DREW VOICEOVER: I'm Drew Scanlon.
I'm exploring the world through the lens of games, and doing it with the support of people
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Mongolia’s Naadam festival, which kicks off with an impressive opening ceremony, is
an annual celebration of Mongolian culture, and revolves around competition in three events:
horse racing, archery, and wrestling.
These are traditionally known as the the “three games of men.”
But it’s a bit of a misnomer, since women compete in two of the events, including the
first of the three games to take place over the multi-day festival: horse racing.
But “men” in this case is doubly wrong, because the riders...
.. are children.
[SINGING IN MONGOLIAN]
On the outskirts of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, people from all over the country gather to
watch and compete in a discipline that goes back thousands of years.
Like the other games of Naadam, the riding roots run deep in Mongolia, a culture known
throughout history for prowess on the horse.
As our guide Khosoo explained, this has a lot to do with the legacy left by Genghis
Khan, or as they say in Mongolia, “CHEEN-gihs HAHN.”
KHOSOO: Yeah, I think it's related to our history.
I'm sure you guys know Genghis Khan.
He created one of the biggest Mongolian empires.
Horse riding, archery, and wrestling are some of the important sports to train soldiers.
And now they have become some of the national holiday sports of Mongolia.
They're very, very traditional sports of Mongolia.
DREW VOICEOVER: Today, this ancient discipline is being broadcast on television across the
country.
KHOSOO: And this is a national competition, so all the top horses and the top jockeys
are here.
People say that this is like the Olympics of Mongolia.
DREW VOICEOVER: First the riders check in and submit to an inspection.
KHOSOO: They're going to get their fingerprints checked, to make sure that it's the right
kid and the right horse.
And each jockey needs to have a helmet and protection for the elbows and the knees, as
well.
DREW VOICEOVER: It can be a motley assortment of equipment.
We saw rain boots and more than a few bike helmets.
But as long as everything is within safety guidelines, they’re good to go.
KHOSOO: And each jockey has a GPS tracker as well, in case something happens to them.
DREW: In case they get lost?
KHOSOO: Get lost or fall down and get injured or anything like that.
DREW VOICEOVER: The Mongolian horse is smaller than average, but many of the riders still
need a bit of help to mount their steeds.
DREW: The jockeys, they're children!
KHOSOO: They're children, yeah, they're children.
They're aged between five and 13.
It's in our spirit, it's in our history.
There's an old saying in Mongolia that Mongolian kids learn to ride a horse before they start
to talk.
So they love horses and they start at a very young age.
DREW VOICEOVER: And yeah, some of them ride bareback, in case I needed any more proof
that these kids are way tougher than me.
KHOSOO: Is that a girl?
Yeah, I think that's definitely a girl.
DREW VOICEOVER: The races are grouped by age, of the horse, not the rider.
These horses, in the three-year-old group, and are heading to another inspection, to
verify their age by counting the number of teeth.
KHOSOO: They're going to count the teeth, and then they're going to go to the start
line, down there, and they they're going to race back, and this would be the finish line.
I think it's going to be at least three or four hundred horses.
DREW VOICEOVER: And with so many horses, this process takes a while.
Thankfully, like any good sporting event, there is a concession area.
KHOSOO: We can go to any of these, because they're all food courts, I think.
DREW VOICEOVER: Inside one of these structures, called a ger, we warmed up with some milk
tea and a snack called khuushuur.
DREW: And this is only served during Naadam festivals?
KHOSOO: This shape is, yes.
DREW: Okay.
KHOSOO: Usually it's half-round, and because it's Naadam, it's full-round.
This is specially made Naadam khuushuur.
It's usually with beef or lamb inside, and onion, salt, and it's fried.
In order to eat it, you need to roll it round.
DREW: Okay.
KHOSOO: So I know in Europe people put sugar in their milk tea, but Mongolians put salt.
So feel free to try and let me know what you think.
DREW: Okay.
That's really good.
Nice and soft.
KHOSOO: It's good, right?
DREW: And it was just made right over there!
KHOSOO: Yes, it is.
DREW: Alright, Mongolian milk tea.
KHOSOO: Milk tea.
Cow milk, yeah.
DREW: Yeah, that's just straight-up hot milk, and it tastes so good right now!
It is cold out there.
DREW VOICEOVER: When we returned to our press box, the audience had showed up, but the riders
couldn’t be seen, since the starting line is on the other side of these hills.
DREW: The older the horse, the longer they have to run?
KHOSOO: Yes.
The youngest ones start from 10 kilometers, and the oldest one is about 26-30 kilometers.
It depends on the horse's age.
DREW VOICEOVER: The three-year-old group starts about 16 kilometers away, but eventually they
got close enough to see.
Watching these hills darken with hundreds of Mongolian riders, it was frighteningly
easy to imagine myself centuries in the past, in the path of a Mongol force.
A group of five ceremonial riders stood by to intercept the leaders and ride with them
across the finish line.
The kids seemed no worse for wear, though some arrived back without helmets, and some
horses without riders.
Thankfully, chase vehicles flank the race the whole way, in case somebody needs a ride.
I couldn’t imagine doing this as a kid, but since many of these riders grew up on
horses, they are, unsurprisingly, pretty nonchalant about the whole thing.
DREW: How old are you?
KHOSOO: [Translating into Mongolian] JOCKEY: [Answering in Mongolian]
KHOSOO: [Translating] Ten years old.
DREW: How was the race?
KHOSOO: [Translating] It was really nice.
DREW: How many races has he competed in?
KHOSOO: [Translating] About five races, he's been to.
DREW: Wow!
KHOSOO: [Translating] He's proud of himself.
He's happy with what he did.
DREW: How old are you?
KHOSOO: [Translating] Eleven.
DREW: How long have you been riding horses?
KHOSOO: [Translating] He's been racing for five years.
DREW: Wow!
Was the race very long?
KHOSOO: [Translating] It was okay.
DREW: What do you want to be when you grow up?
KHOSOO: [Translating] He wants to be the owner of the horses.
DREW & KHOSOO: [Laughing]
DREW VOICEOVER: I couldn’t get over seeing
five-year-olds heading out on this race course alone.
But as we learned, Mongolian kids are tough, and riding is in their blood.
In this way, this sporting event gives perhaps the best sense of the proud and hearty Mongolia
I could have asked for.
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