00:04More than 3,000 sportsmen from 109 countries were competing in World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan this year.
00:11What was once Central Asia's attempt to preserve nomad traditions and skills turned into a sports event,
00:16attracting interest from every continent.
00:18Historically born from battlefield training, hunting and nomadic survival needs,
00:24these sports build strength, endurance, agility and spiritual unity.
00:28Today they are just sports, but more than a pastime they are also the show of national identity,
00:34history and continuation of nomadic traditions.
00:37Welcome to Kazakhstan, welcome to modern nomads.
00:43Since time immemorial, nomad skills played crucial social role among the steppe people.
00:49Every gathering of tribesmen, including contests in which men were able to boast their masculinity.
00:54As a society in Kyrgyzstan, you must have been born in Kyrgyzstan.
01:00That is the original sport of Kazakhstan.
01:05Many of them finally have been born in the world,
01:10and since the time we all can ever know the sports and the sport.
01:16When you have been born in Japan,
01:16and even when you are born in the world,
01:17you have been born with a country,
01:17it makes a world proud.
01:22The sport is the best sport.
01:29The sportsmen in the Nomad Games competed in 43 disciplines.
01:33The ones that demand endurance and strength from both horse and its rider
01:36command the highest degree of public admiration.
01:39Kazah Nomadic culture is inseparable from horses.
01:42Equestrian Games are most popular and are often part of social events and celebrations.
01:47The most popular is Kazakh Kokhbar, described in the 19th century by the American diplomat Eugene Skyler as a game
01:55in which one man holds a goat thrown over his saddle and everyone else tries to tear it from him.
02:25The version of Kokhbar, which is traditional in Kyrgyzstan, is called Kokhboru.
02:29In case you thought it was easy, this dummy that the players so casually pick up from the ground with
02:34one hand actually weighs 30 to 35 kilos.
02:45Horse races in Central Asia emphasize stamina over speed and the horses run up to 21 kilometers.
02:51There is even a 300-kilometer marathon. The winning jockeys, often as young as 9, win valuable prizes.
02:57But to be a real hero, it's not enough just to know how to ride.
03:01This is how there is Kokhboru, horseback wrestling, probably the best example of how ancient nomadic warrior skills transformed into
03:08sports.
03:09It's two men trying to unseat each other from the saddle.
03:16The youth championship we saw proves the tradition is alive and getting more popular.
03:22We are in Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyzstan.
03:29We are in Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyzstan, in Kyrgyzstan and in Kyrgyzstan.
03:48Each nation in Central Asia has their own variant of wrestling with different names, rules, uniforms and rituals.
03:55And for those who prefer precision to strength, there's archery.
03:58It also comes in many forms, where Turkish and European are for infantry longbows, while nomad archery suits traditional cavalry
04:06strike-and-run tactics.
04:19There are many other sports that used to entertain nomad herdsmen during long step evenings, and they are all being
04:30popularized as part of the struggle to renew national identity.
04:33We are in the national sport, where we are going to live, and in their lived했어요 –
04:40we are going to live the national sport and national sport,
04:44where we become national sport and national sports.
04:46We are trying to end on the national sport, как y'know,
04:48and in the national sport as well.
04:55true.
