Greco Roman Wrestling

Unlike the name would have you believe, modern Greco-Roman wrestling was derived in 19th-century France. It was a popular form of wrestling because of the high throws involved. It is one of four styles of the sport that is competed in the Summer Olympics, the others being Freestyle, judo and sambo. The difference between Greco-Roman and freestyle is the involvement of the legs. Greco-Roman does not allow the legs to be used for any takedowns and doesn’t allow any holds below the waist for that matter, resulting in the high amount of throws.

Blows are not allowed and intent to injure is an immediate disqualification. Matches can be won by fall (holding an opponent’s shoulders on the mat for about a second), by technical fall (one opponents accumulates a six-point lead over the other), by decision (the opponent with the most points after the time period for the match is over), by injury (when one opponent cannot continue the other is the winner), and by disqualification (three rule infractions or displaying intent to injure).

Today’s format consists of three two-minute periods, with the winner needing to win two out of three of them. Even if one opponent outscores the other over the entire match, the other will win if they outscored their opponent in two of the three periods. Each period has a standing phase for 60 seconds, followed by a ground stage. This is the familiar position where one wrestler is on all fours and the other is given a kneeling position on the first. The opponent who accumulates the most points in the standing phase will get this favourable position. If no one has the lead, it will be decided by a coin toss.

Points are awarded for takedowns, reversals, exposing your opponent’s back to the mat at an angle less than 90 degrees, and by penalty points. Escapes and lifting used to be rewarded with points, but that was changed in 2004