Wrestling

Wrestling is an ancient individual combat sport combining tactics, strength and lightening fast moves in an attempt to throw your competitor to a mat and pin their shoulders to the ground. There are several distinctions in rules between the two major international styles of wrestling: Greco-Roman and Freestyle.

Some form of wrestling has featured at every modern Olympic Games, except for Paris 1900. Greco-Roman wrestling has been on every Olympic program except Paris (1900) and St Louis (1904).

Freestyle wrestling, which rose to popularity in Great Britain and the United States in the 19th century, made its Olympic debut in St Louis and since then has only missed being an Olympic sport in Stockholm in 1912. 

Women competed in wrestling for the first time at the 2004 Athens Olympics, in four freestyle weight categories.

Qualification

There will be 80 men and 32 women competing in the 14 wrestling events at the Youth Olympic Games, with a maximum of five athletes per country.
Of the 80 male competitors 65 will qualify from the 2009 Youth World Championships and Continental Qualification. Then there are an additional 14 Universality places and Singapore as host nation are allocated a place.

Of the 32 female competitors 28 will qualify from the 2009 Youth World Championships and Continental Qualification. Then there are an additional three Universality places and Singapore as host nation are allocated a place.

Australia will send three wrestlers to compete at Singapore 2010.

Age Group

Athletes competing in this sport must be born between 1/1/93 and 31/12/94.

Rules / Competition Format

Wrestlers will be competing in the Olympic wrestling categories - Greco-Roman, men's freestyle and women's freestyle.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, the wrestler is forbidden to grasp the opponent below the waist, or to use the leg to trip or actively perform any action. In men's and women's freestyle wrestling, however, it is permissible to grasp the legs, or to use the leg to trip or actively perform any action.

The competition takes place in a pool system with two groups. Wrestlers who draw an odd number are placed in group A and wrestlers who draw an even number are placed in group B. A round-robin format is used within each group (the Nordic tournament system is used as the ranking criterion within each group).

Winners of each group will compete for the gold and silver medals; second placed wrestlers will compete for the bronze medal and fourth place; the third placed wrestlers will compete for fifth and sixth place; the last wrestlers in each group will compete for seventh and eighth place. Each weight category is completed within a single day with the weigh-in taking place the day before.

Differences with the World Youth Games

The FILA Junior World Championships field contains more competitors due to higher quotas allocated to each NOC and has different and additional weight categories. In addition, the competition format is different. A round-robin format which decides the final bouts is used at the YOG, but in the JWC a direct elimination system is used.

Venue - International Convention Centre

Located in the heart of Singapore’s business district, the International Convention Centre (ICC) is also conveniently located near the IOC Family Hotels, of which the Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore is just a 10-minute walk away.

Australia and Olympic Wrestling

Three Australians have won medals in freestyle events at the Olympics. In Los Angeles in 1932, Eddie Scarf was third in the light-heavyweight division. Twelve years later in London, Dick Garrard won a silver medal as a welterweight and Jim Armstrong won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division. Garrard is the only wrestler to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Australia has never won a Greco-Roman Olympic medal. Australia was first represented in women's wrestling in Beijing 2008 by Kyla Bremner.