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 British and American wrestlers created the freestyle style. It's one of the two types of wrestling at the Olympics, along with Greco-Roman. Wrestling at the high school and college level in the United States is referred to respectively as scholastic and collegiate, and is governed by two sets of regulations. Women's collegiate wrestling in the United States uses the freestyle format. [1]



Both catch-as-catch-can wrestling and freestyle wrestling may trace their roots back to collegiate wrestling. It is the ultimate objective of both schools to throw and pin their opponent to the mat, so securing an instant victory. Freestyle and collegiate wrestling, in contrast to Greco-Roman, permit the use of the legs in both offensive and defense. Traditional wrestling moves are combined with judo and sambo in freestyle wrestling. (Citation required)


The United World Wrestling (UWW), the worldwide regulatory organization of amateur competition wrestling, recognizes six distinct styles of the sport. Greco-Roman wrestling is just one of six different styles. The others are grappling/submission wrestling, beach wrestling, pankration athlima, alysh/belt wrestling, and traditional/folk wrestling. [2] The International Olympic Committee (IOC) overruled a 2013 recommendation from its Executive Board to exclude wrestling as a sport from the 2020 Olympic Games.