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Thom Harinck

Dutch trainer, founder of the Amsterdam Chakuriki Gym (1972) and of the NKBB, MTBN, WMTA and EMTA federations, teacher of Peter Aerts and Badr Hari, among others.

Quick Facts

Date of Birth12/22/1943
Country of OriginNetherlandsNetherlands
OccupationWriter

Biography

Thom Harinck is a Dutch trainer and organiser of kickboxing and Muay Thai, listed among the co-founders of Dutch kickboxing. He was born on 22 December 1943 in The Hague. In 1972 he founded the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam.

He began training judo and wrestling at the age of eight, later also boxing, Kyokushin karate, Muay Thai, kenpo and jujutsu; according to English-language sources he learned savate from a French sailor on a cruise ship. He trained Kyokushin, among others, under Jan Stapper; in Japan he went through uchi-deshi training under several masters in Tokyo, Nagano and Yokohama and trained with the Tokyo police. He holds black belts in judo and jujutsu, 6th dan in Kyokushin karate, 7th dan in kenpo and the rank of grandmaster in Muay Thai, which he received as one of the first Westerners.

The Chakuriki Gym at first taught a hybrid style combining Kyokushin, boxing, judo and wrestling and became a kickboxing gym only later. In 1976 he founded the Dutch kickboxing federation NKBB, in 1983 the Dutch Muay Thai federation MTBN, and in 1984 the World Muay Thai Association (WMTA) and the European Muay Thai Association (EMTA). His students included Peter Aerts, Branko Cikatić, Gilbert Ballantine, Jérôme Le Banner, Badr Hari, Hesdy Gerges, Melvin Manhoef and Anderson Silva.

In April 2013 he retired at the age of 69. In January 2016 he returned to training and in May of that year published his memoir Thom Harinck: Godfather of Muay Thai Kickboxing in the West, an updated edition of which appeared in 2020.

Teachers, students and family

Student

Associated Martial Arts

Dutch KickboxingMaster→

A Dutch school of kickboxing from the Amsterdam gyms Mejiro and Chakuriki, with roots in kyokushin and Japanese kickboxing. It rests on boxing combinations and low kicks.

Organisations