It's impossible to do this sport without looking gay, but there isn't a special connotation. Even in turkey this is done right next to the border to Greece.
Greek wrestling already looked gay as fuck, even though it wasn't (modern Greco-Roman wrestling is NOT greek wrestling). So throwing in olive oil didn't really up the ante much on that front, it just made it significantly more challenging.
It's a traditional European martial art. Greeks also still do this. Hell, the Greeks did it naked back then. The ottomans added the trousers.
https://www.akispapadopoulos.com/en/traditional-greek-oil-wrestling-w-58.html
It's impossible to do this sport without looking gay, but there isn't a special connotation. Even in turkey this is done right next to the border to Greece.
Greek wrestling already looked gay as fuck, even though it wasn't (modern Greco-Roman wrestling is NOT greek wrestling). So throwing in olive oil didn't really up the ante much on that front, it just made it significantly more challenging.