USA Wrestling received a memo from the international wrestling federation FILA today (December 14) with six specific rule changes in the Greco-Roman wrestling, which will be used from this point forward through the 2012 London Olympic Games.

USA Wrestling has decided to use these new rules at the U.S. Open for Greco-Roman, which will be held in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 16-17.

The memo outlines these changes:

1. The current rules must be strictly applied, in particular Article 47 – Par terre position during the bout, Article 48 – Red Zone, Article 49 – The ordered hold, and all Chapter 9. All provisions of these articles must be strictly followed, as well as all other articles of the International Wrestling Rules.

2. The GR wrestlers must be in chest to chest position for the referee to whistle the beginning of the match. During the match, the referee must require the wrestlers to maintain contact at all times.

3. During the ordered hold, the top wrestler must have his hands on his opponent’s shoulders for the referee to whistle.

4. The procedure to sanction faults must be strictly applied, that is:
a. 1st infraction – stop the match and warn the wrestler in a friendly manner (not his coach).
b. 2nd infraction – caution and points.

5. At the end of the minute and half, if the wrestler had scored one or several technical points, his opponent is no longer ordered to par terre position. This decision aims at avoiding 30 seconds of negative wrestling to end the match.

6. The draw must be done with only 2 balls of each colour. Once picked, the balls must be removed from the box in order to increase pressure to wrestle on the competitors’ shoulders.

A copy of the memo from FILA about the Greco-Roman rule changes is linked below.
http://www.themat.com/events/NewGRRules.pdf

A rules clinic will be provided at the U.S. Open in Greco-Roman with athletes and coaches concerning these new rules.