Greco-Roman, Graeco-Roman, or classic 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.
Baraladei Daniel Igali is a Nigerian-Canadian wrestler. He won Canada's first ever Olympic gold medal in wrestling at the 2000 Summer Olympics and remains Canada's only male Olympic gold medalist in wrestling.
The SFU Red Leafs or Simon Fraser Red Leafs teams represent Simon Fraser University (SFU), which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The Red Leafs are members of NCAA Division II and are the only Canadian university affiliated with the U.S.-based National Collegiate Athletic Association. The teams previously used the nicknames "Clan" and "Clansmen," which were used as a tribute to the Scottish heritage of the university's namesake, Simon Fraser. The names were retired in 2020 due to the negative connotation surrounding those terms. In September 2022, the updated nickname "Red Leafs" was announced.
Matthew James Lindland, also known as The Law, is an American retired mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler, speaker, actor, coach, entrepreneur and politician. He won the Oregon Republican Party's nomination for the Oregon House of Representatives, District 52 seat on May 20, 2008. He also started an apparel company named Dirty Boxer. In mixed martial arts, Lindland competed primarily in the Middleweight division for the UFC, Strikeforce. Affliction, the IFL, Cage Rage, the WFA, and BodogFIGHT.
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.
Denmark competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. 91 competitors took part in 55 events in 14 sports.
Leslie Lyle Gutches is an American former wrestler and coach. His accomplishments include becoming a World Champion in freestyle wrestling at the 1997 World Wrestling Championships, the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's best college wrestler in 1996, becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion in the 177 lb. weight division in both 1995 and 1996, earning All-American status in 1994, 1995 & 1996, becoming a member of the 1996 United States Olympics freestyle wrestling team and winning numerous other tournaments and honors.
Rauno Leonard Mäkinen was a Finnish featherweight wrestler. He started as a freestyle wrestler, winning four consecutive national titles in 1952–55 and finishing sixth at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He then changed to Greco-Roman wrestling and won a national title and an Olympic gold medal in 1956. His further career was hampered by injuries. In 1960 he won one more national title, but withdrew from the 1960 Olympics after two bouts and retired from competitions.
Johannes Kotkas was a heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Estonia who won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He held the European title in 1938, 1939 and 1947 and placed second at the 1953 world championships.
Andrew Mark Borodow is retired male wrestler from Canada. An Olympian, he won both the Maccabiah Games championship and the Commonwealth Games championship, and a silver medal in the Pan American Games. He was inducted into the Canada Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Kyle Douglas Dake is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes at 74 kilograms. Dake is a four-time World Champion, winning back-to-back titles twice, at 79 kilos in 2018 and 2019 and 74 kilos in 2021 and 2022. He claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. During his first World Championship tournament, Dake outscored his opposition 37 points to zero, not surrendering a single point.
Scott Bianco is a Canadian former wrestler who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was a six time Canadian Senior Freestyle Champion winning 90 kg four times, 100 kg and 130 kg. A 1994 Commonwealth Gold Medal and 7th place in the world Championships were amongst his other achievements. During his wrestling career he first completed in the NAIA's for Simon Fraser University and then later as a member of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club.
Aghasi Manukyan was an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler. He was a World Cup winner and World Champion. Manukyan earned the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Master of Sports of International Class title in 1987.
Ari Michael Taub is a Canadian Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler. He won two gold medals at the 1989 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and a gold medal at the 2007 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. He competed for Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
J'den Michael Tbory Cox is an American retired freestyle wrestler and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 92 kilograms. In freestyle, Cox was a two-time World Champion at 92 kilos, and while competing at 86 kilos, he claimed a bronze medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics and a 2017 World Championship bronze medal. During college, Cox wrestled for the Missouri Tigers, and was a three-time NCAA Division I national champion and four-time Mid-American Conference champion, becoming one of the most accomplished Tigers in the program's history.
The Michigan Wolverines wrestling team is an NCAA Division I Wrestling team competing as members of the Big Ten Conference. The team is coached by Sean Bormet, a two-time All-American at Michigan.
Alan Rice is an American former wrestler and coach. He competed in the men's Greco-Roman featherweight at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He was also a silver medalist at the 1955 Pan American Games in freestyle wrestling, competing in the 63 kg weight class. He was an AAU national champion in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. Rice wrestled collegiately at the University of Minnesota, where he was a NCAA All-American in 1949.
Adam Jacob Coon is an American heavyweight wrestler and professional football player, playing offensive guard for the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, notable for not having played football in college. Before pro football, Coon was an accomplished wrestler at the state, national, and international levels. He was a 2011 Cadet World freestyle gold medalist, 2014 Junior World double bronze medalist in both Greco-Roman and freestyle, two-time NCAA Division I finalist, 2018 Senior World silver medalist in Greco-Roman, and a Pan American gold medalist in 2019 and silver medalist in 2020.
Gabriel Curtis Dean is an American retired freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who formerly competed at 86 kilograms. In freestyle, he was the 2020 US National Champion, a '17 Pan American Championship medalist, and a '14 Junior World Championship medalist. He was also the '15 Pan American Championship runner–up in Greco-Roman. As a collegiate wrestler, Dean was a two–time NCAA Division I champion, a four–time EIWA Conference champion, and a four–time NCAA Division I All-American for the Cornell Big Red.
