Chidaoba

Histoire

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.

Le saviez-vous ?

• The music changes speed with the action of the bout.
• Many Georgian Olympic judo champions started in chidaoba.
• Grips on the jacket allow spectacular high throws.
• Bouts are traditionally held on grass inside a circle of spectators.

Armes et équipement

Chokha

short wrestling jacket

Zurna and doli

pipe and drum music

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica · Shota Chochishvili — Olympedia