Isabelle Sambou, a two-time Olympian and nine-time African wrestling champion, is dedicated to passing on her legacy in Senegal. At 43, she now coaches girls in her village, where wrestling is a proud tradition, aiming to train the next generation of Olympic athletes. Sambou’s mother and aunts were also wrestlers, making the sport a true family tradition.
“Here, in my village, women wrestle. It’s our tradition,” she says.
It’s a common sight across Senegal, where wrestling is a national sport and wrestlers are celebrated like rock stars.
Senegalese wrestle for entertainment and to celebrate special occasions. The professional version of the sport draws thousands to stadiums and can be a catapult to international stardom.
But in most of the country, wrestling remains off-limits for women.
Except for here in Casamance region, home to the Jola ethnic group, where women traditionally wrestle alongside men.
“When you do women’s wrestling, you will have a lot of people who make fun of you. I lived through that when I went to Zuiginchor (the regional capital) to wrestle. When I wore my shorts, there were people who made fun of me, there were others who said ‘is this a woman or a boy?’” says Sambou.
Sambou now spends her time between the Senegalese capital, Dakar, and her home town coaching girls in wrestling.
She didn’t bring home any medals from her bouts at the Olympics, so she’s now determined that one of her trainees will succeed.
“After I stopped wrestling professionally, until now I don’t have work. I’m also not married yet. Well, that’s how it is. It’s just that when I stopped, I came back here to my village. I told myself that I need to find my roots again, in order to find the future Isabelles, the future champions, those who will do maybe more than Isabelle. Because it was my dream to bring a medal to Senegal,” she says.
The local variation of wrestling is called laamb in Wolof, one of the national languages. It has been part of village life for centuries.
At today’s training session, most of the teenagers on the sandy ground are girls.
Among them is 18-year-old Mame Marie Sambou who says she has been inspired to wrestle by watching Sambou.
Although she shares the same surname, Mame Marie is not related to Sambou.
“She was a wrestler, and I saw her and said, well I’m going to be like her. When I started to wrestle, people said that they’ve never seen a girl wrestle. But I never listened to them, because if I did, I would never have found myself here where I am.”
Inspiring tomorrow’s champions while fiercely guarding her village traditions.
