Arm wrestling: Could exposure to the African Games lead to integration into the Olympics?

For most people, arm wrestling is just a way to show off strength at school or in a bar, and is not considered a competitive sport.

However, according to the Ultimate Armwrestling League, this discipline has a history that dates back more than 4,000 years.

This year, the sport made its debut at the African Games, with a total of 28 gold medals awarded at the continental event held in Accra, Ghana.

According to experts, concentration and skill count for more than brawn when facing off at the table.

“You don’t have to be the strongest to be the best,” Rosemary Botha, president of the South African Armwrestling Federation (SAAF), told BBC Sport Africa.

“It’s about knowing what to do with what you have.

“You can take someone who lifts weights that would make most of us cry, but put him up against one of our arm wrestlers who is maybe 100 pounds lighter and that guy beats him. will beat because he has more technique.

“It’s about using all the muscles at the same time and going in directions that may not be natural.

Botha took up the sport seriously in 2007 and became a mother figure in South African arm wrestling, mentoring others through the Supernova Club based at her home in Springs, Gauteng.

“I was terrible when I started, but I loved the camaraderie, the chance to try to be better than someone else,” she says.

“I arm wrestled bodybuilders who had big muscles. I was a little obese girl who wasn’t very well prepared. In fact, I was able to stop them.

“I realized that if I tried hard, I could beat them too.”

Botha became a national champion several times and represented her country at the world arm wrestling championship. Today, she devotes her efforts to the development of this sport.

Ms Botha believes progress needs to be made in previously disadvantaged communities, particularly in schools and townships.

“We don’t exploit raw talent in South Africa,” she explains.

“Some of our best arm wrestlers come from farming communities in the middle of nowhere. They come to the table and they make a killing because they have natural raw talent due to the type of life they lead.

“They live on meat, farming and carrying things all day, which makes them much stronger.

Botha’s dream as SAAF president is to grow the sport in schools, providing each school with a table for children to train and scout out athletes who might one day win medals.

“I work at a high school and we have a few boys who are great arm wrestlers,” she said.

Nigerian arm wrestler Mausi Zannu, who won gold at the African Games this year, has called for increased funding levels as she believes the sport is destined to enter the mainstream.

“I think the tug of war will be at the Olympics,” she told BBC Sport Africa.

“We need support for this sport to go further. In the coming years, arm wrestling should be recognized worldwide.

Thanks to its low cost and its ability to be promoted among people with disabilities, arm wrestling can also promote inclusion, especially for women who do not normally have the opportunity to practice this kind of sport.

“I promote it as a women’s sport, not just a sport to show off your testosterone and your ego,” Ms Botha said.

“It’s about showing how we can emancipate ourselves as a woman. You don’t have to be strong. You just have to take your chances at the table.”

One of the athletes Botha helped develop is 14-year-old Meri Prinsloo, who won a bronze medal in the women’s over 80kg left arm category at the African Games, although she only started on standoff than last year.

Botha knew Prinsloo had natural talent from their first meeting, as she struggled to beat the schoolgirl.

“She came to practice and the first time I shot against her I fell so fast it wasn’t funny,” Botha recalls.

“I understood that I would have to use every possible technique imaginable. I beat her narrowly that day.”

Prinsloo’s path to a continental medal was not easy as her mother Melinda initially opposed her participation, believing the sport was not suitable for young girls and preferring Meri to pursue athletics instead.

“I really didn’t think arm wrestling suited him, but I was wrong,” Melinda told BBC Sport Africa.

“I was surprised to see how many girls and women were arm wrestling. From there, I understood that we shouldn’t say that a certain sport was reserved for a certain sex.”

Meri Prinsloo represents the new generation of arm wrestling and insists that this discipline is not a bar sport.

“You can be drunk for bar sports,” the teenager told BBC Sport Africa.

“In arm wrestling, you go to the table, you’re an athlete and you know what you’re doing. Technique is important because there are top rollers, prostitutes and people who press.

“For me, the top roll is the best.”

The top roll, which Prinsloo prefers, involves making your opponent’s fingers and hands open in order to gain a leverage advantage.

With a bronze medal at the African Games and a long career ahead of her, Prinsloo could perhaps one day replace Botha as the matriarch of South African arm wrestling.