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. In February 2013, the IOC voted to remove the sport from the
2020 Summer Olympics onwards. On 8 September 2013, the IOC announced that wrestling would return to the Summer Olympics in 2020. Along with
boxing, it is one of only two sports that still require participants to have amateur status to participate in the Olympics.