Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by an international governing body called an International Federation (IF).
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.
Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the United States are conducted under different rules and termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling. U.S. collegiate women's wrestling is conducted under freestyle rules.
Baseball at the Summer Olympics unofficially debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and was first contested as a demonstration sport at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. It became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, then was played at each Olympiad through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sport was then dropped from the Summer Olympic program, until being revived for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for a single appearance. It is next expected to be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Ara Abrahamian is an Armenian-Swedish wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 84 kg weight class.
Armen Nazaryan is an Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who later represented Bulgaria. Nazaryan is a two-time Olympic Champion, a three-time World Champion, and a six-time European Champion. After Armenia regained independence in 1991, Nazaryan became the first Olympic gold medalist for the country. He was recognized by the FILA as the best wrestler of the year in 1998 and 2003. In 2007, Nazaryan was inducted as a member of the FILA Hall of Fame.
Canada has competed at 28 Summer Olympic Games, missing only the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the boycotted 1980 Summer Olympics. This count includes the 1906 Olympic Games, deemed unofficial 43 years after they were held. The nation made its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Canada competes under the IOC country code CAN.
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, and others. The flagship event of UWW is the World Wrestling Championships.
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.
Men's Greco-Roman 84 kilograms competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, was held on August 14 at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium. Italian wrestler Andrea Minguzzi won the gold medal in this event.
Raphaël Martinetti is a Swiss businessman and was the president of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) from 2002 to 2013. He was elected to this position in 2002, succeeding Milan Ercegan from Yugoslavia. Previously, Martinetti was head of the FILA officiating committee and served on the FILA Bureau for twenty years.
Sagid Magomedovich Murtazaliev is a Russian freestyle wrestler. Born in Makhachkala, Dagestan ASSR, Soviet Union and of Avar descent, Murtazaliev has won gold medals in heavyweight divisions at the 1999 FILA World Championships and the 2000 Summer Olympics.
The 125th IOC Session took place at the Buenos Aires Hilton in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 7 to 10 September 2013. On 7 September, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) elected Tokyo as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Wrestling was restored to the Olympic sports program for 2020 and 2024. Thomas Bach was elected to an eight-year term as IOC President on 10 September.
Mnatsakan Iskandaryan is a former Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler who competed for the Soviet Union and Russia. Iskandaryan is an Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion, and two-time European Champion. He earned the rank Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1991 and was named Honoured Coach of Russia in 2000. In 2012, Iskandaryan was inducted into the FILA Hall of Fame as the sole Greco-Roman inductee. He's the second Armenian to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, after Armen Nazaryan.
Ethnosport is a set of traditional styles of physical activity, methods of their preservation, and their development, as described in the ethnosport theory of Russian cultural anthropologist Alexey Kylasov.
Wrestling has deep historical roots in Armenia. Wrestling was practiced in the Armenian Highlands since ancient times. Armenians have their own variant of the sport called Kokh. It was recorded that King Tiridates III of Armenia won the Ancient Olympic Games in wrestling in 281 AD. During the Soviet era, wrestling became one of the most practiced sports in Armenia and remained popular after Armenia's independence in 1991. Armenian athletes have been successful at international competitions in the last two decades. Many have become World and European champions, both in Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling. Over half of the fifteen Armenian Olympic medalists and the two gold medal winners have been wrestlers. The sport is overseen by the Wrestling Federation of Armenia.
Makoto Sasamoto is an amateur Japanese Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. He is a three-time Olympian, a two-time Asian Games medalist, and a bronze medalist at the 2005 Asian Wrestling Championships in Wuhan, China. He also won a silver medal for his division at the 2007 World Wrestling Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, losing out to Georgia's David Bedinadze. Sasamoto is a member of the wrestling team for Sogokeibi Sports Club in Tokyo, and is coached and trained by Hideo Fujimoto.
Men's Greco-Roman 130 kilograms competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, took place on 1–2 August 2021 at the Makuhari Messe in Mihama-ku.
Nenad Lalović is a Serbian businessman. He has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2015.
