Wrestling is often categorised as one of the martial arts; its virile image and usefulness as military training doubtlessly helped it to become and remain popular in many cultures. It is one of the oldest types of sport; there are wall-paintings more than 15,000 years old depicting men wrestling.
Most wrestling is an amateur sport, but some forms, such as sumo, have long professional traditions. However, the term Professional Wrestling is most often used in the United States to refer to a form of sports entertainment - that is, a simulated sporting event.
Styles
There are almost as many wrestling styles as there are national traditions. Some samples are sumo in Japan and Yagli güres (oiled wrestling) in Turkey. In the example of oiled wrestling, the wrestlers wear tight knee-length leather trousers and cover themselves with diluted olive oil. A noted oiled wrestling tournament, called Kirkpinar, held annually in Edirne, European Turkey since 1362, is the oldest continuously-running, sanctioned sporting competition in the world, and in recent years this style of wrestling has also become popular in other countries, most notably the Netherlands and Japan.
There are two "international" wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées or International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles): Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style. A similar style, commonly called Collegiate or Folkstyle, is practiced in high schools, colleges, and younger age groups in the United States.
Freestyle and Greco-Roman differ in what holds are permitted; in Greco-Roman, the wrestlers are permitted to hold and attack only above the waist.
Scoring Points
In both Greco-Roman and freestyle, points can be scored the following ways, with analogs in folkstyle and collegiate:
- Takedowns: Gaining control over your opponent from a neutral position.
- Reversals: Gaining control over your opponent from a defensive position.
- Escapes: Escaping your opponents' control. (The escape point is no longer awarded in the international styles.)
- Exposure: Exposing your opponent's back to the mat.
- Lifting: Successfully lifting an opponent in the defensive position and exposing their back. (The lift point is no longer awarded under the rules changes adopted for the international styles in 2004-2005. Lifting has never been rewarded in folkstyle or collegiate, and rules against locking hands on the mat interfere with its practicality.)
- Penalty Points: Various infractions (striking your opponent, acting with brutality or intent to injure, using illegal holds, etc). (Under the 2004-2005 changes to the international styles, a wrestler whose opponent takes an injury time-out receives one point unless the injured wrestler is bleeding.)
Winning a Match
A match can be won in the following ways:
1. Period Format
In the International styles the format is now three 2 minute periods, with a wrestler winning the match when they have won two out of the three periods. For example, if one competitor were to win the first period 1-0 and the second period 1-0 the match would be over, however if the other competitor were to win the second period, then third and deciding period would result. Only a fall or disqualification can decided total match termination, all other modes of victory result only in period termination.
2. Win by Fall
A fall, also known as a pin, occurs when one wrestler holds both their opponent's shoulders on the mat simultaneously.
3. Win by Technical Fall
If one wrestler gains a six-point lead over their opponent at any point, the current period is declared over and they are the winner of that period. In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, a technical fall occurs when one wrestler gains a fifteen-point lead, and in that case the match is over.
4. Win by Decision
If neither wrestler achieves either type of fall, the one who has gained more points during the match (or period internationally) is declared the winner. If the wrestlers have gained the same number of points, then it is ruled by the judges through certain criteria in the international styles. In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, an overtime period will result to decide the true victor.
5. Win By Major Decision
In folkstyle and collegiate wrestling, a decision in which the winner outscores their opponent by eight or more points is a "major decision" and is rewarded with an additional team point.
6. Win by TKO
TKO stands for Technical Knock Out; if one wrestler is knocked out and unable to wrestle, the other wrestler is declared the winner. This is officially referred to variously as WBI (win by injury), medical forfeit or injury default in the international styles and folkstyle, in which knockouts are not encouraged and are treated as accidental. The term also encompasses situations where wrestlers become injured, take too many injury time-outs or cannot stop bleeding.
Leading Countries
The countries with the leading wrestlers in the Olympic Games are Iran, United States, Russia (and some of the former Soviet Union republics), Bulgaria, Hungary, Sweden, Finland and Turkey.
