wrestling
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What is wrestling as a sport?
Wrestling is a combat sport between two competitors who use various styles of grappling techniques, such as clinch fighting, throws, takedowns, joint locks, pins, and other grappling holds. The objective is to bring an opponent to the ground, force them into a supine position, or hold them there for a set time.
The sport has ancient roots, with depictions dating back to 3000 BCE in Babylonia and Egypt. Today, freestyle wrestling is one of the styles used in international amateur competition and is an Olympic event. Any fair hold, trip, or throw is permitted, but holds that endanger life or limb are illegal.
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What are the basic rules of wrestling?
Wrestling involves forcing an opponent to touch the ground with any part of their body besides their feet, putting them in a specific position (usually on their back), or holding them there for a set time.
Key rules include:
* Fair holds, trips, and throws are permitted.
* Holds endangering life or limb are illegal; strangleholds, kicking, punching, and butting with the head are forbidden.
* Wrestlers get cautioned for irregularities, with three cautions leading to disqualification. A serious offense can result in immediate disqualification.
* A fall is awarded when one wrestler holds both of the opponent’s shoulders to the mat for one second, signaled by the referee striking the mat.
* If no fall occurs, judges award points for maneuvers that lead toward a fall to decide the bout.2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are the different styles of wrestling?
Wrestling involves forcing an opponent to the ground or into a specific position for a set time. Styles vary from striking-focused to grappling-based, with different rules and techniques.
Some styles of wrestling include:
* Greco-Roman wrestling In this style, wrestlers can't use their legs to trip or hold. Holds below the waist are not allowed.
* Freestyle wrestling Derived from the English Lancashire style, nearly all holds are permitted in freestyle wrestling.
* Catch-as-catch-can wrestling Nearly all holds and tactics are permitted in both upright and ground wrestling.
* Sumo In this Japanese style of wrestling, the goal is to force the opponent out of the ring or to touch the ground with any body part other than the soles of the feet.5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How do wrestlers score points during a match?
In wrestling, scoring systems were created to eliminate draws. Points are awarded when one wrestler controls their opponent by applying maneuvers that could lead to a pin if the opponent can't escape.
The rules and judging in collegiate, freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling award points for actions such as reversing control, applying a pinning hold, and placing an opponent in danger of being pinned. If no fall occurs, the running point score and control time determine the victor.
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What kind of equipment or clothing do wrestlers use?
Wrestlers use specific equipment and clothing depending on the style of wrestling. Some styles, like belt-and-jacket, rely on the clothing itself for gripping, using special belts, jackets, and trousers. Modern international competitions, however, are loose styles, where wrestlers start separated and can take any grip except those explicitly forbidden, such as grabbing clothing.
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What skills and training are important for a wrestler to succeed?
To succeed in wrestling, a competitor needs a combination of skills and training. Mastery of techniques is crucial and is best gained through consistent practice. While strength is helpful, quickness, agility, and excellent physical conditioning are more vital because many maneuvers rely on leverage.
Wrestlers must learn takedowns, which involve lifting, throwing, twisting, tackling, and tripping, to bring opponents to the mat from a standing position. They also need to develop counterattacks to turn defensive situations into advantages. If a fall doesn't occur immediately, wrestlers grapple, using various grips to work toward pinning their opponent.
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wrestling, sport practiced in various styles by two competitors, involving forcing an opponent to touch the ground with some part of the body other than his feet; forcing him into a certain position, usually supine (on his back); or holding him in that position for a minimum length of time. Wrestling is conducted in various styles with contestants upright or on the ground (or mat).
The three basic types of wrestling contest are the belt-and-jacket, catch-hold, and loose styles, all of which appear to have originated in antiquity. Belt-and-jacket styles of wrestling are those in which the clothing of the wrestlers provides the principal means of taking a grip on the opponent. In many cases this is no more than a special belt worn by both wrestlers, while in others a special belted jacket and special trousers are worn. Catch-hold styles require the contestants to take a prescribed hold before the contest begins; often this grip must be maintained throughout the struggle. Loose styles of wrestling, which are used in modern international competition, commence with the wrestlers separated and free to seize any grip that they choose except such as are explicitly forbidden (e.g., taking hold of an opponent’s clothing or using a life-threatening grip, such as a stranglehold).
