Jean-Claude Van Damme was a champion of which martial art before he turned to acting?

Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude van Damme and as JCVD, is a Belgian actor and retired martial artist best known for his martial arts action films. His most popular projects include 'Bloodsport' (1988), 'Cyborg' (1989), 'Kickboxer' (1989), 'Lionheart' (1990), 'Death Warrant' (1990), 'Double Impact' (1991), 'Universal Soldier' (1992), 'Nowhere to Run' (1993), 'Hard Target' (1993), 'Timecop' (1994), 'Street Fighter' (1994), 'Sudden Death' (1995), 'The Quest' (1996), 'Maximum Risk' (1996), 'JCVD' (2008), 'Jean-Claude van Johnson' (2016–2017 series) and 'The Bouncer' (2018).

At the age of ten, he begins to attend karate classes. Focusing on Shotokan karate, Jean-Claude regularly attends classes, but training doesn’t stop in the dojo. As many will attest to when Van Damme does something he goes all in. His father creates a dojo in the family home attic space.

After karate training, Jean-Claude consistently trains at home. Hours of kicking the heavy bag and stretches form part of his daily routine. Under the instruction of Claude Goetz, Van Damme joins the Belgian National Centre of Karate at 12. Four years later he becomes part of the Belgian Karate Team training in the full contact form of the sport.

Competing from the age of 15, Jean-Claude amasses 44 victories in tournaments with only four defeats. He is part of the Belgium Karate team as they win the European Karate Championships in Brussels.