Wrestling, Mongolia Style
Wearing nothing but bikini briefs, a lovely hat and this strange jacket that was only sleeves with cords to wrap around the waist, the big guys come out to play. And boy are some of these guys BIG.
I tell you what, the country seems to be mad about Man Flesh. Sumo wrestling is as popular here as in Japan. And big wrestlers are the Big Men in town.
Wresting is probably up there with horse racing as the most popular sport and maybe is even more accessible for the general public to get in on. All you need is the will and you get a chance to muck in.
Here's how it goes - more or less - and please, Mongolian friends, excuse any inadvertent gaffes!
Spurning anything like weight divisions or individual fights, the wrestling begins with all 512 fighters trooping out and getting grouped only into two sides (blue and red, as far as we could figure out) as the referees (or possibly coaches) are wearing long blue or red robes.
Each fighter has his lovely hat taken by the referee/coach of his side, and well, that's it, they just start to fight! There's no formal beginning, but even more disconcerting for me was that the fights all carry on simultaneously. it's a full-on melee where everyone just tucks into their partner and starts wrassling.
As there are no weight divisions, some are over in a flash. Day two had a jaw dropping upset when a 98 pound weakling took down a Goliath, so feistiness seems to matter a lot too.
The fight is over as soon as the elbow or knees of one fighter hits the dirt. Then, in a beautiful tribute, the winner runs to the podium (where the state ceremonial yak banners where, being guarded relentlessly by army dudes as seen in another picture). Once the winner gets to the podium, he 'flies' around it with his arms out, imitating an eagle.
Then he runs (well, some lumber) back to the vanquished opponent, who formally concedes by holding out his arm for the winner to pass under (again like a bird). Then, and only then, does the fighter get his hat back from the ref. For the loser, he puts it on himself. The winner crouches and has it placed on his head, at which point he then usually does a ritualistic thigh and ass slapping and shouting (both of us thought of the Kiwi haka).
It whittles down quickly, and by Day Two, we were down to 128, and thanks to a time limit of 20 minutes per fight, were quickly down to 32. Then, they all lined up again and had a beautiful ritual with two referees of each side (red/blue) singing long and haunting tributes and taunts to the other side, with the biggest fighter doing the eagle dance around him, and the other fighters leaning on or swaying with their own refs.
Then it all kicked off again. Melee time.
The referees/coaches intrigued me. They seemed to genuinely encourage each fighter and I honestly think they were there just to slap the ass of the fighters when they took too long. And i mean, SLAP those big asses! We could hear the crack on the crack right up in the stands!
They also arbitrated fights that a fighter would contest the result of. And twice they resolved this in typical Mongolian diplomacy - they just let the fighters both go through to the next round.
By the way, legend has it that the lads now wear the cut away 'jackets' that only cover about 9 inches of their back because some big Amazon mama came out one year and kicked their asses and won the tournament. So they came up with a jacket that would not be so easy for a chick to wear, but somehow this is in unconfirmed.
