Wrestling－Olympic sport since 1896
摔跤－1896年成为奥运会项目

　　If the Olympic Games are a history of mankind, wrestling is the prologue¹. When the ancient Games of the Olympiad were born, wrestling already was an ancient game. Widely recognised as the world's oldest competitive² sport, wrestling appeared in a series of Egyptian wall paintings as many as 5000 years ago. When the Games began in 776 BC, more than two millenniums later, it included wrestling, and, in the years that followed, wrestling featured as the main event.

　　如果说奥林匹克运动是一部人类的历史，那么摔跤就是这部历史的序幕。当古代奥林匹克诞生之时，摔跤早已是一项古代的运动了。摔跤被公认为是世界上最早的竞技体育运动，早在5000年前，埃及就出现了一系列含有摔跤场面的壁画。又过了2000多年，当古代奥运会在公元前776年诞生之时，摔跤就是其中的一项比赛，而且一直是历届奥运会的主要比赛项目。

　　The sport would return in a similar role when the Olympic Games returned after a 1500-year absence in 1896. Organisers, seeking direct links to ancient times, found a natural in the sport that had enjoyed popularity³ across much of the ancient world, from Greece, Assyria and Babylon to India, China and Japan. They resurrected Greco-Roman wrestling, a style they believed to be an exact carryover from the Greek and Roman wrestlers of old.

　　在古代奥运会中断1500年后，现代奥运会于1896年兴起，摔跤也随即找回了在奥运会中的位置。组织者在寻找与古代奥运会的直接联系过程中，自然而然地选中了摔跤运动，因为它曾在古代风靡世界大多数地方，从希腊、亚述、巴比伦到印度、中国和日本。所以他们原封不动地模仿古希腊和古罗马摔跤手的遗风，重现了“古典式摔跤”。

　　In Greco-Roman wrestling, the wrestlers used only their arms and upper bodies to attack. They could hold only those same parts of their opponents⁴. It worked nicely from a historical perspective⁵, but another breezier style was sweeping⁶ across Great Britain and the United States by then. Known as "catch as catch can", it had become standard fare - and popular professional entertainment - at fairs and festivals in both countries.

　　在古典式摔跤比赛中，摔跤选手只能用双臂和上半身去攻击对手，也只能扭抱对手的这些部位。从历史的角度来说，古典式摔跤是一项不错的运动。但同时另一种更加自由的摔跤形式风靡了整个英国和美国。这种自由式摔跤被称为“想抓哪就抓哪”的运动，而且在这两个国家里成为了人们在市集和节日里常见的节目，甚至成为流行的娱乐职业。

　　In 1904, the Olympic Games added the second wrestling event and called it "freestyle". Now, wrestlers could use their legs for pushing, lifting and tripping, and they could hold opponents above or below the waist.

　　1904年，奥运会增添了一项摔跤项目，名为“自由式摔跤”。自由式摔跤允许选手用腿来压迫、挑起和绊倒对手，也允许扭抱对手腰部以上或腰部以下的部位。