Wrestling goes back to ancient times and has been a modern Olympic sport since 1904 One of the oldest sports in history, drawings of people wrestling have been found dating back to ancient Egypt around 2400BC and wrestling programmed in the ancient Olympics Games in 776BC.
While hundreds of wrestling styles are practised all over the world, today there are three main styles seen in international competition: Greco-Roman, freestyle, and women's wrestling.
The International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA) was founded in 1912 before the Stockholm Olympic Games to form a standard set rules and principles. Currently, FILA has 146 affiliated national federations with members from five continents.
Wrestling appeared in the first modern Olympics in 1896. In the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, women were included for the first time. Today, the dominant countries in international wrestling include Iran, Russia, the US, Turkey and Mongolia.
Wrestling became a competitive event at the 2nd Asian Games in Manila, Philippines in 1954.
