Wrestling (pale)

Wrestling was one of the oldest and most popular events that required physical strength, but also technique.

It was first introduced into the programme of the 18th Olympiad in 708 BC, both as a separate and a pentathlon event. In wrestling, as an independent event, participated remarkably robust professional athletes with great body weight which was the result of a special diet enabling them to overpower their opponent. As a pentathlon event, it retained its original technical characteristics and combined speed, fitness, precision and agility.

Wrestlers anointed their body with oil and fought nude in a special area of the stadium, on a bed of sand (skamma). The pairs of wrestlers were selected by lot.

There were two forms of wrestling, orthia or orthopale or stadaia pale (upright wrestling) and alindesi or kylisin or kato pale (ground wrestling). In upright wrestling, the winning athlete had to throw his opponent down three times. In ground wrestling, a wrestler’s fall did not suffice. The defeated athlete admitted his submission by raising his index finger or his index and middle finger of his hand in the apagoreuein gesture.

The various holds of the wrestlers were particularly brutal. Hitting, grasping of genitals, biting and wrestling outside the pit (skamma) were prohibited.