WRESTLING IS recognised as one of the oldest competitive sports in the world and is highly respected across the globe.

Greece is usually cited as being the birthplace of wrestling, but there is a long history of hand-to-hand combat competition in other regions such as India and Africa.

In some parts of Africa, wrestling as a sport evolved from training for war and in others it was a form of initiation into manhood.

Britain has a well-documented history of black athletes across mainstream sports such as cricket, football, rugby and basketball, but very little is known about our black wrestlers – particularly those who have competed on the international stage.

The Voice of Sport spoke to Fitz Walker and Noel Loban about their career and achievements.

Fitz Walker

Lloyd ‘Fitz’ Walker was the first black wrestler to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games. Fitz competed at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. He also represented England at the 1982 and 1986 Commonwealth Games. Walker also won the British National Championships for 14 years in a row.

Walker credits a lot of his success to a team of wrestlers and coaches who were his advocates.

“They had seen what had gone on before and didn’t want the same thing to happen to me. They dealt with all the politics. If there was a dispute or something that needed to be sorted out, they would speak on my behalf,” he recalls.

Before his Olympic debut in 1980, the Jamaica-born wrestler represented his country at the Commonwealth Games in 1978.

This was made possible by his advocates who recognised his potential and reached out to the Jamaican Olympic Committee (who were also responsible for the Commonwealth Games delegation) on his behalf.

With this network of support, Walker was able to throw all of his efforts into training. “You had to be so much better than all the others because if you weren’t better than all the others it was an excuse for someone not to select you.”

After retiring from competition, Walker went into coaching and currently coaches juniors at the Y Club in Manchester.

Noel Loban

Noel Loban was Britain’s first black wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics and is the last British wrestler to medal at an Olympic Games.

Loban was born in London and migrated to America as a child. While in America, he turned to sport to help mitigate the impact of a

tumultuous childhood. Following a mediocre start to his collegiate wrestling career, he quickly improved and soon earned a spot as co-captain of the team and went on to eventually win the 1980 NCAA National Championships. De- spite his success across the pond, he was denied an opportunity to try out for a place on the Great Britain Olympic team in that year. Two years later during a personal visit to the UK, he arranged to drop in on a national training session.

He says: “I was just planning to observe but I ended up being put through my paces. I grappled for about an hour with different wrestlers from different weight categories and nobody got a takedown on me.

“Three weeks later there was a tournament in France, and I was invited to be a part of the team that was going. I ended up winning that tournament, and the rest is history.”

Loban represented Great Britain at the 1984 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal. He went on to represent Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games in 1986, the World Championships and European Championships in 1987, the 1988 Olympics and the 1994 Commonwealth Games. Before retiring from competition, he competed in the Bundesliga for three years.

Loban is now the director of Student Athlete Development at North Carolina State University.

Both Walker and Loban acknowledge the discrimination that was present in society during their careers, but neither reflect on it bitterly. This may be a testament to their character, a reflection of the sport or a combination of both.

“It’s just how our society was at the time,” says Walker.

“I knew I was going places and I knew I had to rise above that. I never made it an issue that stopped me from doing what I wanted to achieve.”

Loban feels that it was the nature of wrestling that transcended above the discrimination that was prevalent in the wider society.

“Wrestling is a sport that separates the men from the boys. You may not like each other when you are on the mat, but after the match there is a certain respect.”