The fifth World Nomad Games opened in spectacular fashion with a jaw-dropping opening ceremony at Astana Arena in Kazakhstan.
The "Olympics" of Central Asia took place under the theme "Great Gathering on the Steppe" and served as a celebration of sport, identity and culture.
ADVERTISEMENTThe opening event brought together athletes from 100 countries alongside global and cultural leaders for a parade involving traditional dress and the waving of national flags.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev opened the event highlighting the importance of nomadic culture and its significance and impact on a global scale.
“Nomadic civilisation is truly ancient. In fact, nomadic people are present in almost all continents. Their traces can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa and America,” he said. “Nomads share a common culture and spiritual values. Most importantly, they share a spirit of freedom,” he added.
President Tokayev went on to emphasise how sport brings countries and cultures together and said: “Sport itself is a symbol of respect and solidarity. Its key purpose is to strengthen friendship among nations.”
The World Nomad Games are the biggest event of this kind in the world and the opening was an opportunity to showcase the diverse history, culture and hospitality of Kazakhstan. Key moments in history were illustrated through performances focusing on the Tengri period, the legend of Altyn Adam (Golden Man), and the prominence of the Silk Road.
ADVERTISEMENTThere was also a warm welcome home for international superstar and Kazakh musician and singer Dimash Kudaibergen who performed "Kieli Meken" (Holy Land). He said: “I became a singer not because I wanted to earn money, not because of material things. It was because I want to introduce our country’s culture, our songs and our traditional music.”
"I know how important it is for our country, how important it is for our culture. It’s a very good time to show not only our culture … but also now is a very good time to show our talents in sports too,” Kudaibergen added.
The audience of 30,000 people also included President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, Chairman of the People’s Council of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, as well as representatives from UNESCO, UN World Tourism and the European Union.
The games include 21 competitive sports, many of them with roots in the skills required to survive on the Steppe. One of the most popular and oldest is Kokpar, a national sport in Kazakhstan, which is said to have originated with Genghis Khan’s early 13th-century army. The sport involves two teams of seven horseback riders fighting over the carcass of a headless goat (a rubber dummy is used for these games).
Other popular sports include Mas Wrestling (the international name used for the Yakut ethnosport derived from the traditional stick-pulling game mas tard'yhyy) and horseback archery. World Horse Archery Federation Judge Amali Raschke from South Africa explained the skill level required for the sport: “I would say to people, they've got to understand whether your horse is running at 15 metres a second or ten metres a second, that arrow moves at the same speed when you shoot it. So it's like 2,000 computations in your brain.”