Wrestling can also be classified in terms of what is required to win. These categories can be graded on an ascending scale of violence as follows: break-stance sports are those that require forcing the opponent to relinquish a certain posture or position; toppling requires that the standing opponent be forced to touch the ground with some part of his body other than his feet; touch-fall wrestling requires that the opponent be forced into a certain position, usually supine, for a brief instant; pin-fall wrestling requires that the opponent be held in such a position for a measurable length of time; and submission wrestling requires the opponent to vocally or visually signal defeat by his own choice.
Early history
No sport is older or more widely distributed than wrestling, often in highly local styles that have persisted to the present day.
Wrestling probably originated in hand-to-hand combat, and in particular as a sportive form of combat substituting the submission of a contestant for his death. Works of art from 3000 bce depict belt wrestling in Babylonia and Egypt, and the Sumerian Gilgamesh epic has a description of such wrestling. Loose wrestling in India dates to before 1500 bce. Chinese documents from 700 bce describe loose wrestling, as do Japanese records from the 1st century bce. The belt wrestling practiced locally in the 20th century by the Swiss, Icelanders, Japanese, and Cossacks differed little from that of the Egyptians in 2500 bce.
Wrestling was probably the most popular sport of the ancient Greeks. Young men belonged to palaestras, or wrestling schools, as the focal point of their social life. Illustrations of wrestling on Greek vases and coins are common throughout all periods of ancient Greece, but all that can be told from it is that the style was loose wrestling and that wrestlers, as did all Greek athletes, competed naked. Wrestling was part of the Olympic Games from 776 bce. There were two wrestling championships in these games: a toppling event for the best two of three falls; and the pankration (Latin: pancratium), which combined wrestling and boxing and ended in the submission of one contestant. Upright wrestling was also a part of the pentathlon event in the Olympic Games, a bout being fought to a clear-cut fall of one of the wrestlers. The most famous ancient Greek wrestler was Milon of Croton, who won the wrestling championship of the Olympic Games six times. Wrestling was less popular among the Romans than it had been with the Greeks, and, with the fall of the Roman Empire, references to wrestling disappeared in Europe until about 800 ce.
Middle Ages
When the Islamic rulers of Persia began hiring Turkic mercenaries about 800 ce, the soldiers brought with them a style of loose wrestling called koresh, in which grips may be taken on the long, tight leather pants worn by the wrestlers and the bout ends with a touch fall of the loser briefly on his back. Gradually the Turks took over the entire Muslim dominion, and their wrestling style spread. Later Mongolian invasions in the 13th century introduced Mongolian wrestling, which received royal patronage, and wrestling became the national sport of modern Iran.
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Sumo, a Japanese belt-wrestling style, was a popular spectator sport under imperial patronage (710–1185). Originally a submission spectacle, sumo became highly ritualized as a toppling match with victory coming also from the forcing of an opponent out of a 12-foot (4-metre) circle. By the 17th century sumo wrestling had become a professional sport in Japan. From the samurai martial art jujitsu, judo, the other prominent Japanese wrestling style, was derived in the 19th century and became an international sport in the second half of the 20th century.
Wrestling occurred in several styles throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The first recorded English match was held in London early in the 13th century. In England and Brittany a form of jacket wrestling commonly called Cornwall and Devon (see Cornish wrestling) survives from at least the 4th or 5th century. Wrestling as a martial skill was taught to the knights of the Holy Roman Empire, and wrestling instruction books appeared in manuscript before the introduction of printing and thereafter in print. Mongolian loose wrestling, introduced to India after the Mughal conquest of 1526, has survived in both India and Pakistan. As the modern era began, the English kings Henry VIII and Charles II and the French king Francis I were notable patrons of wrestling.