Солтүстік халықтық күрес: Глима

Nordic folk wrestling

Glima is the name that covers several types of Nordic folk wrestling practiced as sport and combat. In one common form of glima, players grip their opponent by the waist and attempt to throw them to the ground using technique rather than force. Other variants allow for more aggression.

The original Norwegian settlers in Iceland took wrestling with them, and these combat systems have been used by the populace according to the Jónsbók law book from 1325. A modern trouser grip glima competition was first held in Iceland in 1888 and has been held almost every year since. In 1905 the belt was introduced so that the wrestlers could have a better grip on each other. Before that they held on to each other's trousers. In 1906 the first competition for the Belt of Grettir was held where the winners are named The Glima King. In the 1912 Summer Olympics there was a demonstration of modern trouser grip glima.

Backhold wrestling (hryggspenna) is more similar to other styles of wrestling and is considered to be more a test of strength than of technique. In backhold wrestling the opponents take hold of each other's upper body; whoever touches the ground with any part of the body except the feet has lost.

In loose grip wrestling (lausatök) the contestants may use any holds they wish. It is much more aggressive and differs in many ways from other styles of glima. Loose grip wrestling comes in two forms: A version for self defence and a version for friendly competition. In both, all kinds of wrestling techniques are allowed, but in the friendly version they are still taught to be executed in a way so they won't cause the opponent injury. In such a friendly match, the winner is considered the one who is still standing while the other is lying on the ground. This means that if both the opponents fall to the ground together, the match will continue on the ground by the use of techniques to keep the other down while getting up yourself. Even more divergent from other forms of glima is loose grip glima when trained purely for self defence. In such training the harmful and hurtful techniques or ways of executing the techniques, that are not accepted in other forms of glima, are explored in as free and creative a way as possible while not injuring one's training partners. This form of glima is practised at the Norwegian Glima Championship and Lausatök Combat Glima Finland.