DoubleGrapevine

Hi,

Now that the Olympic wrestling tournament is over, do you think they should make some major changes in the FILA wrestling rules, or is wrestling good enough as it is under the current ones? For those who were actually able to see Olympic wrestling, has the quality of wrestling with the FILA rule changes gone up or down from previous games?

If you think changes are necessary, what changes would you suggest? What changes do you think FILA will probably make?

Possible suggestions include:
- restoring points awarded for escapes and lifting and exposing the opponent's back to the mat
- changing the period structure back to two periods of 3 minutes, or making the periods so that the winner doesn't have to win two out of three periods separately but can win by points or a fall
- modifying the ordered hold (the clinch) position in Greco or at least Freestyle

5pointcrossankle

2 changes i wanna see are bringing the clinch back to what it was before, the overunder hold-type deal, and switch up the weights to what htey used to be(54, 57, 63, 69, etc.)

DoubleGrapevine

Now that the Olympics have been over for about a month, are there any views about the quality of the 2008 Olympic wrestling from previous ones, whether it was greater or less? I didn't see any wrestling on TV (thanks a lot, NBC), but I have seen other wrestling competitions with the 2004 FILA rules.

I'd like to resurrect this thread by suggesting with greater confidence, some rule changes for freestyle and Greco.
- First of all, the match length is far too short with periods lasting only 2 minutes. It doesn't provide enough time for the explosive action that's customary in the international styles. I suggest keeping the structure of three periods, but letting them be 3 minutes instead of just two.
- Secondly, I would also restore awarding points for escapes and for lifting and exposing an opponent's back to the mat, in keeping with the FILA concept of total wrestling and risk.
- Thirdly, I would also eliminate having to win two out of three periods in order to win by decision. I say just let a decision be won by shear points. With the current structure, it would be possible for a loser to have more points than the winner overall, and still lose because those points didn't win him a period, which seems very unfair. With that, I would also suggest changing the way a technical superiority is won, to just letting it be a margin of 10-12 points gained by the winner (that are cumulative throughout the match), regardless of the period in which the margin is gained. The way it's structured now, the winner could simply gain a 6 point margin in any period and win a period by technical superiority, which again in my view doesn't allow for enough action.

What are your thoughts on suggested changes to the FILA rules?

5pointcrossankle

actually i left out one that i think is important and that is bring back par terre