Compiled by Alistair Mason, PA Sport

Overview

There can be no truer Olympic sport than wrestling. One of the few sports also to have been contested at the ancient games, it has also been present at every modern Olympics since their inception, with the exception of 1900. This year there are 18 medals at stake, 14 men's and four women's, at various weight categories across both Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling. The main difference between the two codes is that in Greco-Roman wrestling, no attacks below the waist are allowed. This encourages more throwing. In both forms, the object is to pin the opponent to the floor.

Structure

Men's wrestling is contested in seven weight categories: bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight. All seven are contested in both Greco-Roman and freestyle. For the women there is no Greco-Roman and there are just four categories of freestyle: flyweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. Tournaments are organised in a knockout structure.

History

Wrestling was one of the original sports at the first ancient Olympics and dates back further still. There is evidence of wrestling having taken place in Egypt as much as 5,000 years ago. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympics back in 1896, but did not reappear until 1908, since when it has been present at every Games. Freestyle made its Olympic debut in 1904. Women's freestyle wrestling was included in the Olympics for the first time in 2004. At the same time, the number of men's weight categories was reduced from 16 to 14. Traditional strongholds of wrestling include eastern Europe and the United States, where collegiate wrestling, similar to freestyle, is a staple in high schools and colleges. Wang Xu of China won the debut women's heavyweight freestyle event in 2004.

More news from SportingLife.com