My intention of writing this article is not to explain international wrestling in full detail. It will be a “Olympic Wrestling for Dummies” type of article that highlights the basics of each sport and how the tournament works.

So, if you are a wrestling fan that either has been a Folkstyle fan for a while and are just getting into the Greco-Roman and Freestyle side of the sport or just a sport junkie that watches all of the Olympic events but doesn’t quite get the sport of wrestling, I hope this article can give you some knowledge on what is actually going on.

               Greco-Roman Wrestling

So basically, Greco-Roman wrestling is the oldest style of wrestling. It originated all the way back before the ancient Olympics when Greek and Roman soldiers used that in training. Once the first Olympics happened it became a sport.

So, in Greco-Roman you can only use your upper body to attempt to score, leg attacks are not allowed. The scoring goes as this, a takedown is 2-5 points (usually 2 unless there is feet to back), a pushout is 1 point which is when 1 offensive wrestler pushes the defensive wrestler out of bounds, exposure or back points are 2-3 points, there could be 1-2 penalty points, and a reversal is 1 point.

The way to win the match is by decision (whoever has the most points), by criteria (a little tricky but basically its whoever had less penalties or who scored more significant points, if that isn’t enough it goes to who scored last), by pinfall, by tech-fall (win by 8 or more points), forfeit, injury, or disqualification. Check out (Greco-Roman Rules) more information but that’s basically all the scoring and how to win details. If you click that link it will give more depth to rules.

               Men’s and Women’s Freestyle

Men’s and Women’s Freestyle are the same thing with, of course little differences but for the basics it is the same. Freestyle wrestling was introduced a little later than Greco-Roman wrestling and was apart of the modern Olympics that we know today. This is the closest thing to Folkstyle wrestling so high school and college wrestling fans, you’ll understand this a little more.

In freestyle wrestling you can attack the legs as well as make the big throws that you see in Greco-Roman. The soring goes as this, a takedown is 2-5 points, a reversal is 1 point, exposure or back points is 2-3 points, penalty points is 1-2, and there is push out points that is 1 point. Basically, the same as Greco-Roman scoring wise.

The way to win a match is by decision, by criteria (same as Greco-Roman), by pinfall, by tech-fall (10 points or more unlike Greco-Roman), forfeit, injury, and disqualification. Again go here (Freestyle Rules) to see a more in-depth explanation.

               Bracket advancement

So, bracket advancement is done a little bit different from International Wrestling to what we are accustomed to in the US. There is a championship bracket that of course, you win and move on. But if you lose there is not a consolation bracket like in the US.

So, in the bracket above it shows both the championship bracket and consolation bracket that we in the US see and are used to.

In International wrestling the consolation rounds are called repechage. In repechage there are 2 separate brackets with a qualification match and a bronze medal match which you can see in the Cadet World Championship bracket. So, to understand look at the matchup in the finals. Those two-wrestler set up the repechage brackets basically. So, the loser of the Semi-Finals matches drop down to the bronze medal match. Now who wrestles in the repechage matches is determined on who the finalists beat on their path to the finals. These will be 16-man brackets so the loser to the finalist in the quarterfinals and the Round of 16 will face of in the repechage to earn a spot into the bronze medal match. So, like I said before, the finalists determine who is in the repechage. What is interesting about this setup that maybe some did not know, there are actually 2 bronze medalists in the sport of wrestling since there isn’t a true third place match. So, if we look back to 2016, J’den Cox did win bronze in Brazil for the US but so did Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan.

Again, this isn’t an all-in-one explanation about Olympic wrestling, there are other outlets like I have linked in the article that do a better job of that so make sure to click on those links of you are interested. Wrestling, once you learn the sport is one of the most entertaining sports in the Olympics. It is 6 minutes with no overtime, so it is do or die. Wrestling is one of the few 1 on 1 who’s is the better person sports in the Olympics, and it makes the sport really exciting.

If you are new to the sport of wrestling, give it a shot. I know there are assumptions and stereotypes about the sport, but those stereotypes are not what the sport of wrestling is. Wrestling in the Olympics kicks off next week.