This content shows Simple View

Olympic Games

Learn about the origin of ancient wrestling

Wrestling originated in ancient Greece, where wrestling was used to train soldiers and exercise daily.

Since then, wrestling has dramatically changed. It is the oldest fighting sport recorded in world history and today there are more than 1,000 different wrestling styles. Many unique types of wrestling are found in many countries around the world.

Wrestling was one of the first fighting sports that the ancient Greeks put to compete at the 708 Olympics BC. Before 704 BC, the Greeks considered wrestling only as part of the content of the five pentathlon. However, according to some evidence, wrestling may have existed long ago.

Drawings found in caves show wrestling dating back to 3000 BC in the Sumero-Akkadian civilization until 2400 BC in ancient Egypt. In the first ancient Olympics in Greece, wrestling was the last competition that athletes had to compete. Along with mathematics and rules of language, wrestling is also considered a formal subject in ancient Greece.

Wrestling was also popular among ancient Romans. However, the Romans chose a less violent style of wrestling than the Greeks. Amateur wrestling continued to exist throughout the Middle Ages in England, France and Japan. European settlers in the US as well as Native Americans began to practice wrestling.

The first national wrestling championship in the United States was held in 1888 and continued until the early 1900s. The most popular wrestling style of the time was the Greco-Roman wrestling. There are also other styles such as Iceland’s Glima wrestling, England’s Cumberland wrestling and Switzerland’s Schwingen wrestling.

The 1896 Olympic Games were the first modern Olympic Games to recognize wrestling as a competitive sport and since 1920, wrestling has become a part of the Olympics using a free wrestling style. and Greco-Roman. Free wrestling was popular during the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike the Greco-Roman wrestling that used only the upper part of the body, free wrestling allowed the opponent to use their feet and grab the lower waist.

Today, Greco-Roman, freedom, sombo and judo are the main wrestling styles. In addition to the United States, many other countries around the world love wrestling. Wrestling is the national sport of Turkey, Mongolia and Iran.

The above countries along with Russia and the US have created many of the leading wrestlers of the era. Weight classes have been established for both men and women competing at different levels from local to international.