Mongolia grapples for martial glory

Eight hundred years after Genghis Khan's marauding hordes conquered armies from Beijing to Budapest, Mongolians are seeking once again to prove their martial prowess -- this time in the Olympic arena.

This barren nation of desert and grassland is aiming for its first Olympic gold medal at this year's Sydney Games to reclaim its pugilistic pedigree and pep up a nation demoralised by wrenching economic reforms and a devastating winter disaster.

Whether wrestling, boxing or grappling on the judo mat, when it comes to fighting, Mongolians punch well above their weight.

The former Soviet satellite won five silver medals and nine bronzes in the eight summer Olympics it has entered since 1964 -- not bad for one of the world's poorest countries with a population of just 2.4 million.

Eight medals were in wrestling -- a national obsession encouraged by Genghis to keep his troops in shape as they swept across much of China, Central Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe.

"We are experienced in fighting sports because of our long traditions and because Mongolian-style wrestling is our national sport," said national coach Ganbold, an enormous former wrestler and Olympic judoka.

"It is in these sports that our people expect a lot from us and have placed great hopes in us," said Ganbold, fending off a cloud of mosquitoes during a workout at Mongolia's Olympic training camp -- a cluster of log cabins in a forest near Erdenet, about 800 km (500 miles) north of Ulan Bator.

In a country where a third of the population live on less than $10 a month, finding the funds to send a national squad to Sydney is an Olympian feat in itself.

Mongolia's economy, fighting to shake off seven decades of central planning under Soviet patronage, has just emerged from the worst winter in 30 years which killed millions of livestock.

Companies privatised under economic reforms begun in 1990 are struggling to stay afloat and the government is under pressure from international lending bodies to cut its budget deficit.

"The changes in our society and the recent switch to the market economy has meant there isn't much funding for sports," said Ganbold.

"In the last four years we've had insufficient resources for training, facilities and equipment, as well as participating in competitions."

Yet thousands of fiercely proud Mongolians have bought tickets for a "Sydney Our Hope" lottery to help fund the Olympic mission.

Local firms such as Gobi Cashmere and the national air carrier MIAT have poured 100 million togrogs ($93,000) into refurbishing sports facilities.

The government has allocated a special budget of 160 million togrogs to support a national team of 20 athletes, including eight judokas, four freestyle wrestlers, one boxer, three shooters, two runners and two swimmers.

"It's really important for us Mongolians to send our athletes to the Olympics," said Elbeg, 36, a driver and keen archery fan.

"The state has no money, so people donate their own money to the athletes. Mongolians want to see their people win."

Shouldering the burden of a nation's Olympic dreams are four athletes -- a judoka, a wrestler, a boxer and a sharpshooter.

The favourite is Dorjpalamiin Narmandakh, 25, bronze medallist in the 60 kg judo class at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"I personally think I will have success in the year 2000 Olympics," said Narmandakh after a weightlifting session in a makeshift wooden shed at the Erdenet camp.

"I want to change the colour of my Olympic medal to a gold."

Like most Mongolians, Narmandakh began wrestling as a child, but he turned to judo later after being inspired by a Japanese martial arts movie.

Fighting comes naturally, he says.

"Some people get nervous in the competitions, perhaps when they are afraid of their competitor or feel they are not as good," he said.

"I am not the nervous type. Once I am in a match, I somehow start to beat my opponent and in the end I just win."

Teammate Oyuunbilegiin Purevbaatar, 27, also started young.

He dreamed of becoming a traditional Mongolian wrestler and winning the coveted title of "invincible Titan" at the annual Nadaam festival of the "three manly sports" -- wrestling, horse-riding and archery.

But the stocky sports trainer was forced to switch to freestyle wrestling when he realised he was too short for the traditional sport, which has no age limits or weight categories. He is aiming for gold in the 60 kg freestyle class.

"I have been interested in our traditional wrestling and training for it from my childhood," he said. "My dream is to reach the goal I set for myself, to reach the greatest success in sports, to become a gold medal winner at the Olympics."

A third medal contender is boxer Tumentsetsegiin Uitumen, a 29-year-old policeman competing in the 60 kg class.

Perhaps the most surprising medal hopeful in a conservative, male-dominated society is Dorjsuren Moenkhbayar, bronze medallist in the women's pistol shooting at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

In the run-up to the Sydney Games, the team is using its hard-earned sponsorship to hone its skills overseas.

Moenkhbayar has headed to Germany and Uitumen to Cuba, while the judo team trained in South Korea and the wrestlers in Russia.

But there was no such luck for the other members of the squad.

Ganbold says he has tried to generate interest in mainstream sports such as athletics, but sponsorship is hard to find.

And unsurprisingly, there is scant interest in swimming in a land-locked nation with only a handful of swimming pools.