Mongolia women wrestlers grapple with archaic traditions
Mongolia’s freestyle women wrestlers hope to take gold in Rio. But they are forbidden from participating in their country’s own traditional grappling festivals.

Mongolia’s freestyle women wrestlers hope to take gold in Rio. But they are forbidden from participating in their country’s own traditional grappling festivals.
Women can compete in only two of the three “manly games” at the nomadic country’s annual naadam celebrations — archery and horse-riding — and are barred from testing their takedowns against men.
Wrestling is a national obsession in the country, and the contests’ winners are feted as heroes, often winning big corporate sponsorships and even turning their hip throws into political careers.
“It is easier for men to be a wrestler in Mongolia. Women have to be mentally tougher. No one is surprised when guys fight with each other,” said 26-year-old Olympian Soronzonboldyn Battset-seg, a child of nomads who grew up wrestling boys on the country’s grassy steppes.
Her life was transformed when she claimed the 63kg bronze at London 2012 — the country’s first Olympic wrestling medal since 1980.
Now her smile graces billboards in Ulan Bator. “When I go home, people treat me like I’m the president,” the soft-spoken athlete said. “Everybody recognises me.”
Mongolian wrestling has no weight classes, and competitors win by throwing their opponent to the ground, rather than pinning them as in the Olympic version.
But even with two world championship golds and a silver under her belt, Battsetseg does not believe women will ever be allowed to compete in naadam.
“I don’t expect it,” she said, adding that she was more focused on defeating her opponents in Rio than grappling with traditional culture.
Every Mongolian child knows the story of Khutulun, the 13th century princess who refused to marry any man who could not defeat her in combat.
Since that time, women have been banned from traditional wrestling events, where participants wear a revealing, open-chested uniform said to be meant to keep women from sneaking into the contests.