Children On The Mat

Raïko Petrov Ogníane Makavéev o Sofia, 1978. Ludmil Milanov Solidarity — IOC P R E F A C E The book dedicated as a sign of gratitude to the Olympic Solidarity The FILA has defined the technical assistance programme as a task of priority in realizing the conception of the wrestling development throughout the world. Thanks to the Olympic Solidarity — IOC, presided by Lord Kilanin, with Messrs. G. Onesti's and Dr Garoni's care to fully affirm the idea of solidarity, the FILA has succeeded in accomplishing the programmes of very great importance. This book, which speaks of our future — the children, has been dedicated as a sign of thankfulness to the Olympic Solidarity — IOC an dto its promoters as well, thereby wishing to build even more deeply and more solidly the basis of our joint mission. The author of the book, Mr. Rajko Petrov (Bulgaria), who is known by his creativeness and as an inventor of the modern wrestling in his country, gave his great contribution to the basic idea of the FILA — to develop the wrestling as a children's game throughout the world. The President, Milan ERCEGAN THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND This book is written for you! The purpose of our writing it was to initiate you in wrestling-one of the best and most devoted friends of man during all his life. The origin of wrestling goes back to the first men. During that distant period, however, it was different from the wrestling familiar to us nowadays. It was not a sport practiced during the hours of leisure, nor a need for social relaxation or escape from society, but a means for survival. It is by wrestling that men protected their own lives and the lives of the members of their family, it is also thanks to wrestling that they menaged to get food. When centuries later men learned to make fire, till the soil, make tools out of the metals and tame the animals, wrestling gradually began to acquire new aspects: it became an entertainment. In addition to this men went in for wrestling in order to test their strength, to see who the strongest among them was. Very often it is through wrestling that the chieftain of the tribe or the chief commander in war was selected. The strongest ones, the champions of wrestling competitions were acclaimed with great pomp, their exploits described in songs and legends, even monuments were erected to glorify them. This is what mithology and history tell us about wrestling. They also tell us about the exploits of the Sumerian heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidou, the Ancien Greek heroes Theseus and Heracles, the Hindu gods Krishna and the terrible Gzanoura. History and mithology also inform us about the strongest wrestlers of the Olympic Games: Milon from Crotona, six times champion of the Games, the invincible Polydamas from Nikona, Theagenes from Thasos