Olympic sport Wrestling

Sport

Wrestling

Kind of sport

Summersport

Old sport

Description

Already at the Ancient Games wrestling was one of the most popular events. The Greco-Roman style of wrestling has been on the programme of the Modern Games since its beginning and freestyle wrestling was added to the programme in 1904.
It is one of the oldest known duels between unarmed men. The principle is simple: push the opponent down with certain holds in such a way that both shoulders simultaneously touch the floor. Wrestling has the following weight classes in both disciplines:
Light flying weight up to 48 kg.
Flying weight up to 52 kg.
Bantam weight up to 57 kg.
Feather weight up to 62 kg.
Light weight up to 68 kg.
Welter weight up to 74 kg.
Middle weight up to 82 kg.
Half-heavy weight up to 90 kg.
Heavy weight up to 100 kg.
Super heavy weight up to 130 kg.
At the Olympic wrestling matches, there is a referee-team consisting of the mat-judge, the arbiter, three scorers and three judges. While the match is advancing, the participants can earn points for e.g. successful holds, attacks and throws. A match is won when the opponent has been pinned against the floor with both shoulders for more than five seconds or when one of them has gained an advantage of 12 points. When the six minutes are over, without winner or advantage of 12 points, the wrestler with the highest score wins.
During the Games, the participants of each weight class are divided into two pools. As soon as a wrestler looses twice he is eliminated. The winners of both pools compete for the first and the second place. The seconds of each pool compete for third and fourth place.

GRECO-ROMAN

With Greco-Roman wrestling only those holds from head to hips are allowed. Attacks on legs and feet and leg holds are not allowed. This restriction clearly results in less holding possibilities than freestyle wrestling.

FREE STYLE

With free style wrestling, contrary to Greco-Roman wrestling, there are no restrictions in attack zones of the body: holds are allowed from the head to the legs.