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Chidaoba

Georgian wrestling to music.

Georgian jacket wrestling, traditionally fought to live music, with powerful throws. It helped make Georgia strong in judo and sambo.

Fact file

Country
Georgia
Type
Grappling & wrestling
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica · Shota Chochishvili — Olympedia

History

Chidaoba is the traditional wrestling of Georgia, in the Caucasus. Wrestlers wear a short, tough jacket (chokha) and a belt, and use powerful throws and grips; bouts are accompanied by live music from the zurna (pipe) and doli (drum).

Chidaoba skills helped Georgia become a power in judo, sambo and freestyle wrestling, and the style is still practised at festivals and as a sport.

Hands do not grab the legs: throws are built from grips on the chokha and the belt, with trips and sweeps from the feet. Georgian wrestlers took these throws into Soviet sambo and judo, and in 1972 Shota Chochishvili became the first Georgian Olympic judo champion.