The Sports Palace named after Kojumkol
- The Sports Palace
Known in Kyrgyz as the Sports Sarai and in Russian as the Dvoretz Sporta, the Sports Palace on Togolok Moldo Street is reputedly Bishkek’s largest venue, with seating for 2500.
It was built in 1974 as one of the major construction projects designed to modernize the city. There are facilities for basketball, volleyball and other sports, but they must be reserved ahead.
In the same complex there is an open air Olympic sized swimming pool and a small sauna. The main auditorium is used for concerts, presentations, conference, and has even seen use as a courtroom, (following the events of April 7th, 2010). It is also used for exhibitions.
Kojomkol statue
The statue in front of the Sports Palace was erected in 2004 and is of Kojomkol, (after whom the complex is named), a giant of a man, (he was 2.3 meters tall- seven feet five inches – and weighed 164 kg. – 361 lbs or nearly 26 stone). It depicts one of the famous scenes from his life when he carried a horse.
He was born in 1889 and who died in 1955 at the age of 67. Apart from his size, which would mark him out in any society – in one which takes “macho” qualities very seriously, he became a local hero for his feats of strength.
In his youth he would easily beat other “strong” men in wrestling competitions. On one occasion, already famous for his feats of strength, he received an invitation to participate in a competition in the neighbouring Toktogul area, (at that time wrestling competitions were an integral part of any celebration), being organized by one of the local “bais”, (one of the richest and noblest people in the area). Participation in that competition made Kojomkul even more famous as he beat several well-known wrestlers and won prizes comprising 50 sheep and several mares, which, apparently, the young fighter then distributed amongst the poor residents of the village. He fought many bouts but by the end of the 1920s there was no-one to rival Kojomkul in Kyrgyzstan. One contest of note was against the Kazakh wrestler, Cholok Balaban. At this time Kojomkul was the Chairman of the District Council and thought he had no right to participate in such competitions. It took the intervention of “Higher-ranking” authorities to persuade him that he should compete for the Republic. He won in the 23rd minute of the match.
Sometime in 1930s, some residents of Suusamyr were going to the Chui Valley on horseback. At the Too-Ashu pass, a huge boulder, as big as a yurta, had fallen and blocked the way. They turned to Kojomkul for help and he told them to start digging a big pit near the boulder. Digging the pit took a long time and when it was ready, Kojomkul sat down on the ground, pressed his back to the mountain and began pushing the boulder into the pit. The huge boulder slowly moved and finally fell into the pit.
Kojomkul had eagerly adopted Soviet ways – having worked as a labourer for bais. He served as Chairman of the collective farm in the Suusamyr Valley for 20 years. All was not well, however, and in 1937 he was imprisoned for a year for refusing to write information against the Chairman of the neighbouring collective farm. In prison he was “an authoritative person” for both prisoners and guards. During the years of the Second World War, he is reputed to have saved the poorest villagers from hunger. He was an excellent hunter and every day his wife, Akmadai, prepared food for needy villagers. Akmadai was a fragile and graceful woman and people wanted Kojomkul to have strong sons – so they decided to find him a second wife!. They found a tall strong girl for him in the neighbouring village, a daughter of a well-known strong man, Tooke. Several times they suggested to him that he should marry the girl – but he consistently refused, and (finally) they understood that their idol would never betray his first and only love. He loved children and knew all of them in the village. He made those children who studied well at school go to Institutes.
Bishkek