Greco-Roman (US) or Graeco-Roman (UK) wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908.Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in two three-minute periods, which can be terminated early by a pin (or fall). This style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist; this is the major difference from freestyle wrestling, the other form of wrestling at the Olympics. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws because a wrestler cannot use trips to take an opponent to the ground, or avoid throws by hooking or grabbing the opponent's leg.
Weight classes:
Currently, international Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into four main age categories: schoolboys, cadets, juniors, and seniors.Schoolboys (young men ages 14–15; or age 13 with a medical certificate and parental authorization) wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from 29 to 85 kg.Cadets (young men ages 16–17; or age 15 with a medical certificate and parental authorization) wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from 39 to 100 kg.Juniors (young men ages 18 to 20; or age 17 with a medical certificate and parental authorization) wrestle in eight weight classes ranging from 46 to 120 kg.Seniors (men ages 20 and up) wrestle in seven weight classes ranging from 50 to 120 kg.For men, there is also a special category for some Greco-Roman competitions, "Veterans", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors.Also, all of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied to freestyle wrestling.Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division (which starts at a weight more than 96 kg for the men).Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of Greco-Roman competition.
Layout of the mat:
The match takes place on a thick rubber mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a 1.5 meter border of the same thickness known as the protection area. Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the red zone. The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the passivity zone. Inside the red zone is the central wrestling area which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the central wrestling area is the central circle, which is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue.
Development of Greco-Roman wrestling:
In addition to the Greeks, wrestling was extremely popular among ancient Romans. But the Romans adopted a wrestling style that was less brutal than the Greeks' style. Amateur wrestling continued throughout the middle ages in England, France and Japan. European settlers in America practiced wrestling, as did Native Americans. The first national championships for wrestling in the United States were held in 1888, and continued through the early 1900s. The most popular wrestling style of that time was Greco-Roman wrestling, which allows holds only to the upper body. The name Greco-Roman was applied to this style of wrestling as a way of asserting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea. Other styles varied by nation, with Iceland's Glima wrestling, Britain's Cumberland wrestling and Switzerland's Schwingen wrestling style.
General rules
Participants:
The monitoring of the fight:
The rules how to follow the battle:
Breaking the rules:
Points:
Consideration of the winner:
Boots:
Made of soft leather with no heels or studs.
Wrestling suit:
Made of stretch material, it must be either red or blue.
Olympic Timeline:
1896 – Athens, Greece
The first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, home of the ancient Olympics. Wrestling, one of the featured sports of the ancient Games, was included in the program of the first modern Olympics. The style was Greco-Roman, and just one weight class was contested, heavyweight. Karl Schumann of Germany became the first Olympic wrestling gold medalist. No U.S. wrestlers participated in the Athens Games.
1900 – Paris, France
Wrestling was not included in the program at the 1900 Olympics, the only time during the modern Games that wrestling was not a featured sport.
1904 – St. Louis, Mo.
The first of the modern Olympic Games held in the United States featured freestyle wrestling, a style that was popular in the United States. The U.S. was the only nation entered in wrestling and scored a clean sweep of all the wrestling medals, with seven golds, seven silvers and seven bronzes.
1906 – Athens, Greece
Athens became the first city to host more than one modern Olympic Games. Greco-Roman wrestling, more popular than freestyle in Europe, was the featured style, and freestyle was not included. Three Greco-Roman champions were crowned, and the United States did not participate in wrestling event.
1908 – London, England
The London Olympics featured both of the international wrestling styles for the first time, freestyle and Greco-Roman. The United States dominated the freestyle light weights, with George Mehnert claiming the 119-pound title and George Dole capturing the 132.5-pound event. For Mehnert, it was a second career Olympic title. It would be another 84 years before an American wrestler would win a second Olympic gold medal, when John Smith and Bruce Baumgartner claimed second titles in Barcelona. Mehnert was a club wrestler from Newark, New Jersey, while Dole, who competed at Yale, helped establish the tradition of college wrestlers moving on to Olympic glory.
Greco-Roman was dominated by European nations, and the United States did not participate.
1912 – Stockholm, Sweden
Greco-Roman, the favored style of the Scandinavian nations, was the only wrestling event in Stockholm, and the gold medals went to athletes from either Finland or Sweden. The United States entered athletes, but did not medal.
20 Jan 2015
The 1900 Games were the only ones where wrestling was not present in any shape or form. As from the 1908 Olympic Games in London, Greco-Roman wrestling has always been included on the programme. Since the 1920 Antwerp Games, there have been both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling competitions.
20 Feb 2015
Made of soft leather with no heels or studs.
20 Mar 2015
With the possible exception of athletics, wrestling is recognised as the world’s oldest competitive sport. Indeed cave drawings of wrestlers have been found dating as far back as 3000 BC. The sport was introduced into the ancient Olympics in 708 BC.
Greco-Roman wrestling originated in France in the early 19th century, in imitation of classical Greek and Roman representations of the sport. It became favoured in Scandinavian countries, and Swedish and Finnish wrestlers won many Olympic titles from 1912 to 1948, after which the Soviet Union and other countries came to the fore.
The oldest sport:
With the possible exception of athletics, wrestling is recognised as the world’s oldest competitive sport. Indeed cave drawings of wrestlers have been found dating as far back as 3000 BC. The sport was introduced into the ancient Olympics in 708 BC.
The main event:
When the modern Olympic Games resumed in Athens in 1896, wrestling became a focus of the Games. This was because organisers considered it historically significant; indeed Greco-Roman wrestling was deemed a pure reincarnation of ancient Greek and Roman wrestling.
Greco vs freestyle:
In Greco-Roman wrestling, the wrestlers use only their arms and upper bodies to attack, and can only hold those same parts of their opponents. As the name suggests, freestyle is a much more open form in which wrestlers also use their legs and may hold opponents above or below the waist.
Olympic history:
United World Wrestling (UWW):
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 for men and women, as well as others. The flagship event of UWW is the Wrestling World Championships. It was formerly known as the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (French: Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées, FILA), having assumed its current name in September 2014.
Major wrestling disciplines within UWW:
UWW has come to set rules and regulations and hold international competitions in the following wrestling styles:
Adaptations to the international regulations set by UWW are usually made by each national federation for all national and regional competitions.
Events:
UWW is the body responsible for supervising Olympic wrestling, and so competitions for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling take place every Summer Olympiad.
Activities:
Besides the Summer Olympics, there are also various international competition such as the Commonwealth Games, the Pan-American Games, etc. that have wrestling as an official sport. Also, the Continental Championships and Continental Cups usually take place annual and are regulated by each Continental Committee. Then, there are World Championships that usually take place among the various nations every year (for the senior age category, every year except the year the Summer Olympics are held), and many international tournaments that take place between countries and among wrestlers of the same country (such as the United States Nationals in freestyle and Greco-Roman).
Honors:
UWW also sponsors training for athletes in the various wrestling styles at training centers, currently located in Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.The International Wrestling Hall of Fame, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma awards individuals with honors in Greco-Roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, women's wrestling, and officiating.
Canada Awarded United World Wrestling Awards: