Greco-Roman Wrestling
Ελληνορωμαϊκή πάληAn Olympic style of wrestling that prohibits holds below the waist and use of the legs. It comes from French wrestling of the 18th and 19th centuries, not from antiquity.
Quick Facts
FranceCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Comparisons
Catalogs & Databases for Greco-Roman Wrestling
About Greco-Roman Wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling is, alongside freestyle, one of the two Olympic styles of wrestling. Despite its name it has no direct connection with antiquity: it comes from the French wrestling of the 18th and 19th centuries, and neither the Greeks nor the Romans practised it. UWW states that Jean Exbrayat, a soldier of Napoleon’s army, is generally named as the one who set some of the basic rules. The name is attributed to the Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti.
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The UWW rules prohibit grabbing the opponent below the waist, tripping and actively using the legs, both in attack and in defence. The style therefore rests on holds above the waist and on throws, and the most points, five, are given for a throw of great amplitude. A senior match has two periods of three minutes and ends with a fall, on points or by technical superiority at a lead of eight points. At the Olympic Games Greco-Roman wrestling was already in Athens 1896, then without weight categories. It has been on the programme permanently since 1908 and since 1920 it has been wrestled alongside freestyle. Seniors today have ten categories ranging from 55 to 130 kg, and at the Paris 2024 Games it was wrestled in six. There is no women’s Greco-Roman category in the UWW rules. At UWW events in 2016 to 2019 the style had 9.5 moderate and severe injuries per 1,000 exposures, somewhat more than freestyle. It has no grades or belts, and the pathway leads through age and weight categories.
History
Greco-Roman wrestling is, alongside freestyle, one of the two Olympic styles of wrestling. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe it was most often known as French wrestling (lutte française) or flat hand wrestling (flat hand). UWW states that Jean Exbrayat, a soldier of Napoleon’s army who wrestled at markets and festivals, is generally named as the one who set some of the basic rules, but it gives no year. The rules limited holds whose only aim was pain, and the name flat hand was meant to distinguish the style from the strongman entertainment with punches. The name Greco-Roman is attributed to the Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti, and according to UWW it arose from a call by sports officials to return to the values of ancient Greece and Rome. The Greeks and Romans did not practise this style. The international federation officially calls the style classical wrestling (lutte classique). At the 1896 Games in Athens, wrestling was contested only in the Greco-Roman style and without weight categories. In 1900 in Paris wrestling was absent, and in 1904 in St. Louis only freestyle was wrestled. Since the 1908 Games in London Greco-Roman wrestling has been on the programme permanently, and since the 1920 Games in Antwerp it has been wrestled alongside freestyle.
How it differs
Greco-Roman differs from freestyle, the other Olympic wrestling discipline, mainly in the use of the legs. UWW rules forbid grabbing an opponent below the waist, tripping and actively using the legs, while all of this is allowed in freestyle. Greco-Roman therefore rests on upper-body holds and throws. Scoring differs too. Technical superiority ends the bout at an eight-point lead, in freestyle and women's wrestling only at ten. For both the first and the second caution of the opponent for passivity, the active Greco-Roman wrestler receives a point. In freestyle, after the second offence a thirty-second period begins in which the passive wrestler must score. When the bottom wrestler refuses the ordered start in par terre for the second time, the opponent receives two points in Greco-Roman and one in freestyle. Women wrestle under freestyle rules, with the double nelson additionally forbidden. We have not found a comparison with judo or sambo from a federation source.
Technique
The UWW rules (January 2026) explicitly prohibit in their introduction, in Greco-Roman wrestling, grabbing the opponent below the waist, tripping and actively using the legs for any action. Art. 44 prohibits a wrestler in the bottom position from defending with the legs, and art. 18 instructs the referees to pay special attention to the legs in this style. Both attack and defence therefore take place in holds above the waist, and the style rests on throws. Art. 38 awards 5 points for a throw of great amplitude from standing that brings the opponent into direct danger, and the same for a throw from par terre in which the attacker fully lifts the opponent and throws him into such a position. Technical superiority occurs at a lead of 8 points, in freestyle only at 10. At the first and second passivity the match is stopped, the active wrestler receives 1 point and may choose whether to continue standing or in par terre (art. 46). At the third and further passivity he also chooses the position, but no longer receives a point.
