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For young Russians, wrestling is a way out

Decision to cut the sport from the Olympics threatens a culture rooted in the Caucasus.

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Feb. 18, 2013

Wrestlers train in the Palace of Wrestling in Moscow. Wrestling, for thousands of boys throughout the Caucasus, represents a way out. The Palace hostel, filled with ambitious boys from the Caucasus, is their refuge from hard lives they left behind, and from the sharp prejudice of Muscovites against the region and its inhabitants.

Sergey Ponomarev / For The Washington Post

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