Wrestling at the 2024 Summer Olympics

After the modernization of the wrestling tournament in Rio 2016, a phase of consolidation could be seen in Paris 2024, although weight classes and the format of the tournament remained unchanged. Again, six weight classes were contested in men’s Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, and another six in women’s freestyle. With the World championships still being contested in ten classes, for the Olympic Games the athletes of the respective lower classes had to adapt their weight to be competitive. At the World championships, the differences between weight classes amounted to between four and seven kg in the men’s, and two to four in the women’s events. For the Olympics, however, they are approximately doubled to between eight and twelve (men), and four to eight (women).

As in Rio and Tokyo, the two finalists of a single-elimination tournament contested gold and silver medals. In the two bronze medal bouts, the defeated semi-finalists met the two repêchage winners. Any wrestler who lost to one of the two finalists in round-one or the quarter-final moved into the repêchage. Typically, not more than 16 wrestlers competed in each class, except in the men’s freestyle middleweight and the men’s Greco-Roman featherweight (17 each).

With 304 wrestlers (205 men and 99 women), the number increased by four from Tokyo. In Paris, they represented 63 teams, including the Refugee team and the Individual Neutral Athletes, 58 for men and 37 for women. For Brazil, Guam, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden, only women took the mat. In Tokyo, Belarus and the Russian Olympic Committee, which were banned in Paris, together sent 25 athletes, while in 2024 only two wrestlers participated as AIN. The USA qualified the most wrestlers, 16, with Japan second with 13.

Twenty-seven (27) nations appear in the medal table, again dominated by Japan with eight gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Only two of the 13 Japanese representatives went home without a medal! Two gold medals each were claimed by Iran, the United States, and Bulgaria, with Iran winning most of these three (8). It is worth noting that Japan won four golds each in men’s and women’s events, including two each in Greco-Roman and freestyle. The imminent ban on Russian athletes led to an exodus of Russian-born athletes to other NOCs. Referring to the respective birth places, wrestlers from the Russian republic of Dagestan won six medals in freestyle wrestling (three gold and three bronze), representing six different countries.

Japan dominated the women’s competition, with medals in all six events, while the USA held on for second place with four medals, including two golds. With eight medals, Iran doubled its yield from Tokyo, while Germany dropped out of the table completely.

In the men’s super-heavyweight Greco-Roman class, Cuba’s Mijaín López achieved an unprecedented feat. He won his fifth consecutive gold medal in this event, making him the first athlete to do so in an individual event. He started with a fifth place at Athens in 2004, and climbed the top of the podium ever since. Only six athletes managed to win five or more golds in the same Olympic event, but all were in team sports. These include Aladár Gerevich (six, Hungary - Fencing, 1932-60 sabre team), Diana Taurasi (six, USA - Basketball, 2004-2024) and, at the top of the list with seven, Isabell Werth (Germany - Dressage, 1992-2024).