Belt Wrestling, the Oldest Sport - International Belt Wrestling ...

<strong>Belt</strong> <strong>Wrestling</strong>, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Oldest</strong> <strong>Sport</strong>? A salto from <strong>the</strong> 6 th World Championships in Ufa, Bashkortostan, 2007 <strong>Belt</strong> wrestling has achieved a new dynamic and is undergoing a renaissance in <strong>the</strong> 21 st century. The modern drive for its valorisation comes from <strong>the</strong> Russian Federation where several indigenous variations are still practised. To accommodate <strong>the</strong> many variations of belt wrestling throughout <strong>the</strong> world, <strong>the</strong> philosophy of <strong>the</strong> new <strong>International</strong> <strong>Belt</strong> <strong>Wrestling</strong> Association has been simple and logical; it has adopted two sets of standard rules and a standard costume. Their reasoning is, that some styles do not permit trips and some do, but, in <strong>the</strong> new association, to compete without trips is called „classical style‟ and with trips is called „free style‟, in an analogy with <strong>the</strong> usages developed in <strong>the</strong> two Olympic styles. The standard costume is an attractive feature, which allows for all styles to be competed, so that no one can conclude that his or her national style or costume has been slighted. The sport is developing rapidly and has become so prominent that President Putin of Russia attended <strong>the</strong> 6 th World Championships in Ufa, <strong>the</strong> capital of Bashkortostan, from <strong>the</strong> 9 th till <strong>the</strong> 13 th October 2007. A cloth belt is used in <strong>the</strong> world championships, which is a Turkic variety, ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> old Russian belt/harness style, which was sometimes practised internationally at <strong>the</strong> beginning of <strong>the</strong> 20 th century. Indeed, George Hackenschmidt declared that his familiarity with Russian belt wrestling helped him win an important challenge match against H.H. “Delhi” Neilson in Australia in 1905 in a Cornish (South West England) jacket style competition. 1