The African Roots of Sport

LOGLINE

“The African Roots of Sport” is a twelve-part documentary series that tells an exciting story about the origin of Olympic and popular sports and games. Everyone credits the Greeks with the origin of sports and sports competitions, such as the Olympic Games; however, the Greeks did not invent sports and games. In fact, they learned most of them from Africans; particularly from those in North, Northeast, West, and Central Africa. The series is based on irrefutable archival evidence left by pharaohs, queens, and kings of Africa. These records speak about the philosophical, spiritual, playful, and military achievements of their civilisations, some of which became the sports we know and love today.

SYNOPSIS

Perhaps more than in any other sport, fencing, wrestling, and boxing have an uncredited African origin. Evidence of their roots in West and North West Africa is abundant. The earliest evidence of fencing, also known as “stick fighting”, is a relief sculpture from about 1350 B.C., in the tomb of Meri-Re II, an overseer at El-Amarna, Egypt. The oldest images of wrestling appear copiously in African art from Nubia, Senegal, and KMT; from the tomb of Ptah Hotep of the Old Kingdom (2400 B.C.), to the end of the Kemetian empire in 30 B.C. Meanwhile, the oldest images of boxing come from Samaria, present-day Iraq. The engravings show “African” fighters with bare fists and straps around the wrists to support and protect the small bones of the wrists and hands. It is important to note here that Samaria was largely populated by Blacks.

SPORTS IN ANCIENT EGYPT: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE BY WOLFGANG DECKER

I wrote the book ‘Sports and Games of Ancient Egypt’ in 1987, in the last century. It is a book about all the sources I collected, both written and iconographic. The book is divided into two main chapters: the first one deals with the sports practiced by ordinary people, and the second part, the special one, focuses on the sports of the kings of Egypt, the Pharaohs. There is a great difference between these two types of sports. Ordinary Egyptians practiced combat sports such as wrestling, boxing, and a special kind of fencing, which is known in modern Egypt as ‘Naboot’. However, in ancient Egypt, it was stick fencing. They were also runners, swimmers, dancers, and played some kinds of ball games. There is a difference between the Pharaoh and ordinary people. It was important that the Pharaoh was a strong person, capable of protecting the Egyptians from enemies and all evils of the world. Therefore, he had to demonstrate his condition, fitness, and strength through sport.