Any player who manages to wrest the carcass away gallops downfield to fling it into an elevated goal about the size of a kiddie pool.

The United States versus Russia was one of the first kok-boru matches. Given that the Russian players were of Kyrgyz origin, an American victory would have surpassed the upset of the “Miracle on Ice” hockey win at the 1980 Olympics.

The American players, most in their first game ever, struggled, with the announcer bellowing, “Whoooops!” every time one of them dropped the carcass.

At one point an American player, Ladd Howell, recruited because of his experience wrangling rodeo calves, broke away from the massed riders and galloped toward the goal. He threw the beast into the goal with such force that he fell in after it, provoking a roar of laughter from the stands.

While the game disturbs many animal-rights activists, Garret J. Edington, a co-captain of the American side, said the team was not there to challenge local traditions. “It is part of the culture that we are here to experience,” he said, adding that the winning team gets to eat the goat.

The British ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Robin Ord-Smith, was a bit flummoxed about how his country could participate in the Games. “We don’t really do nomads,” he said. Then, an inspiration: Scotsmen!

Oddball sports involving trials of strength, skill and dexterity? Check. Exotic national dress? Check. Tribes? Clans! So he imported four men in kilts for an exhibition display of Highland games, including the caber toss, which involves throwing the equivalent of a telephone pole end over end.