Brief History and Background of Greco-Roman Wrestling

Greco-Roman Wrestling although named so is likely to be a combination of many European styles and not quite as the original Greek Wrestling (Pale) carried out during the ancient Olympics of Greece. Wrestling was origianlly formed mainly as a form of physical preparation/training of warriors.

A 19th century French soldier named Jean Exbrayat is believed to have been one of the pioneers of what is known today as modern Greco-Roman Wrestling, although he named it flat hand wrestling. His rules excluded holds below the waist or any form of painful locks. The name Greco-Roman was named by Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti.

During the 19th century this style of wrestling became very popular in most of Europe and eventually was introduced to the Olympics in 1896 and has remained so since 1908 (1900 and 1904 being the exceptions). Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling is governed by The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), which was founded in 1905. It has to be said however that in the UK and USA, competitive freestyle wrestling is more common.

In these early years, many matches were quite brutal and lasted a long time and in 1921 regulation of Greco-Roman Wrestling was given to ‘The International Amateur Wrestling Federation’ (IAWF).

Nowadays there are tournaments and championships held throughout the world, with age categories and weight classes.

Greco-Roman Wrestling Training

A lot of work is directed to training of strength, flexibility, agility, stamina and conditioning. Important area’s for Greco-Roman Wrestling are training of your core and back muscles.

Training takes place on a mat for obvious reasons, normally with a partner, but a dummy can also be used. There are no holds below the waist, therefore you have to take your opponent down using throws, such as bear hugs, headlocks or arm drags, as you are not able to trip or hook an opponents legs.

One of the most popular moves is the suplex, where you lift your opponent in a body lock from behind or straddling a leg. You then bend your knees and pop your hips into them, lifting your opponent off the ground while you arch your back as you throw your opponent over and behind you slamming their shoulders to the mat.

Greco-Roman Wrestling Equipment/Gear Used

Spandex Singlet (Suit)
Wrestling shoe/boot
Headguard
Mat
Weights/body weight

Movies featuring Greco-Roman Wrestling / Freestyle Wrestling

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