Greco-Roman, Graeco-Roman, classic wrestling or French wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1904. This style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it from freestyle wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws, because a wrestler cannot use trips to bring an opponent to the ground or hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown.
Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic, collegiate, school, or other amateur level competitions. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games: freestyle and Greco-Roman. Both styles are under the supervision of the United World Wrestling (UWW). The amateur style of collegiate wrestling, is practiced in colleges and universities, secondary schools, middle schools, and among younger age groups in the United States. Where the style is not specified, this article refers to the international styles of competition on a mat. The rapid rise in the popularity of the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA) has increased interest in amateur wrestling, due to its effectiveness within the sport and is considered a core discipline.
Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestling are conducted under different rules and termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling. American collegiate women's wrestling is conducted under freestyle rules.
Cole Konrad is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter. Konrad won a gold medal at the 2005 Pan-American Championships. He won the NCAA wrestling championships in 2006 and 2007 at 285 pounds and finished third at the 2006 World University Championships at 120 kilograms. He was the first Bellator Heavyweight World Champion.
Wrestling competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, were held at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium from 12–21 August 2008. It was split into two disciplines, Freestyle and Greco-Roman which are further divided into different weight categories. Men competed in both disciplines whereas women only took part in the freestyle events with 18 gold medals being awarded. This was the second Olympics with women's wrestling as an event.
At the 1928 Summer Olympics, thirteen wrestling events were contested, for all men. There were six weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and seven classes in freestyle wrestling. The freestyle competitions were held from July 30 to August 1, 1928 and the Greco-Roman events were held from August 2 to August 5, 1928.
At the 1948 Summer Olympics, 16 wrestling events were contested, for all men. There were eight weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and eight classes in freestyle wrestling. The freestyle competitions were held from July 29 to July 31, 1948 and the Greco-Roman events were held from August 3 to August 6, 1948.
Heiki Nabi is an Estonian Olympic champion Greco-Roman wrestler.
Mijaín López Núñez is a Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time World Champion, and five-time Pan American Games champion and is widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He is the younger brother of Michel López Núñez, a Cuban amateur boxer.
Søren Marinus Jensen was a Danish sport wrestler who competed in the 1906 Intercalated Games and the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics. He won medals at each Game; however, the gold medals he won at the 1906 Games are no longer considered to be Olympic medals. He remains Denmark's most successful wrestler at the Olympics. In addition, he was World Champion in 1905 and won multiple European championship silver medals.
Yury Patrikeyev is an Armenian-Russian Greco-Roman wrestler. He is an Olympic and World Championships medalist and four-time European Champion. Patrikeyev has been awarded the Master of Sport of Russia, International Class title.
Rıza Kayaalp is a Turkish wrestler competing in the 130 kg division of Greco-Roman wrestling. Five time world champion and twelve time European champion. He won silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics and won bronze medals at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is a graduate of the Aksaray University Physical Education and Sports Academy and studies his master's degree at Bozok University.
Bilyal Valerievich Makhov is a Russian mixed martial artist, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestler. Olympic gold medalist 2012. He is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, currently competing in the Heavyweight division. He was the Russian champion in 2007 and 2010, European champion in 2010 and World champion in 2007, 2009 and 2010 in Men's Freestyle 120 kg wrestling and bronze medalist in 130 kg Greco-Roman Wrestling at the World Championships in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, he won the Russian National Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships
Men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, took place on 11 August at ExCeL London.
The men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2010 World Wrestling Championships, and was held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia on 7 September.
The men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2009 World Wrestling Championships, and was held at the Messecenter Herning exhibition center in Herning, Denmark on September 27.
The men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms wrestling competition at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha was held on 10 December 2006 at the Aspire Hall 4.
The men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2013 World Wrestling Championships, and was held at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary on 22 September 2013.
Sabah Shariati is an Iranian-born naturalized Azerbaijani Greco-Roman wrestler. He won bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics, losing to eventual silver medalist and 4 time world champion Riza Kayaalp of Turkey.
The men's Greco-Roman 120 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2005 World Wrestling Championships, and was held at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary on 2 October 2005.
