FILA yesterday announced the revised weight classes for men and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman competition for the Olympic Games in 2016. Also announced were rule changes and competition format that will begin 1st January 2014.

The new classes became necessary when FILA added two classes to women’s freestyle competition and reduced each of the men’s styles by one weight class, therefore setting a 6-6-6 field for men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The new weight classes, which come into effect in 2014, are:

The weight classes for Juniors and Cadets were not changed.

FILA has also adopted the following amendments to the rules which will be in force for 2014:

For all Disciplines:
Technical Superiority: A match will end at 10 points advantage in Freestyle and 8 points in Greco-Roman.
Throws: Four points will be awarded for all throws in Freestyle. In Greco-Roman 4 points will be awarded for throws that are followed and controlled and 5 points will be awarded for grand amplitude throws.
End of Match: In all disciplines elimination of two three-point throws and one five point throws ending a match.
Par Terre: Elimination of the five-second count for the one additional back point exposure and any penalty for a false start will receive one point, not two as currently practiced.

Greco-Roman Wrestling:
Passivity: For the first warning the match is not stopped.
Match ending in 0-0: The last wrestler warned loses.
Takedown: Two points are awarded from a standing or neutral position for a throw without back exposure.
Challenge Procedure:

The Appeal Jury will render its decision without consulting the refereeing body.
If the Appeal Jury overturns the decision of the refereeing body, the referees will be warned. A second warning will result in the suspension of the referees. The decision of the Appeal Jury is final. There will be no challenge authorized in case of penalties for passivity.

Criteria to determine ties in Team Competition
1st Criteria: Total of classification points after eight matches between two teams.
2nd Criteria: Most victories by falls, injury, default, forfeit or disqualification.
3rd Criteria: Most match victories by technical superiority.
4th Criteria: Most technical points obtained in all matches.
5th Criteria: Fewest technical points given in all matches.
FILA kept its one-day competition format for each discipline,  Men’s and Women’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman, but changed the competition times to 10 a.m. for the first session. A 30-minute minimum time between matches has also been made compulsory.

“We believe we have set the foundation for both the Olympic Games and the FILA championships with these weight classes, rule changes and competition format” said FILA President Nenad Lalovic. “We thank the members of the Technical Commission for their guidance in this important decision. We used the knowledge and ideas of various commissions in FILA to reach these decisions. It was a total organizational effort.

“We want to make changes that make the sport better,” he added. “If we need to change, we will. Our goal is to be excellent in everything we do.”
These changes were part of a raft of changes that persuaded the IOC’s September 2013 Session to re-instate Wrestling to the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

• FILA News Item – Rules changes through to Rio 2016
• British Wrestling news item – “See you at Tokyo 2020” The International Olympic Committee’s Decision