Impress your friends

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  Wrestling goes back thousands of years, and was a central element of the Ancient Olympic Games

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  Greco-Roman wrestling was contested at the Panathaiko at Athens 1896, having become popular in Europe during the preceding century

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  Freestyle wrestling began in the UK, gaining popularity at fairs and festivals in the 19th century before being exported to America by Irish immigrants

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  Freestyle wrestling's Olympic debut in 1904 featured only American athletes

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  The first women's Olympic freestyle wrestling competitions were held at Athens 2004, when Ukrainian Irini Merleni won the first gold medal

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  Estonia's Kristjan Palusalu became the only wrestler to win heavyweight gold in both the Greco-Roman and freestyle disciplines, at Berlin 1936

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  Japanese freestyle wrestler Osamu Watanabe delighted the crowd on his Olympic debut at Tokyo 1964, winning his first three bouts by falls and not conceding a point during the tournament

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  At the Sydney 2000 Games, American Rulon Gardner beat Aleksander Karelin in an epic Greco-Roman gold medal match, the Russian tasting defeat for the first time in over a decade

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  Between them, Japan and China have won nine of the twelve gold medals disputed in women's freestyle wrestling since it was introduced in 2004

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  Aleksander Karelin, known as the Russian Bear, is considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, winning three Olympic golds (1988, 1992, 1996) and one silver (2000)

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  In the Ancient Olympic Games, wrestling was the final element of the pentathlon following the discus, javelin, long-jump and foot race

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  Only two colours are worn in a bout, red and blue, with the choice decided by which side of the draw the wrestler is in

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  A semi-final between Russia's Martin Klein and Finland's Alfred Asikainen at Stockholm 1912 lasted 11 hours, leaving Klein so exhausted he forfeited the final