ditions. For example, the contemporary Russian martial art of sambo(an
acronym in Russian for “self-defense without weapons”) draws on both
European and Asian systems for its repertoire of techniques. Sambo was
developed in the 1920s by Anatolij Kharlampiev, who spent years traveling
around the former Soviet Union analyzing and observing the native fight-
ing systems. He duly recorded and freely borrowed techniques from Greco-
Roman and freestyle wrestling (from the Baltic States), Georgian jacket
wrestling, Khokh(the traditional fighting system of Armenia), traditional
Russian wrestling, Turkish wrestling systems from Azerbaijan and Central
Asia, and Kôdôkan Jûdô. The result was a fighting system that was so ef-
fective that when it was first introduced by European jûdôka(Japanese;
jûdô practitioners) in the early 1960s, the Soviets won every match. The
Soviets also were the first to best the Japanese at their own sport of jûdô in
the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Soviet competitors were sambo practi-
tioners cross-trained in jûdô rules.
An example of the redefinition of Asian martial arts can be found in
the 1990s craze of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Although accounts of the creation of
Europe 117Illustration published in 1958 of a victorious gladiator standing over his defeated opponent as the crowd gives the
thumbs down, indicating death, at the Colosseum in Rome. (Library of Congress)