Turkish oil wrestling (also known as grease wrestling) is the national sport of Turkey. An annual event known as Kirkpinar holds the Guinness World record for the longest running sports competition, having occurred since 1362. Over 2,000 wrestlers a year participate in this event. Kirkpinar was even recognized by UNESCO as a heritage event in 2010.
Competitors wear hand stitched leather trousers called kisbets.
Wrestlers are covered in oil before the match as this makes it more difficult to gain a grip on your opponent. Turkish oil wrestling always uses olive oil and the quality of the oil is considered important.
As competitors are announced they do a sort of dance as they enter the field.
Wrestlers assume positions and as a referee blows a whistle the match begins.
In ancient times matches had no set duration and could go for up to two days. Sets would begin in the morning and continue until dusk before resuming the next day. It wasn’t until 1975 that a forty minute cap was placed on matches.
Unlike traditional wrestling oil wrestling matches can be won by gaining hold of your opponents kisbet. This means during a match competitors need to protect their own kisbet while trying to attack his challenger. To gain hold the wrestlers will go down the back of their opponents uniform. Winning using this move is known as paca kazık.
Referees are on hand to announce match winners.
The winner of the event earns the title of wrestler in chief and is awarded a cash prize. In ancient times winners were awarded bulls, camels, and thoroughbred horses.
One of the most famous wrestler in chiefs came from the Ottoman Period and was known as Alico the Bald. He held his title for twenty-six years, a record which remains unbroken to this day.
Additional shots of wrestlers on the field:
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Hottest thing in the History of this World! I don’t get how this is really considering a “non-gay” sport. I know that Turkey is not a gay friendly place on any level. After seeing this very gay sport, that they do every year, I can think of one word: ironic.
Thanks for sharing this Nathan. Miss you and hope you are doing well!
Oh my. Never have I wanted to be covered in oil and wrestled as badly as I do right now.
There are no words…in the best way possible lol.
Obviously I would go to this. Plan for #NathanandNicolegreatadventure 2017 ? I’m sure that’s worth flying over for wherever we are in the world
I’m still unclear on how they get ahold of their opponent’s kisbet…and yet does it even matter lol.
Did you get to talk to any of them???
I actually did! He didn’t speak much English and I speak no Turkish but he’s now my FB friend. He actually won his division.
Hahaha, but as we both know, sometimes you don’t need any English at all 😉
This is weird. I don’t understand it at all. Important thing is to have fun :))
I don’t know what to say, other than I am quite sure this is not what I expect to find when I came to a wrestling page. I am also surprised, as both a female and a traveler that I hand never heard of this sport that has been in existence for so long. As for the photos, I do wonder where the hands are – but don’t dare ask.
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Must be really fun to watch. I wish there’s a video. I would like to see how they grip with an oily hands.
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Looks like you had a lot of fun watching these greased up wrestlers! It’s great seeing people keeping up with traditions.
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Whoa! That was a lot of oil in the first picture…but in the later pictures, the oil seemed to have evaporated/dried off really fast. This reminds me of an Indian version called ‘kushti’…very similar.
This is… interesting. I can’t believe more of them don’t get seriously injured doing this! Wowsers…
What an interesting sport (if it is okay to call it that). I wouldn’t mind watching this, it must be hard to compete in one!
Must be a very challenging sport! Although I would not enjoy playing it, must be truly fun to watch!
I have never really been interested in watching wrestling . . . Until now! I’m off to grab some oil and head off to Turkey.
More seriously, thanks for sharing this occasion with me. It was really interesting.
Well then… *Throws cold water in own face* *Points wet face into fan* Definitely going to this now…
Jokes aside. I really enjoyed this post 😉
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I may buy an annual pass- the hottest sport ever!
Was it fun?! I was in Turkey recently, but didn’t get the chance to see this!
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It was a lot of fun! I had never been to anything like it before.
American kids play a game in the pool in the summer where you smear a watermelon in Vaseline and two teams try to push it across the pool to score a goal. It’s so hard to get a grip on the greased up watermelon so I can only imagine how hard oil wrestling would be!
I’m American and I’ve never heard of that game!
Well, I can honestly say that I had never heard of Turkish Oil Wrestling until now! Very intriguing sport. Especially the fact about the leather pants!
Thanks for sharing the traditional sport and pretty cool to learn about something that most don’t get the chance to see first hand in their lifetime. I think every culture is driven to sporting challenges and competitions! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
Very interesting! I can’t even fathom how long this has been going on for. 1326! Crazy.
I will definitely go there next year haha
I love the arm fisting bit x
Wow, never knew all of this. Thanks for sharing. The win condition of grabbing a hold of one’s garments is kind of interesting xD