Wrestling is a 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 sportive entertainment.
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 in collegiate, school, or other amateur level competitions. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games: freestyle and Greco-Roman. Both styles are under the supervision of the United World Wrestling. A similar style, commonly called collegiate, 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. In February 2013, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to remove the sport from the 2020 Summer Olympics onward. On 8 September 2013, the IOC announced that wrestling would return to the Summer Olympics. The rapid rise in the popularity of the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA) has increased interest in amateur wrestling due to its effectiveness in the sport and it is considered a core discipline.
Baraladei Daniel Igali is a Canadian freestyle wrestler who is an Olympic gold medallist. He lives in Surrey, British Columbia.
David Lesley Schultz was an American Olympic and World champion freestyle wrestler, and a seven-time World and Olympic medalist. He coached individuals and teams at the college level and also privately.
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.
Leslie Lyle Gutches is an American former amateur wrestler and coach. His accomplishments include becoming 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.
Carol Huynh is a retired Canadian freestyle wrestler. Huynh was the first gold medalist for Canada in women's wrestling and was the first gold medallist for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She is also the 2010 Commonwealth Games and two time Pan American Games champion. She has also achieved success at the world championships where Huynh has totaled one silver and three bronze medals. Huynh is also an eleven time national champion. Following the 2012 Olympics, Huynh retired from competition and started coaching the University of Calgary Dinos wrestling team. Huynh was elected to the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013. In early 2015 she was selected as a United World Wrestling Super 8 Ambassador for the global campaign focusing on the development of women in wrestling and has also served as the Chair of the United World Wrestling Athletes Commission from 2013 to 2017. As of 2020 she is the current coach of Wrestling Canada's Next Gen team based in Calgary.
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.
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.
Travis Cross is an amateur Canadian freestyle wrestler, who played for the men's light heavyweight category. He qualified for the 84 kg class in men's freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by finishing eighth from the 2007 World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. He is also a three-time Canadian national wrestling champion.
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.
Lyndsay Belisle is a retired amateur Canadian freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's flyweight category. Considering one of the world's top female freestyle wrestlers in her decade, Belisle has claimed two silver medals each in the 48 and 51-kg division at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and at the 2006 World Wrestling Championships in Guangzhou, China, and seized an opportunity to compete for Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Throughout her sporting career, Belisle trained full-time for the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club in Burnaby, British Columbia under her personal coach Mike Jones.
J'den Michael Tbory Cox is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 92 kilograms. In freestyle, Cox is 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.
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.
