Rules of Greco-Roman style of wrestling

The Greco-Roman style of wrestling.

With the Men’s Greco-Roman style wrestling kicking off at the London Olympics, here’s some rules about the event that will help you better understand it.

The rules : Wrestlers contest in three rounds of two minutes each. Each gets points based on their performance in the rounds and the one with the most points at the end wins. Points are given for holds, locks, throws, etc.

Rounds can also come to an early end if either wrestler scores a pinfall ( pins the other wrestler to the ground for a certain period of time).

The Greco-Roman style forbids any kind of hold below the waist of the opponent, which is what makes it different from the other style of wrestling, i.e, freestyle wrestling. Competitors can use only their arms and upper bodies to attack, and also hold only those parts of an opponent.

Structure of the competition :

There are 7 categories in the Olympics under Greco-Roman , based on the weight classes of the competitors (55 kg, 60 kg, 66 kg, 74 kg, 84 kg, 96 kg and 102 kg).

The competition is in a knockout format in each weight category, which decides the finalists. Each match is decided when a wrestler pins his opponent to the mat or locks him, thus forcing him to submit.

All wrestlers who lose to the two finalists including in the semi-finals, enter two repechage groups and compete against each other. The two winners of the group are then presented with the bronze medals.