Greco-Roman wrestling競技・連盟管理

Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (European English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been part of every summer Olympic held since 1904. It is one of the two forms of wrestling contested at the Olympics, the other being freestyle wrestling.

Greco-Roman wrestling forbids holds below the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it from freestyle wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws, because a wrestler cannot use trips to bring an opponent to the ground or hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown.

Greco-Roman wrestling is one of several forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. Other wrestling disciplines sanctioned by United World Wrestling include men's freestyle wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling, grappling (submission wrestling), pankration, Alysh (belt wrestling), Pahlavani wrestling, and beach wrestling.

The name "Greco-Roman" applied to this style of wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea especially at the ancient Greek Olympics. At that time, the athletes initially wore skintight shorts but later wrestled each other naked.

It is speculated that many styles of European folk wrestling may have spurred the origins of Greco-Roman wrestling. According to United World Wrestling, a Napoleonic soldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style. Exbrayat performed in fairs and called his style of wrestling "flat hand wrestling" to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. In 1848, Exbrayat established the rule that no holds below the waist were to be allowed; neither were painful holds or torsions that would hurt the opponent. "Flat hand wrestling" or "French wrestling" (as the style became known) developed all throughout Europe and became a popular sport. The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term "Greco-Roman" for the sport to underline the interest in "ancient values."

Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts. The 18th century work Gymnastics for Youth by Johann Friedrich Guts Muths described a form of schoolboy wrestling called "orthopale" (used by Plato to describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds. Real ancient wrestling was quite different; see Greek wrestling.

The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart, freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts of William Muldoon (a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in the Franco-Prussian War and learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after the Civil War. However, on the continent of Europe, the style was highly promoted. Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners. For example, the Czar of Russia paid 500 francs for wrestlers to train and compete in his tournament, with 5,000 francs awarded as a prize to the tournament winner. Greco-Roman wrestling soon became prestigious in continental Europe. It was the first style registered at the modern Olympic Games, beginning in Athens in 1896 with one heavyweight bout, and grew in popularity during the 20th century. It has always been featured in the Olympic Games, except during the Paris Olympic Games in 1900 and the St. Louis Olympic Games of 1904, when freestyle first emerged as an Olympic sport.

Perhaps the most well-known of Greco-Roman wrestlers in the 19th century was Georg Hackenschmidt born in Dorpat, Russian Empire, and nicknamed "The Russian Lion". Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced Paul Pons in a match in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1900, he won professional tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg and a series of international tournaments after that. After defeating Tom Jenkins (from the United States) in both freestyle and Greco-Roman matches in England, Georg Hackenschmidt wrestled exclusively freestyle in order to compete better against English, Australian, and American opponents. Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as the physical education adviser to the House of Lords after his retirement.

Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was not uncommon for there to be matches lasting two or three hours. William Muldoon's bout with Clarence Whistler at the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw. Even in the 1912 Olympics, a match between Martin Klein of Russia (Estonia) and Alfred Asikainen of Finland lasted for eleven hours and forty minutes before Martin Klein won. He received the silver medal because he was too tired to compete in final match next day. That record was later published at Guinness World Records. The International Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF) took over the regulation of Greco-Roman wrestling in 1921. Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden. Professional wrestler Lou Thesz, who initially trained extensively in Greco-Roman, popularised the