With wrestling once again on the Olympic program for the 2024 Paris Games, here is everything you need to know about how the competition will work.

What weight categories are contested in Olympic wrestling?

Olympic wrestling features 18 total weight classes — six each for men's freestyle, women's freestyle and Greco-Roman. The breakdown of weight classes within each discipline is as follows:

Men's Freestyle
57kg (125 lbs.)
65kg (143 lbs.)
74kg (163 lbs.)
86kg (189 lbs.)
97kg (213 lbs.)
125kg (275 lbs.)

Women's Freestyle
50kg (110 lbs.)
53kg (116 lbs.)
57kg (125 lbs.)
62kg (136 lbs.)
68kg (149 lbs.)
76kg (167 lbs.)

Greco-Roman
60kg (132 lbs.)
67kg (147 lbs.)
77kg (169 lbs.)
87kg (191 lbs.)
97kg (213 lbs.)
130kg (286 lbs.)

How many wrestlers compete in each Olympic weight class?

Each weight class will feature 16 wrestlers in the bracket.

How is the Olympic wrestling tournament structured?

The competition starts with the Round of 16 and proceeds to the quarterfinals, semifinals and final. For the most part, the tournament is single elimination, with one key exception: Any wrestler who loses to one of the two finalists gets pulled into the repechage (explained in more detail below) for a chance at winning a bronze medal.

What are repechage matches in Olympic wrestling?

Each of the two finalists will have defeated three wrestlers en route to the gold-medal match: one in the Round of 16, one in the quarterfinals, and one in the semifinals. The six defeated athletes then get pulled into a repechage draw, which is split into two halves.

The two losing semifinalists advance directly to bronze-medal matches. In each half of the draw, one of the quarterfinal losers will face one of the Round of 16 losers. The winner of that bout will advance to a bronze-medal match to wrestle one of the semifinalists. There will be two separate bronze-medal matches and therefore two bronze medals awarded.

How is the bracket determined in Olympic wrestling?

For each weight class, the draw to decide the bracket is random and will take place the day before the tournament starts. The United World Wrestling competition management system shall be used for the draw. Wrestlers who made it to the final round of the World Championships will always be placed on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning they won't have to face each other until the final round of the Olympic tournament.

How does the weigh-in work for Olympic wrestling?

Weigh-ins take place in the morning for any wrestlers competing that day. The tournament for each weight class will be contested over a two-day span, so any wrestlers that make the finals or the repechage will have to make weight on both days.

During the first weigh-in, wrestlers will have 30 minutes to make weight. They have the right to get on the scale as many times as they wish. Contestants are weighed with their singlets, but nothing else. Athletes will also be examined to make sure they have no signs of any contagious disease and that their fingernails are cut very short.

For any wrestlers competing on the second day, the weigh-in will last 15 minutes.