Training
Greco-Roman training revolves largely around body weight. Under UWW rules, the first weigh-in, with a medical check, takes place on the morning of the day the weight category competes and lasts thirty minutes. Wrestlers who advance to the repechage or the final weigh in again the second morning in a fifteen-minute window, with no tolerance left. The rules allow a two-kilogram tolerance only at World Cups, in Ranking Series events and at international tournaments. Weight cutting is widespread and risky. A study of 350 wrestlers (Frontiers in Nutrition, 2024), 60 of whom wrestled Greco-Roman, found that 49.1% began losing weight less than a week before competition. Seniors lost 4.91 kg on average, U20 3.74 kg and U17 3.00 kg. Running in a raincoat was reported by 89.1% of those cutting weight, sauna by 79.7% and muscle cramps by 72.9%. We have not found a concrete training plan from a federation source. A case study of a four-time world champion at 55 kg measured maximal oxygen uptake of 56 ml/kg/min and 8.4% body fat.
Ranks and progression
Greco-Roman wrestling has no belts or grades, and progress comes through age categories and results. UWW rules recognise the categories U15 (14 to 15 years), U17 (16 to 17), U20 (18 to 20), U23 (19 to 23), seniors from 20 years and veterans over 35 years. Bouts for U15, U17 and veterans have two periods of two minutes, for U20, U23 and seniors two periods of three minutes, always with a thirty-second break. For the listed international events a wrestler needs a UWW licence. It is valid for the given year only, is renewed every year and also serves as medical expense insurance abroad. How exactly qualification for the Olympic Games and Ranking Series scoring work, we have not yet found in the rules.
Who it suits
The first Olympic champion in wrestling was in 1896 in Athens the German Carl Schuhmann, who then won the competition in the Greco-Roman style without weight categories and at the same Games also three gymnastics events. Two studies measured the physiological load of wrestlers in this style. Karnincic et al. (Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2009) followed lactate in 20 wrestlers, ten Croatian national team members and ten members of a club in Split. After the warm-up they had 2.6 mmol/l, lactate rose as the match went on and was highest at the end. In a simulated competition of 12 men in the 74 kg category (International Journal of Wrestling Science, 2011), the average heart rate rose from 138 in the first period to 183 beats per minute in the third, with a maximum of 193, and lactate reached up to 20.3 mmol/l. The study had three periods, today’s rules have two. Both studies describe the response of the competitors’ bodies, not the benefit of training for ordinary exercisers.
Competition
The UWW rules (January 2026, art. 7) have for seniors ten Greco-Roman weight categories ranging from 55 to 130 kg, and six for the U20 and U23 categories. The rules have no women’s Greco-Roman category, and women’s wrestling follows the freestyle rules. Why women do not wrestle the Greco-Roman style and since when, we did not find. The number of Olympic competitions has changed: in 1896 one without weight categories, in 1908 four, in 2000 eight, from 2004 to 2012 seven and since 2020 six. At the Paris 2024 Games wrestling was contested in the categories 60, 67, 77, 87, 97 and 130 kg, that is in six of the eighteen wrestling competitions, and men’s and women’s freestyle had the same number.
Today
Molnár et al. (Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 2022) followed five UWW events in 2016 to 2019 with 2,483 wrestlers in 3,007 matches and recorded 9.1 moderate and severe injuries per 1,000 exposures. Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling had the same 9.5 per 1,000 exposures, freestyle 8.5. At the Games in Rio 2016, among 352 wrestlers in 410 matches, 22 injuries were recorded, of which 40.9% were in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling, 36.4% in men’s freestyle and 22.7% in women’s freestyle. The injury rate per wrestler in the Greco-Roman style was 7.6%. This is a small sample.
Did you know
The middleweight semifinal at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm between Martin Klein of the Russian Empire and the Finn Alfred Asikainen lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes. Klein won by pin, but he was so exhausted that doctors did not let him enter the final. Claes Johanson won gold without a fight and Klein took silver. Alexander Karelin won Olympic gold in 1988, 1992 and 1996 and nine world titles. According to UWW he lost only one match in his international career, the 2000 Olympic final, where he took silver. The Cuban Mijaín López won the 130 kg category in Paris 2024 and became the first athlete to win five consecutive Olympic golds in the same individual discipline.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling?
In Greco-Roman style, UWW rules forbid grabbing an opponent below the waist, tripping and actively using the legs, while this is allowed in freestyle. Technical superiority occurs in Greco-Roman at an eight-point lead, in freestyle at ten.
How many weight categories does Greco-Roman wrestling have?
UWW rules have ten categories for seniors, from 55 to 130 kg. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games wrestlers competed in six categories, 60, 67, 77, 87, 97 and 130 kg.
Who is the most successful Greco-Roman wrestler?
The Cuban Mijaín López won Olympic gold at five consecutive Games, most recently in Paris 2024 at 130 kg. Alexander Karelin has three Olympic golds, nine world titles and, according to UWW, a single international defeat, in the final of the 2000 Games.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.