Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Iran. 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.
Sport in Albania revolves mostly around team sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball and handball. Other sports includes boxing, weightlifting, tennis, swimming, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, and chess. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Albania national football team making its debut at the 1964 UEFA European Football Championship. The national football team also qualified for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Many Albanian athletes have also achieved significant success and have won European and Mediterranean titles in numerous sports during the years, such as wrestling, football, athletics and weightlifting. Albanian athletes have won a total 49 medals for Albania in 8 different Mediterranean sports. Albania has had some success in others sport such as volleyball and basketball as well.
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 Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling, Grappling, for men and women, as well as others. The flagship event of UWW is the Wrestling World Championships. It was formerly known as the FILA, having assumed its current name in September 2014.
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.
Albania first participated at the Summer Olympic Games in 1972. They missed the next four games, three of them for political reasons due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, 1984 Summer Olympics boycott and 1988 boycotts, but returned for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. They have appeared in all games since then. They made their Winter Olympic Games debut in 2006. Albania normally competes in events that include swimming, athletics, weightlifting, shooting, and wrestling. The country has not yet won an Olympic medal. Along with Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta and Monaco, Albania is one of five current European participants that have never won an Olympic medal. They have been represented by the Albanian National Olympic Committee since 1972.
Albania sent a team to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China which was organised by the National Olympic Committee of Albania.
Yogeshwar Dutt is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the 60 kg category. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013. He won gold medals at the 2010 and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He is one of only 5 male wrestlers in India to win an Olympic medal.
Vasyl Petrovych Fedoryshyn is a male wrestler from Ukraine, who competes in the men's -60 kg freestyle division.
Bayaraagiin Naranbaatar, also known as Bayaraa Naranbaatar, is a male freestyle wrestler from Mongolia.
Ali Abdo is a male freestyle wrestler from Australia. He participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. In Beijing in 2008, he competed in the Men's freestyle 74 kg and was eliminated in the round of 32 losing to Ahmet Gülhan from Turkey.
Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics were held between 5 and 12 August, the final day of the Games, at ExCeL London. It was 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 modern Summer Olympic Games, except Paris 1900.
Albania competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's seventh appearance at the Olympics since its debut in 1972. The National Olympic Committee of Albania sent a total of 11 athletes to the Games, seven men and four women, to compete in four sports. Weightlifter Hysen Pulaku was officially removed from the team on the first day, after failing a drug test for the banned anabolic steroid substance, as announced by the International Olympic Committee. Albania, however, has yet to win its first ever Olympic medal.
Bajrang Punia is an Indian freestyle wrestler, who competes in the 65-kg weight category. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Punia won a bronze medal by defeating Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov with a 8-0 margin. Punia is the only Indian wrestler to win 4 medals at the World Wrestling Championships.
Haji Aliyev is an Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 61 kg division in the 2014 European Wrestling Championships and won the gold medal after beating Bekkhan Goygereyev of Russia.
Besik Aslanasvili is a retired amateur Greek freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. Holding a dual citizenship to compete internationally, Aslanasvili has been selected to the nation's Olympic wrestling team when Greece hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and also picked up a gold medal in the 63-kg division at the 2001 Mediterranean Games in Tunis, Tunisia. Throughout his sporting career, Aslanasvili trained full-time for Atlas Kallitheas Wrestling Club in Athens, under personal coach Michail Charachura.
Australia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Australia is one of only five countries to have sent athletes to every Summer Olympics of the modern era, alongside Great Britain, France, Greece, and Switzerland.
India competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1920, although they made their official debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Mongolia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation made its debut in 1964, Mongolian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, because of its partial support to the Soviet boycott.
Asnage Castelly is a Haitian-American wrestler who competed for Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 74kg freestyle competition.
Albania (1992–2012)
Australia (2015–2016)
