FREESTYLE WRESTLING

Takedowns, a throw of grand amplitude, reversals, danger position, penalty points, out-of-bounds. Any idea what these terms mean. Well, wrestlers will surely know. These are scoring points for freestyle wrestling.

CLASSIFICATION

Wrestling has been classified into four main groups. They are

HISTORY

Freestyle wrestling is a very old sport. It has been associated with the Olympics since 1904 when it was held in Saint Louis, Missouri. A total of forty wrestlers took part in the competition and interestingly all were Americans. Though not confirmed, freestyle wrestling reportedly originated in Great Britain as catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Before it became an official sport in the Olympics, it was hugely popular in fairs and festivals. In America, freestyle wrestling became popular after the Civil War. By the late 1800, tournaments drew scores of wrestlers.

FORMAT

In the catch-as-catch-can wrestling format, the participants get into the act by standing. Then they make an attempt to get hold of the opponent's shoulder to fling him on the ground. This is more commonly referred as a 'fall'.

The catch-as-catch style was hugely popular among a number of US presidents. Some of them are the first US president George Washington followed by Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt to name a few.

GROUPINGS

Currently, the international men's freestyle wrestling is grouped into four main age categories:

LAWS

The laws are more or less the same with a freestyle wrestler locking the limbs of his opponent in order to take him down. Freestyle competitions have different weight classes and different age categories. When a match is played, the competition is generally between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. The laws of wrestling are controlled by FILA (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles with its headquarters located in Lausanne in Switzerland.

According to international rules kicking, punching, butting with the head, and holding the costume are not allowed. Wrestlers are cautioned for irregularities, and three cautions mean disqualification.

REFEREE

Wrestling competitions need strong discipline and therefore the role of the referees and judges is of utmost importance. The person who monitors the game at the ground level or more correctly at the mat level is known as a mat chairman. In addition to him, there is a judge for overseeing things and a timekeeper.

WINNERS

Though Americans once ruled the world of wrestling, things have changed over the years. Currently, wrestlers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Japan, Turkey, Iran, Sweden, and Finland are ruling freestyle wrestling. Alexander Medved of Russia won 10 world championships and three Olympic gold medals between 1964-1972. Some of the gold medalists from the US are Doug Blubaugh, Ben Peterson, John Peterson, Dan Gable, and John Smith.

STYLES

While men wrestling have different types, for women it is limited to freestyle only. The rules for women's freestyle wrestling are more or less the same. The time period of each round of bout is the same as men, both being given a break of 30 seconds between two periods.