Exploring the Experiences of Elite Female Wrestlers From Developed and Developing Countries

ABSTRACT.

The sport of wrestling lays claim to being the world's oldest sport, with artifacts from Sumeria depicting wrestling from over 5,000 years ago, and was widely practiced in many ancient cultures (Petrov, 1993). Widespread female involvement in the sport is relatively new compared to male formal amateur competition. For example, while male wrestling has been a part of the program of the modern Olympic Games since 1896, female wrestling debuted at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Consequently, the research on elite female wrestlers is limited. Research that has been published exploring issues related to female wrestling has typically been done so at the national level, and primarily examining gender issues (Khan & Ali, 2011; Macro, Viveiros & Cipriano, 2009; Miller, 2010; Stuart & Whaley, 2005).

Keywords::

• wrestling
• sport
• upward mobility
• female athletes
• elite sport