Male Oil Wrestling - The Mediterranean Connection

It’s the sport where barefoot athletes compete. Oiled up and clad in buffalo hide or sheepskin trousers, the traditional form of Turkish wrestling goes back to the days when Janissaries guarded the Imperial Sultans. However, as of now, the Turkish form of male oil wrestling can be witnessed at the modern stadium located where the Sultan’s palace stood before. But this is not where oil wrestling evolved.

Bertrand Russel stated the origin of male oil wrestling to lie in the collapsing of the Roman Empire. The cause was malaria. In an attempt to be saved from mosquito bites, the oil extracted from a vegetable specific to the Mediterranean region was found to work wonders. The medication was olive oil mixed with camphor, but by the time it was discovered, the Roman Empire had already fallen to pieces. However, the people of Anatolia (A peninsula in southwestern Asia that forms the Asian part of Turkey) continued the practice even when wrestling. The new style, i.e. oil wrestling was thus born, keeping olive oil as the most preferred wrestling oil till date.

Oil wrestling is an exquisite sport that requires the wrestler to possess more skills and strength if compared to other wrestling forms. Apart from strength, it is tactfulness, agility and a presence of mind that is very much required. Thus, the training starts at an early age and the scene of boys oil wrestling changes within a few years to men oil wrestling and getting prepared to fight in the tournaments. And today, oil wrestling has become such popular a sport that any website offering free wrestling videos are considered incomplete if it doesn’t feature male oil wrestling or is a Turkish oil wrestling video free zone.

Male oil wrestling does find favor in Asia countries like India and Pakistan, especially in the rural villages. Men apply home made cheap oil on their bodies and wrestle in an arena with a mounted platform or even on flat ground. Soon a huge crowd gathers to see the tall wrestlers (most of them have a minimum height of 6 feet) battle to win and establish their supremacy. Loud cheers are heard from the crowd as the villagers support their favorite players.