Wrestling is a martial art and combat sport that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves different grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins, and other grappling holds. Many different wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sports, and military systems. Wrestling can either be genuine competition or athletic theater (see professional wrestling).
Wrestling comes in different competitive forms such as freestyle, Greco-Roman, judo, sambo, folkstyle, catch, shoot, luta livre, submission, sumo, pehlwani, shuai jiao, and others. Wrestling first appeared in the ancient Olympic Games as an event during the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC. There are a wide range of styles with varying rules, with both traditional historic and modern styles. The term wrestling is attested in late Old English, as wræstlunge (glossing palestram).
History of wrestling and History of professional wrestling
History of physical training and fitness
Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat sport. The origins of wrestling go back around 15,000 years through cave drawings in France. Babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using various holds known in the present-day sport. Literary references to wrestling occur as early as the Old Testament and the ancient Indian Vedas. In the Book of Genesis, the Patriarch Jacob is said to have wrestled with God or an angel. The Iliad, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War of the 13th or 12th century BC, also contains mentions of wrestling. Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata contain references to martial arts including wrestling.
In Ancient Greece wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend, literature, and philosophy. Wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, served as the focal sport of the ancient Olympic Games. Ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality through implementing different rules.