Goresh is a Turkmen national style of wrestling and one of the traditional forms of belt wrestling. Its origins go back to ancient times. Historical sources mention that among the ancestors of the Turkmen people, not only men but also women practiced wrestling techniques.

Renowned wrestlers took talented students under their guidance and trained them to become masters of wrestling — pahlavans, who later passed their knowledge on to their own students. Turkmen wrestling “gores,” carefully preserved through centuries and passed from generation to generation, has reached the present day in its original form.

For thousands of years, no family or public celebrations among the Turkmen were complete without competitions of local pahlavans. The best wrestlers were honored in legends, poems, and songs. Stories of their matches were passed from generation to generation, where sometimes the prize was not just material rewards, but immortality in the memory of future generations.