The three manly sports make up the core program of the National Day festivity which has been held annually for the past two centuries. Earlier, Naadam was often associated with religious ceremonies (worshipping the spirit of the mountains, the rocks and the rivers). At present it is a national holiday held 11-13th July each year to commemorate the Mongol People's Revolution.

 

This tradition was set by D.Sukhbaatar, the founder of the people's state in 1922, when competitions in national types of sport were held to commemorate the first anniversary of the People's Revolution.

 

On July 11 local competitions are also held in some Aimags and Sums to choose the best sportsmen of that area. Small contests involve over a hundred athletes and some larger ones have over a thousand.

The Naadam Festival is now a major tourist attraction. The first day starts with a colourful marching display of soldiers outside Government House in Sukhbaatar Square, playing brass instruments and being accompanied by Mongolians dressed in warrior outfits. The opening ceremony takes place at the Naadam Stadium with more marching by the military, athletes and monks. A similar closing ceremony takes place on the second day in the evening. The horse racing is held a small distance away from the stadium at a place called Yarmag. There is always plenty to see and it's even possible to pitch a tent along with all the competitors.

The traditional style of wrestling has its own long-standing ritual. Each wrestler wears ornamental knee boots with upturned toes, tight trunks and an open-fronted, long sleeved vest of silk. With arms imitating the flight of a bird, he performs the eagle dance, which symbolises power and invincibility.

 

Supposedly, the vest was changed in design to an open-fronted vest after a woman was found to have taken part in the event and won!

By ancient tradition, when a wrestler appears before spectators, his posture and body movements should resemble those of a lion and his arms should imitate the flight of the mythical bird of Gharid. It is difficult to present a likeness of a bird never seen by anyone, but centuries old wrestling traditions and experienced heralds have come to help. There are a variety of tricks in Mongol wrestling, which require not only strength but perfect technique. The most important things is the utmost plasticity of body movement. The one who forces his rival to kneel on the ground or to touch it with his elbow is the winner. At the end, one of the wrestlers passes under the arm of the other. It is not the loser that passes under the arm of the winner, but the one with the highest wrestling title.

 

National wrestling is held in several rounds, depending on the number of participants, which also determines the duration of the competition. Before the People's Revolution, 1028 participants used to take part in the competition, which could last up to 7 days. The competition attracted fans from many different quarters, sometimes from the most remote places.

 

Nowadays, during the National Day celebrations, some 512 or 1024 contestants usually take part in the wrestling competition, the winner is known after 9 or 10  rounds. Hundreds of wrestlers from different cities take part in the competition. The losers must quit the competition, but depending on the number of victories, the winners are honoured with ancient titles – the winner of the fifth round gets the title of falcon, of the seventh and eighth rounds elephant and of the tenth and eleventh rounds, lion. The wrestler who has two consecutive champion titles is awarded the title of Titan. Every subsequent victory at the National Naadam will add an epithet (additional titles to consecutive winners) to his average title, like Invincible Titan, or Invincible Titan to be remembered by all.

 

Children start to learn wrestling from an early age and although it appears as play, the youngsters take their wrestling seriously.

 

The second element of the Three Manly Sports is horse racing. Originally, adults took part in this competition, and the most popular contests were in riding previously unbroken horses. Later, so as to ease the burden on horses in long-distance races, the adults were replaced by children aged from six to ten, who quickly master the art of riding. Horse racing is organised in celebration of the National Day and the traditional New Year – Tsagaan Sar – and on other notable occasions.

 

Horses aged two years and above take part. Mostly there are seven groups – two, three, four, five and six year olds, stallions and amblers. Horse training begins two or three months prior to Naadam. Each rider has his own ways and methods which he is usually reluctant to reveal. During training the trainer finds the best pastures for the horse to graze on. Of course, the goal of the trainer is to get the horse into the best shape possible. For this purpose, the horse is trained during the hottest time of the day and driven uphill with sheepskin wrapped around its body. Besides that, the horse has to be taught not to stop during the race no matter what may happen. Cases are known of little riders falling off the horse which nevertheless ran on and was first at the finish.