and Kung Fu; Japan has Karate; Brazil has Brazilian Jiu Jitsu; Thailand has Muay Thai.. There are numerous other, mostly oriental styles, too, like Tae Kwando and Aikido but also French Kick Boxing.
Some martial arts are more defensive in character, but others are definitely belligerent: Judo and Aikido are examples of defensive styles and Karate and boxing are much more belligerent in nature. However, all martial arts teach self-control and the students develop more selfconfidence. Martial arts are experiencing a renaissance in popularity at the moment, largely due to UFC bouts or mixed martial arts. You might not approve of the violence of mixed martial arts, but it cannot be denied that many kids are learning a couple of martial arts, Western and Oriental, because of these popular TV bouts. Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on numerous topics, but is currently involved with the London Olympics 2012 venues. Click a link if you are interested in the 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.