Wrestling at the Olympic Games was contested at the first modern Olympics, in the form of Greco-Roman wrestling, held in Athens in 1896. Wrestling would appear at every Summer Olympics held since then, with the exception of the 1900 Summer Olympics when wrestling did not appear on the program. Freestyle wrestling (or catch-as-catch-can wrestling as it was called prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics) and weight classes both made their first appearance at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Women's freestyle wrestling competition was first held at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
In 2013, the IOC voted to drop wrestling from the Summer Olympic program. The president of the sport's governing body, FILA (now United World Wrestling), resigned after a subsequent motion of no confidence, and several of the FILA leadership followed suit. After new leadership stepped in and revisions to the program for the 2016 Summer Olympics (including rule changes and additional women's competitions), wrestling successfully campaigned to be readmitted back onto the Summer Olympic program.
