Wrestling at the Summer Olympic

Wrestling at 2008 Summer Games: Wrestling is a combat sport, which has its origin in the ancient days of mankind. Wrestling is played between two players. The aim of wrestling is to fight each other without any arm. To win a wrestling match, a wrestler has to pin his or her opponent down on the ground. Wrestlers have to be both mentally and physically strong to excel in the sport. Wrestling technique consists of speed, strength and conditioning. Wrestlers should also memorize the numerous offensive and defensive moves. The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles or the FILA is the international governing body of wrestling.

Wrestling in the Summer Games: Men's wrestling was introduced to the Olympic schedule at the 1896 Athens Summer Games. After the 1896 Games, wrestling has become a regular event at Olympics except the 1900 Games. The two wrestling styles contested at the Olympics are-Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling. Women have been participating in the freestyle wrestling competition since the 2004 Athens the events currently held during the Olympic wrestling competition are-

Greco-Roman wrestling

•  Bantamweight (less than 55 kg) for men

•  Featherweight (55-60 kg) for men

•  Lightweight (60-66 kg) for men

•  Welterweight (66-74 kg) for men

•  Middleweight (74-84 kg) for men

•  Heavyweight (84-96 kg) for men

•  Heavyweight (96-120 kg) for men

Freestyle wrestling

Categories of Wrestling: Wrestling can be divided in various categories on the basis of the forms. The four main categories of wrestling practiced at the international level are-

• Freestyle wrestling
• Greco-Roman wrestling
• Judo
• Sambo wrestling

There are also some other forms of wrestling, which are called folk wrestling, grappling,

Rules of Wrestling: The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles or the FILA sets rules for wrestling at the international level. Some of the rules followed at the international wrestling are-

• The wrestlers are divided into groups during the wrestling competition. The groups are known as pools. The winner of each pool advances to the next round.
• The competitors at the wrestling competition are divided on the basis of their age and weight.
• The wrestlers must wear the special dress specified by the FILA during the competitions.
• The dimension of the mat, on which the wrestling bouts take place, is determined by the FILA in its rule-book.
• The mat should be properly marked during the competition for the players' convenience.
• One mat chairman, one referee and one judge are allotted during the competition to supervise the bouts.
• Generally, the wrestling bouts consist of two rounds of three minutes each. There is a 30 seconds interval between two rounds.
• The moves made by the wrestlers to pin their opponents down have to be as per the FILA rule-book.

Medal winners in Wrestling: Bruce Baumgartner, Sergei Belaglazov, Milan Ercegan, Arsen Fadzaev, Petro Galaktopoulos, Valentin Jordanov, Alexander Karelin, Alexander Medved, Adel Moustafa, Ardabili Movahed, Raiko Petrov, Imre Polyak, Valeri Resanchev, John Smith, Alexander Tomov, Carl Westergren, Dave Schultz, Dan Gable, Rulon Gardner, Kendall Duane Cross, Kenny Monday, Armen Nazarian, Gholamreza Takhti, Osamu Watanabe, Tom Brands, Alireza Dabir, Townsend Saunders, Zeke Jones, Kurt Angle, Cael Sanderson, Karam Ibrahim and Terry Brands are some of the famous wrestlers at the international level.