Beginning the 20th century modern types of sport started to develop in Mongolia. The Mongolian Sports Committee was founded in 1947. The 1950s witnessed the appearance of voluntary sports clubs and associations, including four major clubs Soyol (Culture), Khudulmur (Labour), Barilgachin (Builder) and Khorshoolol (Cooperative). These organisations played a tangible role in promoting sport as a mass movement. Nowadays, track and field sports, football, basketball, volley-ball, skating, skiing, motorcycle racing, mountain climbing, chess and other sports are gaining wide popularity in Mongolia. The Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC) was created on February 26th, 1956.
The MNOC became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1962. Mongolian athletes have participated in 9 Summer Olympic Games and have won 14 medals, including 5 silver and 9 bronze medals. Mongolia, a country with a rather small population, has gained 743 gold, 770 silver and 1025 bronze medals in many international competitions, 70 percent of which are won by wrestlers. J. Munkhbat won the first silver medal in free-style Wrestling at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. Sh.Magvan, former President of Mongolian National Olympic Committee, is the elected IOC Member in Mongolia, since 1977.
Many young Mongolian talented sports persons compete successfully in professional sports such as sumo and boxing. Mongolian sumo wrestler, Asashoryu D.Dagvadorj won the Grand Sumo Tournament in Japan and received the Grand Champion title in 2002. He won the tournament for the 8 times in July, 2004. There are over 30 Mongolian wrestlers in professional sumo. Six of them are competing in the higher category. There are about 1000 sport halls and about 30 stadiums nationwide.
Also there are 37 governmental and 22 non-governmental organisations involved in fitness and sports development in the country. 240,922 people are members of these clubs of which 37.6 percent are in the new generation. The remaining 62.4 percent are adults. The Physical Culture and Sport's Committee has began to organise work to support the clubs' activities and to give them professional assistance. The Mongolian National Olympic Committee has officially inaugurated its new building "Olympic House" in June 2002.
