| The history of wrestling can easily be traced | | | | festivals and circuses as a spectator sport. |
| back to its roots in the Mediterranean. The | | | | The sport in these days allowed competitors |
| Ancient Greeks and Romans are credited with | | | | of any size or shape to match up against any |
| developing a number of different styles of | | | | opponent. As you can imagine there was some |
| wrestling that are still in use today. The | | | | drastic mismatches and severe injuries. Not |
| sport is easily one of the most primitive | | | | to mention that gambling on the matches |
| sports that can be easily dated back to some | | | | brought out the worst in the athletes as a |
| five thousands years ago. Ancient Greeks | | | | number of fixed contests were uncovered. |
| formed the sport out of necessity as it was a | | | | |
| means of training and developing soldiers | | | | It wasn't until the formation of the |
| into warriors. They used it in hand to hand | | | | International Federation of Associated |
| combat which also doubled as a means of | | | | Wrestling Styles or FILA that the sport began |
| cardiovascular exercise. Ancient drawings | | | | to standardize and formulate rules and the |
| and hieroglyphs mark the walls of some of the | | | | sport was first featured in the 1904 Olympics |
| great Greek Palaces and stadiums with | | | | in St. Louis in the form of freestyle. |
| pictures of ancient wrestlers. | | | | |
| | | | Wrestling began to become mainstream |
| Wrestling history became a means of culture | | | | throughout the states in the 1900's and found |
| and a right of passage for the early Greeks. | | | | its way onto school campuses. High school |
| Students used to study wrestling as a class | | | | wrestling and collegiate programs began to |
| during school. It was a respected form of | | | | spring up everywhere and are standard |
| physical activity that took the utmost | | | | throughout the US today. |
| strength and grace but when used with | | | | |
| aggression is a deadly form of combat. In the | | | | Professional wrestling can basically be |
| earliest of Olympic Festivals wrestling took | | | | categorized today into two main forms |
| place around 704 B.C. It was common to travel | | | | international or non folk style and folk |
| to villages throughout the country and see | | | | style wrestling. International consists |
| carnivals and festivals featuring wrestling | | | | mainly of Greco-roman, freestyle and |
| in some form as entertainment. | | | | grappling while folk style literally means |
| | | | the wrestling recognized in the area of |
| As the Roman Empire rose to power and | | | | origin. Examples of folk style are jiu |
| defeated the Greeks the form of wrestling | | | | jitsui of Brazil and sumo of Japan not to |
| that the Greeks had created began to change. | | | | mention dozens of other less notable styles. |
| The Greeks felt that the Romans weren't as | | | | |
| adept at wrestling and took the grace and | | | | Wrestling has come a long way from its early |
| skillfulness out of the sport and the Greeks | | | | roots but has kept in tact a number of the |
| were worried about maintaining the true | | | | same techniques and strategies that made it |
| history of wrestling. The new conversion of | | | | popular five thousand years ago. The sport |
| the two empires hence formed Greco-Roman | | | | has seen a recent explosion in the MMA or |
| wrestling. | | | | mixed martial arts field which features a |
| | | | combination of a number of wrestling fields. |
| As time passed the sport made its way west | | | | The sport is growing rapidly and is sure to |
| and suddenly became popular in the US. It | | | | be a favorite of many more generations. So |
| made the same circulation that it made | | | | goes the history of wrestling. |
| throughout Europe as it traveled from | | | | |