HASn Cairo, during the African competition, our young wrestlers accomplished much more than a harvest of metal: they drew a geography of perseverance. Five medals, including four gold, won by a squad of only six athletes. A ratio of absolute insolence, a surgical efficiency which leaves rival nations behind.
The four young girls who snatched gold are the new caryatids of a Tunisia that is winning, one that does not bother with embellishments. In the sweat of the carpet, far from the cameras and the fantastic advertising contracts, these young women have established courage as a system. At -53 or -59 kg, it doesn’t matter the weight of the opponent, it’s the weight of history that they lifted. Coming second in the general team classification with such a small delegation is pure alchemy: transforming the scarcity of means into a hegemony of will.
However, behind the brilliance of the podiums and the laconic press releases from the ministry, lies a harsher truth. This “positive dynamic” praised with user satisfaction is the tree that hides a forest of negligence. Wrestling and boxing, like so many other so-called “minor” disciplines, often only exist in the eyes of decision-makers for the duration of a photographer’s flash. These athletes are the goldsmiths of a solitary success, muscle artisans who train in the shadow of an omnivorous football, which devours budgets with an appetite inversely proportional to its international results. A football which does not even offer no show because our championship is mortally boring.
It is time, absolutely time, to repair this structural injustice. Let us realize that while we heal at great expense the wounds of our team sports in crisis, it is these “small” individual sports which, with an economy of means which borders on asceticism, bring prestige back to the homeland. Watching over these talents is no longer an option, it is a duty of recognition. If the gold of our lionesses shines so brightly, it is also because it was forged in the fire of unjust deprivation. Let’s stop celebrating these miracles as if they were natural!
