Wrestling at the 1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 wrestling competition was conducted at the Anaheim Convention Center, which was the only sport held there at the 1984 Olympics. The convention center opened in 1967 and was originally used as the home venue for the Anaheim Amigos of the American Basketball Association (ABA) during the ABA’s first season.

The Soviet-led boycott decimated the Greco-Roman events in 1980, as the Soviets were the top Greco-Roman nation, followed by other Eastern European countries. Freestyle was also strongly affected by the absence of the East Europeans, although not quite as much.

The program was same in 1984 as it had been at the 1972-80 Olympics, with 10 classes for both styles and no change in weight limits; however, the formats were changed in 1984. In each match, wrestlers were given classification points, which were positive points, rather than bad, or negative, points. Further each class was separated into A and B Groups. When three wrestlers remained in each group, determined by classification points, they competed against each other for placement within the group, with earlier matches carried over into the group finals. The winners of each group wrestled for the gold medal, and the runners-up in each group wrestled for the bronze medal, with a classification match held with one wrestler from each group to determine places 1-6.

With the Soviets not competing, the United States was the top wrestling nation in 1984, winning 13 medals and 9 gold medals. The US dominated freestyle, winning 9 medals and 7 golds. They also did well in Greco-Roman, which was surprising as they had never before won a medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics. Romania won the most Greco-Roman medals with 5, but Sweden and the United States won 4, with both Romania and the United States winning 2 Greco events.