Tug of war made it out of the church bazaar and on to the big stage at the LC de Villiers stadium at the University of Pretoria last weekend, when 1 200 participants representing 22 countries took each other on in the world championships.
The sport has been around since 2 500BC and formed part of the ancient Greek games in 500BC that later evolved into the Olympic games. It was, in fact, part of the modern Olympics until 1920, when some team sports were removed from the programme.
While South Africa was not considered a medal threat going into this year’s competition, the home-ground advantage and warm weather conditions helped the cause.
”When we competed in Europe we were exposed to terrible cold and wet conditions,” says Piet Fourie, chairperson of the organising committee. ”Now the tables were turned and our rivals were made to experience African conditions.”
While the best the South African team managed in the last world championships held in Blackpool in England in 2000 was a fourth position in one event, this time round they managed to win three silver medals and a bronze, giving them overall fourth position on the medal table.
The overall winners were a very motivated Netherlands team with four gold and a silver, followed by pre-event favourites Switzerland with two golds, one silver and two bronze. Latvia were the surprise package, taking third position with one gold medal in the junior division.
England, who were expected to be among the toughest competitors, failed to make an impression and second-favourites Ireland managed to win only one bronze medal, placing them eighth overall.
This sport is about team-work, technique, strategy, speed and power rather than just pure brute strength. Male and female teams competed in what turned out to be a fiercely contested and entertaining competition.
Following the tremendous success of this year’s event South Africa will bid to host the next world champion-ships in 2004. Given the sport’s growth in popularity in the United States, however, it is more likely to be staged there. The international tug of war federation is lobbying the International Olympic Committee in the hope of getting the sport readmitted to the games.
With high-profile commercial sports like golf and rugby also being considered as Olympic events, however, it’s unlikely that a sport which could actually benefit from such a platform will be considered.