Antonio José Díaz Fernández (born June 12, 1980) is a

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

karateka (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. He is best known for winning gold medals in

kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

at the World Championships in Serbia (2010) and France (2012), winning of the World Games in

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

(2013), and Duisburg, Germany (2015), and a silver medal in the World Championships in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

2008. He won bronze medals at the WKF World Championships in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2014, and 2016 in the men's individual kata. He has also won 23 Pan American Karate Federation Senior Championships Medals 23 times to date. He represented Venezuela at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, Japan. He lost his bronze medal match in the men's kata event. Díaz obtained an

Olympic diploma An Olympic diploma is a paper certificate awarded to the top eight finishers in competitions at the Olympic Games. The practice of awarding diplomas has existed from the start of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, at first being awarded only to th ...

. Antonio Díaz holds the

Guinness world record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the most medals won at World Karate Championships.

Karate

Díaz practices the style of Shito-ryu.

Early years

Diaz's first achievement was reaching gold at the 5th Young Pan American Karate Do Championship back in 1993 in Salinas, Puerto Rico. Diaz won his first Olympic Cycle competition at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games held in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Nowadays, Diaz holds the following medals in Olympic Cycle competitions: three gold medals at the Bolivarian Games, five at the South American Games, six at the Central American and Caribbean Games, and one gold and one silver at the Pan American Games. He participated at the Young WKF World Championship in 1999 in Sofia, Bulgaria, where finished ninth. Diaz has participated at the PKF Pan American Championship since 1998 achieving gold 16 times and reaching the podium in every edition. Diaz has two gold medals and three bronze ones achieved at the World Games. He finished at the third place at the 2017 edition. He won the two first staging of the Premier League Karate1 in 2011 and 2012.

Karate World Championships

The Karate World Championships are the highest level of competition for karate organised by the World Karate Federation. Antonio Diaz has reached the podium in the

category eight times. He has won the gold twice, holding the world champion title. Tokyo 2008 was his first time at the final round. He earned the silver medal after losing a tight battle against Luca Valdesi with the score 3–2. His first gold medal would come two years later in Belgrade 2010 against Valdesi with the score 4–1. In Paris 2012 he was World Champion again. Moreover, he finished with the perfect score of 5-0 all his encounters, an unprecedented situation in the competition. The final competition was against the local karateka Minh Dack. The 2014 championship held in Bremen, Germany, was not easy for Diaz. He encountered at first round Mattia Busato, who was the European champion at that time. Nevertheless, he won with the tight score 3–2. He fell in quarter finals against the German Ilja Smorguner. He reached the podium in Linz 2016. This time he lost in semi-finals against Ryo Kiyuna with a 3–2 score, but he won the repechage with a 5–0 score against the Malaysian W. Lim Chee. In the 2018 World Championship held in Madrid, Diaz lost his semifinal round to Spain's Damian Quintero 0–5.

Records

He won the

2012 World Karate Championships The 2012 World Karate Championships are the 21st edition of the World Karate Championships, and were held in Paris, France from November 21 to November 25, 2012. Medalists Men Women Medal table Participating nations 990 athletes from 1 ...

with a perfect score of 5–0 in every competition. Díaz is the only athlete that has been in the podium eight times in a row at the World Karate Championships. This record comprises his medals from 2002 to 2016. Thanks to this accomplishment, he was included in the Guinness World Records. He is the only

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

athlete that has reached 22 individual Pan-American medals. He won a medal in every competition. Additionally, between January 2010 and August 2012, he did not lose any international encounter. He kept the first place at the WKF ranking for 4 consecutive years.

Rivalries

Luca Valdesi

Between 2001 and 2012, Diaz encountered 19 times the Italian

Luca Valdesi Luca Valdesi (born 18 June 1976 in Palermo, Italy) is a Karate world champion in both Team and Individual Kata events. Valdesi began his study of Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art deve ...

. Diaz won 9 times; their last encounter was during the Germany 2012 Premier League.

Ryo Kiyuna

Ryo Kiyuna Ryo Kiyuna (喜友名諒, ''Kiyuna Ryō'', born 12 July 1990) is an Okinawan karateka. He won the gold medal in the men's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He is also a four-time gold medalist in the men's kata event at the ...

is the current world champion in the kata category. He has encountered Diaz 6 times; Diaz won five of these occasions.

Personal life

Diaz holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication with a Major in Advertisement by the Caracas-based Andrés Bello Catholic University. He also holds a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach qualification by the US-based National Strength Conditioning Association.Correo del Caroní
"Antonio Díaz: en Venezuela hay un potencial muy grande en el karate"
17 Feb 2014. Retrieved on 08 Jun 2017.

References

External links

Antonio José Díaz Fernandez
at KarateRec.com * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Antonio 1980 births Living people Venezuelan male karateka Pan American Games gold medalists for Venezuela Pan American Games silver medalists for Venezuela World Games gold medalists World Games bronze medalists Pan American Games medalists in karate Competitors at the 2001 World Games Competitors at the 2005 World Games Competitors at the 2009 World Games Competitors at the 2013 World Games Competitors at the 2017 World Games Competitors at the 2022 World Games South American Games gold medalists for Venezuela South American Games medalists in karate Sportspeople from Caracas Karateka at the 1999 Pan American Games Karateka at the 2003 Pan American Games Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Competitors at the 2018 South American Games Karateka at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Karateka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic karateka for Venezuela 20th-century Venezuelan people 21st-century Venezuelan people