Elisa

Wrestlers Wrest Heritage From Wars’ Wreckage

By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: September 24, 2008
GROZNY, Russia — The Chechen boys and the young Chechen men filed into the gym just before 3 p.m. There was no locker room. Beneath a huge picture of Akhmad Kadyrov, the Chechen president slain four years ago, they slipped out of street clothes on the bleachers and then moved to the gym floor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/wo...=5070&emc=eta1

A friend of mine sent this to me and I thought that it was an interesting article that I thought some of you might enjoy.

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arm-spin

Good article... reminds me of my South African wrestling coach, who told me that their first world champion would be someone who grew up with nothing in the slums. "He'll want it more, because he's fighting for food."

It does seem a lot of sucessful wrestlers come from pretty harsh places to live.

bluestater

It's a good sport for the poor, especially outside the U.S., where you don't need to spend money driving around the country for tournaments. It doesn't take any equipment, or a specific space, like in basketball. And yes, if winning means that you get to eat dinner that night, you will be hungrier.

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arm-spin

I remember one of my roommates in South Africa did poorly at a national tournmament, and our sponsor told him "now we're gonna do it Egypt style. You don't win, you don't get anything" (My roommate was employed by the coaches and we lived on a farm owned by the team sponsor.) I think the guy was coaching, but is sure pissed my roommate off

stirner

Is the article part of a reportage on Chechnya? I´m not familiarized with russian politics and the Chechnya question, but the references to Kadyrov appear to me a bit shallow.

Greco-ZAG

I thought the article was good and well written. I liked how they talked about the political side of Russia and the choosing of athletes.