Welcome to the GCO
To give you an idea of the GCO events size and our regular participant’s structure, I would like to give you basic information about the GCO World Championships 2006 in Spain and 2007 in Karlsruhe, Germany. You can find more information about our last Worldchampionship which was held in 2013 in Greece on following web pag:
The age structure of GCO event participants is from young kids to veterans. The official age categories are:
Younger 13 years (kids) – approx. 20%
Between 13 and 17 years (juniors) – approx. 35%
Between 18 and 35 years (adults) – approx. 40%
Older 35 years (veterans) – approx. 5%
Male 65% – Female 35%
Many laymen are under the impression that modern day kickboxing originated in Thailand, Japan or elsewhere in the Far East, in fact, the real origins of the sport are revealed by the real name by which it was known, full contact karate. During the mid-seventies various American tournament karate practitioners became frustrated with the limitations of the then rather primitive competitive scoring system. They wanted to find a system within which they could apply kicks and punches to the knockout. Full contact karate was born. Early bouts were fought on open matted areas just as ordinary karate matches were. Later events were staged in regular size boxing rings. These early tournaments produced kickboxing’s first stars, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez and Jeff Smith. Later the Americans really wanted to test their mettle and sent teams of kickboxers to Japan under the banner of the GCO (Global Combat Sports Organization). From this point kickboxing developed in to a true international sport. Today the GCO is world’s oldest and largest sanctioning body, and continues to grow. The new-look GCO website provides the latest information on all aspects of the sport and will be updated on a regular basis. Why not email us with your comments?
