Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Kazakhstan freestyle wrestlers for 2012 Summer Olympics

I covered Russian freestyle wrestlers a while back. It is sensible to cover some of the other possible winners in the Summer Olympics. Here's Kazakhstan's freestyle qualifiers.

Daulet Niyazbekov 55 kg

Wikipedia nor FILA gives information an Daulet place of birth or present residence, except to note that it is in Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world:

Kazakhstan is hugh, and, because of it's adaption to modernism and its great mineral wealth, is the most important of the Turkic-Speaking nations, and one of the most important countries in the old, though e u the United States hears little about it.

Kazakhstan's landscaped is varied . .

. . . its architecture is more modern than Honolulu's . . .

Astana, Capitol of Kazakhstan -- t

he building with blue dome is

president's house.

(Photo Courtesy of Judge Paul Magnuson)

. . . and traditional.;

its people are modern . . .

. . . and traditional

Here are some images of Daulet. I'm sue that he is wildly popular at home and no one choses to post information about him on the Web. It is easy enough to forget that the Web only has on it what somebody puts on it. And Google won't translate Kazakh. The images are few, in consequence, and that's a pity, because Kazakhstan is one of the most interesting places on earth -- at least as viewed from the middle of the Pacific Ocean..

Dauren Zhumagaziyev 60 kg

and

Akzhurek Tanatarov 66 kg

are both from Almaty Province. Dauren is fro the capitol city of Taldykorgan. Th web doesn't specify where Akzhurek lives.

Other information on both wrestlers is scarce and there are few images of them . We do have Dauren's medal record:

Dauren Zhumagaziyev
Medal record
Men's Freestyle wrestling
Competitor for Kazakhstan
World Championships
Bronze	2011 Istanbul	60 kg
Asian Games
Bronze	2010 Guangzhou	60 kg
Asian Championships
Gold	2011 Tashkent	60 kg
Bronze	2010 New Delhi	60 kg

A website, Dauren Zhumagaziyev | Speakers and more | Flowrestling | Flowrestling, has three videos of Dauren, and says about him that he was born July 18th, 1989, in Taldykorgan.

Per Wikipedia,

Taldykorgan . . . is the administrative center of Almaty Province, Kazakhstan. It has a population of 143,407 (2010). Most of the people are Kazakhs

Almaty Province is hers:

It has a varied terrain. . .

yurts, . . .

ubiquitous freeways,

. .. . and good folks with a sense of humor . . .

The capital city, Taldykorgan, is lively and boisterous:

FC Shakhter Karagandy held their nerve to win a maiden

Kazakh Premier League title from FC Zhetysu Taldykorgan

while two-time champions FC Kairat Almaty went down.

Shakhter Karagandy's players

celebrate the end of their 19-year title drought

[in English, no less!]

It is exceedingly odd that the Web carries no images of Dauren and only one,

of Akzhurek. I'll keep looking.

Abdulkhakim Shapiyev 74 kg

Born in Moscow.

Videos of Abdulkhakim are here.

Images probably from the Beijing Olympics.

Still no info on where, in Kazakhstan, lives.

Yermek Baiduashov 84 kg

There is no information at all about Yermak, though this may be a result of a Google interpreter to translate Kazakh names. There are at least some images:

ahpily reported by a Spanish language blogger on

suples.net, of a competition held in TAIYUAN, CHINA..

Two other images, reported y the invaluable Zimbio, are said to be Getty images:

Taimuraz Tigiyev 96 kg

Taimuraz hails from Ossettia, exacgly where not specified, but likely waar-torn. His residence inKazakhistan is not given. Most Russian wrestlers come from the same area. See

Russia freestyle wrestlers for 2012 Summer Olympics in this blog.

here are some pics:

Marid Mutalimov 120 kg

Madrid was born in Makhachkala, Dagestan, the center of the entire wrestling world. Most of Russia's famed wrestlers live in that part of Russia, and everybody who can afford to go there goes to Dagestan to train. The world's best facilities and trainers are in Dagestan. See the post

Russia freestyle wrestlers for 2012 Summer Olympics in this blog.

We are not told where Marid makes his home in Kazakhstan.

Marid's medal record is

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Kazakhstan
Men's Freestyle wrestling
Bronze	2008 Beijing	120 kg

Pics of Marid rest, playing around, and in action:

Celebrating a bronze medal

Here is one wrestler's testimonial to Dagestan's raining prowess. I have added Marid's name and position in red, so you can see his importance.

Thank you to the Dagestan National Freestyle Wrestling Team
Posted by Andrei Arlovski on July 12, 2011 at 1:00pmView Blog

I spent most of the month of June in the Republic of Dagestan training with the National Freestyle Wrestling Team. I would like to express my appreciation to the entire Dagestan National Freestyle Wrestling Team and thank number of people.

