Freestyle wrestling


Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman. High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the United States are conducted under different rules and termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling. U.S. collegiate women's wrestling is conducted under freestyle rules.
Freestyle wrestling, like collegiate wrestling, has its origins in catch-as-catch-can wrestling. In both styles, the ultimate goal is to throw and pin the opponent to the mat, which results in an immediate win. Unlike Greco-Roman, freestyle and collegiate wrestling allow the use of the wrestler's or the opponent's legs in offense and defense.
According to wrestling's world governing body, the United World Wrestling, freestyle wrestling is one of the six main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced around the globe today. The other five forms are as follows:
  1. Greco-Roman wrestling
  2. Grappling/submission wrestling
  3. Beach wrestling
  4. Pankration athlima
  5. Traditional/folk wrestling.
In 2013, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee recommended dropping wrestling as a sport from the 2020 Olympic Games, but the decision was reversed later that same year by the IOC.

History

Modern freestyle wrestling, according to UWW, has been said to have originated in Great Britain and the United States by the name of "catch-as-catch-can" wrestling. "Catch-as-catch-can" wrestling had a particular following in Great Britain and the variant developed in Lancashire had a particular effect on freestyle wrestling. "Catch-as-catch-can" wrestling gained great popularity in fairs and festivals during the 19th century. In catch-as-catch-can wrestling, both contestants started out standing and then a wrestler sought to hold his opponent's shoulder to the ground. If no fall was scored, both wrestlers continued grappling on the ground, and almost all holds and techniques were allowable. A Scottish variant of Lancashire wrestling also became popular, which began with both wrestlers standing chest to chest, grasping each other with locked arms around the body and, if no fall was made, with the match continuing on the ground. In addition, there was the Irish collar-and-elbow style, where wrestlers started out on their feet with both wrestlers grasping each other by the collar with one hand and by the elbow with the other. If neither wrestler then achieved a fall, the contestants would continue both standing and on the ground until a fall was made. Irish immigrants later brought this style of wrestling to the United States, where it soon became widespread, especially because of the success of the wrestling champion of the Army of the Potomac, George William Flagg from Vermont. Catch-as-catch can was the style performed by at least a half dozen U.S. presidents, including George Washington, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Because of the widespread interest in and esteem of professional Greco-Roman wrestling and its popularity in many international meets in nineteenth century Europe, freestyle wrestling had a tough time gaining ground on the continent. The 1896 Olympic Games had only one wrestling bout, a heavyweight Greco-Roman match. Freestyle wrestling first emerged as an Olympic sport in the St. Louis Olympics of 1904. All 40 wrestlers who participated in the 1904 Olympics were American. The 1904 Olympics sanctioned the rules commonly used for catch-as-catch-can, but imposed some restrictions on dangerous holds. Wrestling by seven weight classes—47.6 kg, 52.2 kg, 56.7 kg, 61.2 kg, 65.3 kg, 71.7 kg, and greater than —was an important innovation in the Summer Olympics.
Since 1921, the body now known as United World Wrestling, which has its headquarters near Lausanne, Switzerland, has set the "Rules of the Game", with regulations for scoring and procedures that govern tournaments such as the World Games and the competition at the Summer Olympics. These were later adopted by the Amateur Athletic Union for its freestyle matches. Freestyle wrestling gained great popularity in the United States after the Civil War. By the 1880s, tournaments drew hundreds of wrestlers. The rise of cities, increased industrialization, and the closing of the frontier provided the affable environment for amateur wrestling, along with boxing, to increase in esteem and popularity. Amateur wrestling teams soon emerged, such as the wrestling team of the New York Athletic Club, which had its first tournament in 1878. Professional wrestling also developed, and by the 1870s, professional championship matches offered allowances of up to $1,000.
Nineteenth century wrestling matches were particularly long, and especially Greco-Roman bouts could last as many as eight to nine hours, and even then, it was only decided by a draw. In the 20th century, time limits were set for matches. For more than forty years into the twentieth century, freestyle and its USA counterpart, collegiate wrestling, did not have a scoring system that decided matches in the absence of a fall. The introduction of a point system by Oklahoma State University wrestling coach Art Griffith gained acceptance in 1941 and influenced the international styles as well. By the 1960s international wrestling matches in Greco-Roman and freestyle were scored by a panel of three judges in secret, who made the final decision by raising colored paddles at the match's end. Dr. Albert de Ferrari from San Francisco who became vice president of FILA, lobbied for a visible scoring system and a rule for "controlled fall", which would recognize a fall only when the offensive wrestler had done something to cause it. These were soon adopted internationally in Greco-Roman and freestyle. By 1996, before a major overhaul of FILA rules, an international freestyle match consisted of two three-minute periods, with a one-minute rest between periods. Today, wrestlers from post-Soviet states, Iran, the United States, Bulgaria, Cuba, Turkey, and Japan have had the strongest showings. Alexander Medved of Belarus won 10 world championships and three Olympic gold medals from 1964 to 1972. Many collegiate wrestlers have moved on to freestyle competition, particularly internationally with great success.
In the spring of 2013, the International Olympic Committee voted wrestling out of the core sports for the summer Olympics beginning in 2020. As a result of this news the wrestling community started a massive campaign in order to reinstate the sport. A largely online group called 2020 vision lead the movement. They had several campaigns as well as Facebook and Twitter pages that spread awareness and gathered support for the cause of wrestling's return to the Olympics. They had a mission of gaining 2,000,020 signatures in support of wrestling's return to the Olympic Games. In September 2013 the IOC voted to allow wrestling back into the Olympics for 2020 and 2024 as a probationary sport. In order to achieve this, UWW made several changes to the rules as well as changes to the weight classes. There are also discussions about uniform changes as well as changes to the competition mat.

Weight classes

Currently, international men's freestyle wrestling is divided into six main age categories: schoolboys, cadets, novice, juvenile, juniors, and seniors. Schoolboys wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from. Cadets wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from. Juniors wrestle in eight weight classes ranging from. Seniors wrestle in seven weight classes ranging from. For men, there is also a special category for some freestyle competitions, "Veterans", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors. Also, all of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied to Greco-Roman wrestling.
Women currently compete in freestyle wrestling in one of four age categories on an international level: schoolgirls, cadets, juniors, and seniors. Schoolgirls wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from. Cadets wrestle in 10 weight classes ranging from. Juniors wrestle in eight weight classes ranging from. Seniors wrestle in seven weight classes ranging from. Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division. Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of freestyle competition.

Layout of the mat

The match takes place on a thick rubber mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a border of the same thickness known as the protection area. Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the red zone. The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the passivity zone. Inside the red zone is the central wrestling area which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the central surface of wrestling is the central circlewhich is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue or in some areas, red and green.
For competition in the Olympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin does not reach two meters, the sides of the podium are covered with 45° inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat.