Wrestling is a combat sport where athletes use physical strength and technique to outsmart their opponents without striking.
Gear is a very important part of wrestling. Wrestlers wear singlets and special wrestling shoes for better grip. Wrestlers wear headgear, knee pads or sleeves, and mouth guards to protect teeth for safety.
The three main styles of wrestling are freestyle, Greco-Roman, and folkstyle.
Freestyle Wrestling
Freestyle is one of the two types of wrestling that takes place at the Olympics. It is practiced globally. Wrestlers use body parts, primarily legs, for offense and defense.
Some moves in freestyle, called trip and scissor, are not tolerated in other types of wrestling. The goal of freestyle is to pin their opponent to the mat by holding shoulders down, and if they accomplish that then they win the match.
Greco-Roman Wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling is the other form of wrestling in the Olympics but is very different when compared to freestyle wrestling.
In Greco-Roman wrestling it is a rule to not be able to hold opponents under the waist. so hands are more focused then legs. Wrestlers usually lift their opponents body in the air before throwing them onto a mat.
Folkstyle Wrestling
Folkstyle wrestling, also known as scholastic wrestling is more common for schools and colleges in America. It is much like to freestyle with the use of legs but focus more on controlling the opponent.
To see this style, please consider attending a Northbridge wrestling match. Sutton co-ops with them and we have two juniors that currently wrestle for Northbridge.
Other types of Wrestling include Sumo, Sambo, Glima, and Shuai Jiao.
Rules of Olympic wrestling
An Olympic wrestling match starts with the two wrestlers facing each other one meter apart. It has two period of each lasting three minutes and a 30 second break between them.
1 point is awarded to a wrestler when their opponent violated a rule such as stepping out of the rink, losing a challenge, or not scoring on the shot clock.
2 points are scored when a wrestler manages to roll there opponent onto their shoulders and their backs are being exposed.
5 points are awarded for a great amplitude throw and a wrestler takes complete control of their opponent.
4 points are when the wrestler does almost just that but not to the criteria. This happens when a wrestler puts their opponents into a dangerous position but does not lift them off the floor.
At the end the scores from both periods are added up to determine the winner.
