Wrestling at the Summer Olympics
Wrestling had been contested at the Summer Olympic Games since the sport was introduced in the ancient Olympic Games in 708 BC. When the modern Olympic Games resumed in Athens in 1896, wrestling (in the form of Greco-Roman wrestling) became a focus of the Games, with the exception of the 1900 Summer Olympics when wrestling did not appear on the program. Freestyle wrestling and weight classes both made their first appearance in 1904. The women's competition was introduced in 2004.
Wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Around 344 wrestlers competed in 18 events at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In September 2013, a new change to the rules and guidelines of the sport had been instituted and overhauled by the International Olympic Committee and FILA (now known as the United World Wrestling). A single Olympic weight class was removed each from the men's freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling to add two more weights for the women. Other changes in wrestling at these Games also featured a single-round tournament within a six-minute limit, instead of two-round or tiebreaker.