Origin of Wrestling

With a record history dating back over 5000 years to ancient Egypt, to watch modern wrestling is to observe antiquity itself. Probably originated from hand-to-hand combat, wrestling is the oldest known organized sport. Believed to be the most popular sport of the ancient Greeks, young men belonged to palestras, as the focal point of their life. Illustrations of wrestling on Greek vases and coins were common throughout the period of ancient Greece.

Wrestling was contested in the Olympic Games of 776 BC, and was on the program of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896.

Wrestling Today

FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées) rules world amateur wrestling. Today there are two disciplines in Olympic wrestling, Greco-roman and Freestyle. The main difference between them is that Greco-roman strictly forbids the competitor grasping the opponent below the belt line, to tip an opponent, or to use legs actively to perform any action, whereas with Freestyle all the above are permitted. The first World Championships were held in 1904 Vienna (Greco-roman) and in 1951 Helsinki (Freestyle).

Wrestling at the Olympic Summer Games

Wrestling had its Olympic debut at the 1986 held in Athens. It has since been part of every Olympic Games except in Paris in 1900. Both styles have been held since 1920. Prior to that only one form was used, except in 1908. Three wrestlers have won gold medals in both styles: Kaarle Anttila (Finland), Ivar Johansson (Sweden), Kristjan Palusalu (Estonia).

Only four wrestlers have managed to win three gold medals at the Olympics, they are: Ivar Johansson (Sweden), Carl Westergren (Sweden), Alexandr Medved (Soviet Union), Alexander Karelin (Russia). Medved is the only one with three gold medals in Freestyle. Karelin is the only one to have won his three gold medals in the same body weight category, i.e. super heavyweight.

Women participated for the first time at the Athens Games in 2004 in 4 weight categories.

There are 33 wrestlers with two Olympic gold medals.

Wrestling in China

This sport has been steadily growing in China, with many wrestlers of world-class caliber emerging in the 1990’s etc. Wang Xu won a women's freestyle wrestling gold medal at 72kg at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 after defeating a five-time world champion in the semi-final and a European champion in the final. At the 27th World Wrestling Championship held in September, 2006 in Guangzhou, China, Li Yanyan won China’s first Greco-Roman world title at 66kg, and the first man’s gold medal in Chinese wrestling history.