Thom Harinck (born 22 December 1943) is a Dutch kickboxer and

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

trainer and founder of the Chakuriki Gym in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He is married to Marjan Olfers, former member of the board of Ajax and from 1 May 2012 professor in sports law.

Biography

Harinck started training in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

at 8 years of age. He ended up giving up on judo, after he wasn't allowed to advance to the rank of black belt, due to his youth. Outside of martial arts, he partook in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

, and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

. While working on a cruise ship he met a French sailor who was also a national champion of

Savate Savate (), also known as French Boxing (French language, French: ''Boxe Française'') or French Foot Fighting, is a French hybrid martial art and full-contact combat sport that combines principles of boxing, western boxing with a wide variety ...

. The sailor began training Harinck in the discipline, alongside others. Harinck continued practicing Savate after arriving in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He later took up

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

after he returned to the Netherlands and also started teaching Savate in Holland. While serving in the military as a teenager, Harinck started boxing at the competitive level. At the age of seventeen he worked as a bouncer at a local Club and began a partnership with Jan Stapper, a

Kyokushin is a style of karate originating in Japan. It is a full-contact style of stand-up fighting and is rooted in a philosophy of self-improvement, discipline, and hard training. Kyokushin Kaikan is the martial arts organization founded in 1964 ...

instructor. His global journeys continued after he moved to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

where he received the

Uchi-deshi is a Japanese term for a live-in student/apprentice who trains under and assists a sensei on a full-time basis. The system exists in ''kabuki'', ''rakugo'', ''shogi'', '' igo'', ''aikido'', ''sumo'', ''karate'' and other modern Japanese martia ...

instruction under numerous masters in Tokyo, Nagano and Yokohama. He also received judo and traditional

jujutsu Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...

instruction from Tokyo police department. He also spent plenty of time in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, where he entered to train Chinese Kenpo in addition to

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

. Eventually he traveled to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

where he received the rank of the grand master in

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

as one of the first foreigners ever. In 1972, he founded the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam, originally teaching his own style named "Chakuriki", a mixture of techniques from Kyokushin karate (in which he holds a 6th degree black belt), boxing, judo, jujutsu and wrestling which would later be known as modern contact karate or

in Holland. Chakuriki later became a kickboxing gym as Harinck added

Japanese kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

and

to his repertoire. Harinck founded the NKBB (Dutch Kickboxing Association) in 1976, the MTBN (Dutch Muay Thai Association) in 1983, the WMTA (World Muay Thai Association) and the EMTA (European Muay Thai Association) in 1984. Harinck is one of the most famous trainers in the sport and has trained numerous world champions including

Peter Aerts Peter Aerts (born 25 October 1970) is a Dutch retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. B ...

Branko Cikatić Branko Cikatić (4 October 1955 – 22 March 2020) was a Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, the first Croatian-born fighter to achieve international success. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. He ...

Gilbert Ballantine Gilbert Ballantine (born 14 March 1961) is a Surinamese-Dutch retired professional kickboxer and a nine-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion. He also took part in mixed martial arts competition, winning three Rings Dutch championships. ...

Jérôme Le Banner Jérôme Philippe Le Banner (; born December 26, 1972) is a French kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. ...

Badr Hari Badr Hari (Arabic: بدر هاري; born 8 December 1984) is a Moroccan-Dutch professional kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter. Born in Amsterdam, Hari made his professional kickboxing debut in 2000, and quickly rose to fame with his aggressive and ...

and

Hesdy Gerges Hesdy Gerges (born February 20, 1984) is a Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He held the It's Showtime World Heavyweight title between 2010 and 2012. Gerges has competed in the K-1, It's Showtime, SUPERKOMBAT and Glory promotions. Ger ...

. He announced his retirement in April 2013 at the age of sixty-nine. In January 2016 Thom Harinck began coaching again. He trains a group of fighters daily, that includes Hesdy Gerges. In May 2016 Harinck published his memoirs in the English language. The book is called "Thom Harinck: Godfather of Muay Thai in The West" and is co-written with Julio Punch. An updated edition was released by Amsterdam Publishers in June 2020.

Bibliography

References

External links

Thom Harinck's memoirs on Amsterdam Publishers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harinck, Thom 1943 births Living people Martial artists from The Hague Kyokushin kaikan practitioners Dutch male judoka Dutch jujutsuka Dutch male karateka Dutch male kickboxers Dutch savateurs Kickboxing trainers Martial arts school founders 20th-century Dutch sportsmen