Wrestling is a martial art and combat sport that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves different grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins, and other grappling holds. Many different wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sports, and military systems. Wrestling can either be genuine competition or athletic theater.
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.
Poland competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 165 competitors, 126 men and 39 women, took part in 126 events in 20 sports.
Bulgaria competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 130 competitors, 106 men and 24 women, took part in 92 events in 15 sports.
Wrestling is a low profile individual sport in Australia that Wrestling Australia is the national governing body of the sport, which organise competitions, and the national and Olympic team duties. In Australia the recognised wrestling styles include freestyle, Greco-Roman, beach and indigenous (Coreeda). Wrestling competitions and associations exist in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the World Championships and Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including Greco-Roman, Freestyle, Grappling, as well as others. The flagship event of UWW is the Wrestling World Championships. The UWW was formerly known as FILA, having assumed its current name in September 2014.
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.
Finland competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium for the first time as a fully independent state. It did compete at the previous Olympics, however, only as the Russian-dependent Grand Duchy of Finland. 63 competitors, 62 men and 1 woman, took part in 51 events in 9 sports.
Finland competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 108 competitors, 103 men and 5 women, took part in 70 events in 14 sports.
Ghasem Rezaei is an Iranian former Greco-Roman wrestler. He was an Olympic gold and bronze medalist and two-time Asian Champion. His nickname is Tiger of Amol.
Roman Andreyevich Vlasov is a Russian Greco-Roman wrestler. He is a two-time Olympic Champion, a three-time World Champion, and a four-time European Champion. He also won the gold medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade. Furthermore, he was runner-up at the 2013 World Championships and the 2014 and 2015 World Cup. Vlasov trains under Viktor Kuznetsov, the same coach who raised Aleksandr Karelin.
Wrestling World Cup is an international wrestling competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The cups have been conducted by FILA every year since the 1973 tournament. The World Cup began as a dual-meet competition for the top teams on each continent, but now features the top teams in the rankings of the previous year's world championships.
The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships and is second only to the wrestling events at the Olympics. From its inception in 1898 till 1927 only Greco-Roman wrestling was contested. Since 1929 separate freestyle wrestling events were held as well. Since 1970 the two Olympic wrestling styles were contested together during the same unified events. Since 1973 Sambo wrestling was included into the championships programme along with GR and freestyle wrestling. Since 2014 associated traditional wrestling styles recognized globally by UWW were incorporated into the annual championships schedule.
Wrestling competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from July 15 to 18 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. Due to naming rights the arena will be known as the latter for the duration of the games. The competition is split into two disciplines, Freestyle and Greco-Roman which were further divided into different weight categories. Men competed in both disciplines whereas women only took part in the freestyle events, with 18 gold medals awarded. Wrestling has been contested at every Pan American Games.
Men's Greco-Roman 98 kilograms competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, took place on August 16 at the Carioca Arena 2 in Barra da Tijuca.
The men's Greco-Roman 71 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Las Vegas, United States on 8 September 2015.
The men's Greco-Roman 80 kilograms is a competition featured at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Las Vegas, United States on 8 September 2015.
