Senegal’s wrestlers turn tradition into gold at Dakar Youth Olympics

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Sixteen-year-old Elisabeth Diatta is from the southern Senegalese region of Casamance. Football was her sport, not wrestling. Yet, On Saturday, there she was on the sand at Saly beach, representing Senegal in beach wrestling at Dakar’s Youth Olympics , almost instinctively seizing her opponent and throwing her down. Then came the whistle, the referee’s look, the confirmation, the disbelief. She celebrated like Cristiano Ronaldo; the leap, the turn, the “Siu!” At 16, she had beaten Japan’s Reisa Kojima 5-1 in the 55kg final to win Senegal’s first Youth Olympic gold. A teenage girl had delivered a medal in a sport so often described as belonging to men. The crowd roared. Diatta danced, defiant, before wrapping herself in green, yellow and red.