Thom Harinck
| Thom Harinck | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 22, 1943 The Hague, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Style | Judo, Kickboxing, Kyokushin Karate, Savate |
| Team | Chakuriki Gym |
| Rank |
brown belt in Judo 6th degree black belt in Kyokushin |
| Notable students | Peter Aerts, Branko Cikatić, Lloyd van Dams, Hesdy Gerges, Badr Hari, Jérôme Le Banner, Melvin Manhoef, Anderson Silva, Sergei Lascenko |
Thom Harinck (born December 22, 1943 in The Hague) is a Dutch former kickboxing trainer and founder of the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam. He is married to Marjan Olfers, former member of the board of Ajax and from 1 May 2012 professor in sports law.
Harinck began learning martial arts at the age of eight in Judo and Wrestling. He was a brown belt for so long time because at the time it wasn't allowed to receive black belt under age of twelve so he soon bored and stopped practicing in sport. He also did soccer, motorcross and Shooting when he was young. While working on a cruise ship he met a French sailor who was also national champion of Savate and began teaching Thom and other Dutch sailors aboard. He later started boxing when he came back to Netherlands and also started teaching Savate in Holland. While serving in the military as a teenager he continued his practicing in boxing. At age of seventeen he worked as a bouncer at local Club and as his partner was Jan Stapper who was Kyokushin teacher. 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 kickboxing in Holland.[1]
Chakuriki later became a kickboxing gym as Harinck added Japanese kickboxing and Savate 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.[2]
Harinck is one of the most famous trainers in the sport and has trained numerous world champions including Peter Aerts, Branko Cikatić and Jérôme Le Banner, Badr Hari and Hesdy Gerges.[3]
He announced his retirement in April 2013 at the age of sixty-nine.[4][5]