1 Wrestling Is the Oldest Combat Sport A 19th century painting of Jacob wrestling with an angel The sport of wrestling is the oldest combat sport The Old Testament of the Bible mentions Jacob wrestling with an angel Wrestling is also mentioned in ancient stories There are drawings of wrestlers in ancient cave paintings as well 4 In ancient Greece wrestling was the most important part of training young men to fight Wrestling was a big part of the ancient Olympic Games Wrestling was also popular in ancient Rome and ancient Egypt Wrestling continued to be popular in the Middle Ages and afterward It was one of the sports in the first modern
A painting of wrestlers on an ancient Greek vase Olympics held in 1896 Since then it has been in most Olympics Carl Schumann center AN ANCIENT CHAMPION Milo of Croton was the champion of ancient Greek wrestling He won six Olympics and many other athletic contests Legend has it that Milo was eaten by a lion after he got his hands stuck in a tree he ripped apart 5 Number of men in the wrestling event at the first modern Olympics There were no weight classes The winner was a German athlete named Carl Schumann Schumann also won three events in gymnastics 5
The Sport Is Always Changing The rules of wrestling are not the same as they were thousands of years ago In ancient times wrestlers could do pretty much whatever they wanted to wrestle an opponent to the ground During the early 1800s the French developed a different kind of wrestling It became known as Greco-Roman In this style no holds with the legs were allowed and all holds had to be above the waist An 1892 illustration of wrestlers in Germany 2 6
Angel Grey left and Jimmy Dula wrestle at the World Cup 1967 MAKING THE RULES The Fédération Internationale de Lutte Amateur FILA or International Amateur Wrestling Federation was formed in 1911 Today it is called United World Wrestling It makes the rules for all international competitions including the Olympics 7 In the past wrestling matches could go on for a long time In 1928 a system of points was started Wrestlers received points for different holds and moves This prevented matches from ending in no decisions In 1967 time was limited to three 3 minute rounds 6 Length in hours of a wrestling match at the 1912 Olympics Two wrestlers from Finland battled during the match The match ended in no decision After the Olympics many complained that new rules were needed
