The history of Olympic wrestling history goes way back to around 3000 BC when the markings that depict wrestling were found on 15,000-year-old cave paintings in Lascaux, France, and other artifacts. The wrestling cave paintings in France displayed two men grappling with each other. The Era in which this occurred was the Paleolithic era. Wrestling drawings have also been found in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Who Invented Wrestling, or Who Created Wrestling?
No one single-handedly created wrestling, as wrestling began in 708 BC when the ancient Greeks together started the wrestling tradition as a sport in the Olympics.
How Old is Wrestling?
Since wrestling began in 708 BC, and today is 2025 AD, we simply add the two numbers together (since there’s no year 0 between BC and AD): 708+2025=2733 years.
So, wrestling has been around for 2,733 years!
Greek Influence on Olympic Wrestling History
In 708 BC, wrestling became the first sport to be included in the ancient Olympic Games. They called it Pankration. According to the Olympics, Pankration is a combination of boxing and wrestling with barely any restriction. So, the only little restriction that comes in this sport is no biting and no gouging. But everything else is fine to be done in this game. In this wrestling, people die, although the number of deaths may not be much, because of course when the person or the wrestler is about to die, he can surrender or submit by just raising his hand up to signal for submission.
There are a wide variety of persons who are said to have won this pankration sport several in the same game. The most out of them all is Theagenes of Thasos. He was born to a priest in the temple of Herakles, in the island of Tharsos. He caught people’s attention when he lifted a bronze statue by 9. As he grew up a bit much more, he then went straight into boxing and then eventually in the Pankration. Above all, one striking information about Theagenes is that he won the Pankration many times securing over 1400 victory wreaths.
Notable Records in the Olympic Wrestling History
- During the Stockholm Olympics in 1912, a match between Finnish wrestler Alfred Johan Asikainen and Russian Martin Klein lasted over 11 hours.
- One of the most notable upsets in Olympic history occurred at the Sydney 2000 Olympics when Rulon Gardner defeated Aleksandr Karelin who had been undefeated for over a decade.
Roman Era on Olympic Wrestling History
Wrestling practiced by the Romans drew heavily from ancient Greek wrestling traditions. When the Olympic Wrestling was adopted in the Roman Empire, it was known by its people or the Romans as Pugilatus or Lucta. But the Romans adopted this Olympic Wrestling in a bit different fashion than the Olympians themselves, and the difference lies in the fact that the Romans operated the wrestling sport with less brutality, unlike the Greeks, whereby it’s more of a no-holds-barred. And another difference between the original Olympic Wrestling and that which was adopted in the Roman Empire was the fact that it was much more fixed, and there are fewer instances of bribery, unlike the Greeks, where there have been official discoveries of bribery cases. For instance, a papyrus from AD 267 is the first known bribery contract in the ancient sport.
The Romans later introduced the concept of weight classes to allow a fairer match to occur among wrestlers. When the Roman Empire fell, wrestling’s popularity dropped significantly on the European continent.
The Middle Ages (500 to 1400–1500 ce) brought about many new wrestling cultures. For instance, wrestling evolved in Japan. They call it sumo wrestling. In sumo, a rikishi attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring and onto the ground using anything other than the soles of his feet.
During this period in Europe, people began to practice wrestling, which was practiced in royal courts, that is, in front of kings and queens. Research has discovered that Henry VIII of England grappled and fought seriously with his courtiers in England.
Modern Olympic Wrestling
Only in the 18th and 19th centuries did wrestling grow popular in the United States. This led to the establishment of many international wrestling competitions, for example World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The 20th century brought a new amateur and professional wrestling divisions. Meanwhile it was the 18th and 19th centuries that saw a surge in wrestling popularity in the United States and Europe. In the United States, popular figures like the United States President, Abraham Lincoln wrestled for 12 years and won 300 times.
In other regions of Europe, such as France, the ‘Lutte Bretonne‘ or ‘Gouren‘ wrestling style became popular, while in Switzerland the ‘Schwingen‘ wrestling style prevailed. Cornish wrestling was popular in Cornwall, Cumberland, and Westmorland wrestling in the United Kingdom.
As the world drew closer to the late 19th century, the first modern Olympic Games took place at Athens, Greece, in 1896. Wrestling was among the sports that were practiced at the international event. In this modern century, the general form of wrestling was still practiced even after the first modern Olympic Games kicked off. But in the 1904 Olympic Games, freestyle wrestling made a debut in the program, and it was in these Olympic Games that Olympic winners were awarded gold, silver, and bronze for the first time. After this, by 1908, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling competitions took place at the same time in the Olympics of that year, and the wrestling competition took place in March at the field of White City Stadium. This dual competition did not happen again until 1920.
Women’s Wrestling in the Olympic Wrestling History
In this modern century, the generalistic form of wrestling was still practiced even after the first modern Olympic Games kick-off. But in 1904 Olympic Games, freestyle wrestling made a debut in the program and it was in this Olympic Games that the Olympics were awarded in gold, silver and bronze for the first time. After this, by 1908, Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling competition took place at the same time in the Olympics of that year and the wrestling competition took place on March lead in the field of White City Stadium.
This dual competition did not happen again until 1920.
But aside this, Women’s Freestyle Wrestling wasn’t included in the Olympic Programme officially. And it was until 2004 when the Olympic Athens Games 2004 took place. And then the women were eligible to participate for Freestyle Wrestling and Sabiri Fencing for the first time.
