Greco-Roman, Graeco-Roman, or classic wrestling (Euro-English) 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.
At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, nine wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were four weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and five weight classes in freestyle wrestling.
Wrestling at the 1980 Summer Olympics was represented by twenty events. They were split into two disciplines : Freestyle and Greco-Roman. All events were held in the Wrestling hall of the Sports Complex of the Central Sports Club of the Army between 20 and 31 July.
At the 1906 Summer Olympics in Athens, four wrestling events were contested, all in Greco-Roman style for men. Now called the Intercalated Games, the 1906 Games are no longer considered as an official Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.
At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, 20 wrestling events were contested, for all men only. There were 10 weight classes in each of the freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling disciplines.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics, 20 wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were 10 weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and 10 classes in freestyle wrestling.
At the 1920 Summer Olympics, ten wrestling events were contested, for all men. There were five weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and five classes in Catch as Catch Can, predecessor to freestyle wrestling. The competitions were held from Monday, August 16 to Friday, August 20, 1920 (Greco-Roman) and from Wednesday, August 25 to Friday, August 27, 1920 (freestyle).
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 1936 Summer Olympics, 14 wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were seven weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and seven classes in freestyle wrestling.
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.
At the 1952 Summer Olympics, 16 wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were eight weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and eight classes in freestyle wrestling. The events were held at Messuhalli.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics, 16 wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were eight weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and eight classes in freestyle wrestling.
At the 1964 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.
At the 1968 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.
Hamit Kaplan was a Turkish World and Olympic champion sports wrestler of Circassian descent in the Heavyweight class. He won the gold, silver and bronze medal in men's freestyle wrestling at three consecutive Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Bilyal Valerievich Makhov is a Russian freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestler. 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.
Cuba competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's twentieth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Cuban team consisted of 124 athletes, 89 men and 35 women, across eighteen sports.
Guinea competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's twelfth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1968. Guinea failed to register any athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and eventually joined the rest of the African nations to boycott the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. On 22 July, the eve of the opening ceremony, Guinea announced it would withdraw from the Games due to COVID-19 concerns, but later reversed its decision.
