Senegalese wrestling is a type of folk wrestling traditionally performed by the Serer people and now a national sport in Senegal and parts of The Gambia, and is part of a larger West African form of traditional wrestling.
But what is even more peculiar it is a sport done by many Senegalese women – most often upto the point at which they give birth.
67-year-old great-grandmother Marie-Thérèse Sambou was recalling a childhood spent crisscrossing nearby villages to take part in wrestling matches. “If you’re a Jola woman, you wrestle right until the day you have children.” Adding to buzzfeed “Wrestling is how we prove our womanhood,”
Her daughter is very active even at age 41, and is the current national team coach:
Female wrestlers from Mlomp in Casamance, Senegal, reign in championship tournaments same as the male wrestlers. This traditional sport has been passed on from generation to generation.Traditional wrestling is among the best-supported sports in Senegal, rivalling football in popularity.
“To us wrestling is like education. It also allows people of the same generation to interact with each other. Girls start wrestling at an erarly age, as the same time as boys,” told King SibilouDiediou.
For centuries female wrestlers in Senegal have competed in seasonal wrestling matches as a way to help create good fortune for the annual rice crop. Hence female wrestling forms part of the celebrations for the rice fields’ festival.
“I started wrestling as a cultural practice. As children we would pick opponents and wrestle each other.I used to wrestle with a lot of passion and my brothers noticed my talent. They knew that if I got proper training I would excel,” recalled the champion.
But even though Diatta is quite accomplished with many medals she had often faced discrimination:
“Some people are ashamed of women wrestling. They think that wrestling is a masculine sport but we the people of Casamance are not ashamed of wrestling because our grandparents told us that in their days women used to wrestle,” told Evelyn Diatta.
