[6] According to United World Wrestling, a Napoleonic soldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style.

The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term "Greco-Roman" for the sport to underline the interest in "ancient values.

"[7] Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts.

The 18th century work Gymnastics for Youth by Johann Friedrich Guts Muths described a form of schoolboy wrestling called "orthopale" (used by Plato to describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds.

[7] The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart, freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts of William Muldoon (a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in the Franco-Prussian War and learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after the Civil War.

Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners.

[6] It was the first style registered at the modern Olympic Games, beginning in Athens in 1896 with one heavyweight bout,[9] and grew in popularity during the 20th century.

Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced Paul Pons in a match in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as the physical education adviser to the House of Lords after his retirement.

Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent.

By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden.

William Muldoon's bout with Clarence Whistler at the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw.

Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden.

In Olympic competition, countries of the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Turkey, South Korea, Romania, Japan, Sweden, and Finland have had great success.

A typical international wrestling tournament takes place by direct elimination with an ideal number of wrestlers (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.)

[17] The day before the wrestling in a scheduled weight class and age category takes place, all the applicable wrestlers are examined by a physician and weighed-in.

[21] In all rounds of the tournament, the wrestlers compete in matches paired off in the order of the numbers they drew after the weigh-in.

The wrestling tournaments in the Olympic Games and the Senior and Junior World Championships are designed to take place over three days on three mats.

[23] The match takes place on a thick rubber circular mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety.

The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions.

The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge.

To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman).

[28] In modern Greco-Roman wrestling, matches are contested over two three-minute halves with the winner being decided by fall, technical superiority or cumulative points across both periods (decision).

The referee then calls them to his side at the center of the mat, shakes hands with them, inspects their apparel, and checks for any perspiration, oily or greasy substances, and any other infractions.

[30] Prior to recent rule changes, a wrestler wins the match when he has won the majority of periods.

During the wrestling phase from the neutral position, both wrestlers compete for takedowns and points for 60 seconds as usual.

For example, when one wrestler performs a grand amplitude throw that brings his opponent into the danger position, he is awarded the greatest number of points that can be scored in one instance.

[38] The full determinations for scoring are found in the UWW International Wrestling Rules A match can be won in the following ways: In an international wrestling tournament, teams enter one wrestler at each weight class and score points based on the individual performances.