Special Thanks and Best Wishes to the coaching staff: Head Coach, Merited Master of Sport, Sazhid SazhidovCoach, Master of Sport, International Class, Gaidar GaidarovCoach, Merited Master of Sport, Arsen Gitinov Special Thanks and Best of Luck to my training partners: Merited Master of Sport, Bilal MakhovMaster of Sport, International Class, Shamil SalihovMaster of Sport, International Class, Magomedgadzhi AbakarovMerited Master of Sport, Marid MutalimovMaster of Sport, International Class, Ermek BayduashevMaster of Sport, Islam GadzhievMaster of Sport, Ramazan MagomedovMaster of Sport, Akzhurek Tanatarov

Magamed GevalievGasan Batirov Also, I would like to Thank my Brother & Friend Merited Master of Sport, Murad Gaydarov for making this training camp to happen and for always being in “My Corner”!

I wish the Kazakhs all the luck in the world.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Manly Sports of the Turkic Nations: 2012 Kırkpınar -featuring Turkish Oil Wrestling

The first shots from the 2012 Kırkpınar festival, featuring Turkish Oil Wrestling.

Per Wikipedia, "Kırkpınar" is the name of a Turkish oil-wrestling tournament, accompanied by other events. The Turkish name for "oil wrestling" is, we are told, "yağlı güreş". Kırkpınar is held annually, usually in late June, near Edirne, Turkey, and has been since 1346.

I did not realize, until I read he articles in Lightbox, below, the religious meaning of the tournament and associated events. Images of the event should be treated with a certain respect. The photographer who took the Lightbox images is Pari Dukovic. The images below are filled with care and honor, and are, in my view, respectful.

From Inside the World of Turkish Oil Wrestling - LightBox

The sport of yağlı güreş, or oil wrestling, is at the heart of Kırkpınar, a festival in the Turkish city of Edirne. Thousands of people will come to see these wrestlers—slick with olive oil—compete in the 651st annual games on July 2. It’ll be a familiar sight for Turkish photographer Pari Dukovic, who attended the event in 2010 and 2011.

“I saw that the sport had an Old World charm to it—the festival, the prayers, the music, the instruments, the outfits,” says Pari, who used to watch the festival’s coverage as a teenager. “I am drawn to subject matter that makes you feel as though you are traveling through time and Kırkpınar fascinated me with its history and how it has remained an integral part of Turkish culture.”

As the festival begins, drum and horn players parade through the city with the sports’ grand prize—the Kırkpınar Golden Belt. The community then meets in the grand 16th century Selimiye Mosque, where the imam gives a sermon in honor of competitors past and present. For the young boys participating in the traditional Turkish coming-of-age ceremony known as Sunnet Dugunu, it’s desirable to celebrate it at the same time as Kırkpınar, as the festival represents to many the ultimate in male achievement. The boy in the mosque in slide #10 wears the ornate cape associated with the ritual.

After the sermon, wrestlers pray at the graves of legendary sportsmen and proceed through the streets to the competition field, singing the national anthem. The master of ceremony introduces the wrestlers to the audience, reciting their names, titles and skills in verse. Very few of the wrestlers, who range widely in age, make a living from the sport. Nevertheless, Pari says he got the clear sense that being a part of this event is a dream come true for them. “They train for a whole year and often travel from villages all over Turkey to participate, so becoming a Kırkpınar wrestler is an achievement they take great pride in,” he says. The wrestlers, wearing nothing but short leather trousers, get rubbed down with olive oil. This makes the goal of the match—to throw one’s opponent on his back—all the more difficult. The matches last about 30 minutes each, while the final bout can last up to two exhausting hours.

“I think the dedication that goes into what they do is amazing,” says Pari. “I hope that my photographs stand as visual documents of this tradition and that my respect is captured in these images.”

Pari Dukovic is a New York City based documentary photographer. See more of his work here.

Two men compete in the Kirkpinar oil wrestling festival in Edirne, Turkey,

which will soon celebrate its 651st anniversary

A group of young competitors take in the view from the edge of the grass field.

Two wrestlers in the Kirkpinar festival make contact.4

Wrestlers waiting their turn watch the competition from the sidelines.

A crowd which includes the wrestlers waits for the prayer to start at the Selimiye Mosque

Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2012/07/05/inside-the-world-of-turkish-oil-wrestling/#ixzz20HWveZnK

From Today's Zaman: "Gürbüz wins title of 'Başpehlivan' at Kırkpınar for second time." The title means "best of all."

From Wikipedia:

From Oil Wrestling 2012 | Fethiye

From Charles and Fred

Today's Zaman

The blogs and images following probably are from earlier years. I include 'em because I like 'em. As more come in from 2012 I'll repot 'em.

Images from WAFF | Greece & Turkey Defence Forum, presumably homophobic; and if so, the choice of images is curious. He who doesn't acknowledge the sensual aspects of this serious and honorable tradition is willfully blind. For prurient images of Christian Art see here and here and, for those who don't objet to Christian bondage and violence, here.

World's Armed Forces Forum: Turkish traditional Oil Wrestling Festival begins, 1,248 Homos are ready. [The authors perhaps mean to say "wresters". Durell]

And then the uauthors of the blog produce these two pure (?) images: