31The winner then plays out a ritual
called devekh, or the “eagle dance”.
The fact that many matches are played
simultaneously makes the spectacle a
bit messy and hard to follow for first-
time viewers.
Mongolians love the sports and they
watch it all over the country. “I would
even stop herding the animals earlier
to tune in for some matches,” says one
nomad man at a ger in the middle of
the Western Steppe.
In the stadium, wrestling is by far
the most popular sport; foreigners tend
to enjoy the horse racing more. Held
on a long track on the outskirts of the
capital, the competition is spectacular:
“A British [visitor] even
suffered a panic attack
when he was about to get
nailed. Their faith is not
as unbreakable as ours”
Beningno, Catholic penitent“The skills are important, but what we
want to see is how good the horse is,
not the one riding it”
Altantsetseg, coach
The riders cross the finish line at
incredible speeds shrouded in a cloud
of dust. Beyond the fervour of the
competition is a dramatic festive mood
and a crowd that includes a diverse
range of people. Eagle hunters flaunt
their birds and horses and pose with
admirers between races; you can get up
close to the behind-the-scenes action
on the peripheries of the stadium.
The rules are often mind-blowing for
outsiders: A horse’s age determines the
distance they need to run, which can
be up to an exhausting 30 kilometres!
Even more shocking is the age of the
jockeys: They are between five and
13 years old.“The skills are important, but what we
want to see is how good the horse is,
not the one riding it,” a coach named
Altantsetseg explains.
Horse racing is not always pleasant
to watch. During our stay, at least
two animals had to be put down
after suffering nasty injuries; people
explained that this is a recurring
event. In one case, a young jockey was
also (thankfully) only slightly injured,
although his tears were mostly caused
by the pain of watching his beloved
horse suffering. Several organisations
have requested that the government
impose a ban on allowing such young
jockeys to compete, but to no avail.above Children ride horses
across the steppe on the last
day of Naadamtop left Wrestlers circle nine
flags decorated with white horse
tail hairs, which symbolise the
power and strength of the state
bottom left Women archers
dressed in traditional clothes
compete to topple a small wall
of marked blocks – from over
half a football field awaygfift2 fift9fi