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Aleksandr Karelin
Born
Greco-Roman, 130 kg. Three Olympic golds (1988, 1992, 1996), nine world titles and a 13-year unbeaten run that ended only in the 2000 Olympic final against Rulon Gardner. The reverse body lift, throwing heavyweights over his own head, is why opponents preferred to concede points lying flat rather than risk the throw.
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Mijaín López
Born
Greco-Roman, 120 and 130 kg. The Cuban won five consecutive Olympic golds from Beijing 2008 to Paris 2024, the first wrestler to win the same individual event at five Games, then left his shoes on the mat. His control from the clinch and his patience in par terre made him almost impossible to score on for sixteen years.
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Hamid Sourian
Born
Greco-Roman, 55 kg. Iran's lightest great won London 2012 gold and six world titles, mostly at a weight where speed decides everything. Watch for his gut wrenches from par terre: tight, fast and repeated until the bout was effectively over.
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Armen Nazaryan
Born
Greco-Roman, 52 and 58 kg. Won Olympic gold for Armenia in 1996 and again for Bulgaria in 2000, a rare case of an elite career carried across two national programmes and two weight classes without losing its edge.
More about Armen Nazaryan5
Ivar Johansson (wrestler)
Born
Freestyle and Greco-Roman. At Los Angeles 1932 the Swede won gold in both styles at the same Games, then added a third Olympic title in 1936. It is the clearest early proof that the two rule sets reward different skills, and that one wrestler could master both.
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Wilfried Dietrich
Freestyle and Greco-Roman heavyweight. The German competed at five Olympics, winning freestyle gold in 1960 and medals in both styles across his career. His 1972 belly-to-belly suplex of the 180 kg American Chris Taylor remains the image people reach for when they explain Greco-Roman lifting.
More about Wilfried Dietrich7
Aleksandr Medved
Born
Freestyle, light heavyweight and heavyweight. Three Olympic golds in a row (1964, 1968, 1972) and seven world titles, often against much heavier men. Medved won by movement and leverage rather than size, which makes his footage still useful to anyone learning heavyweight freestyle.
More about Aleksandr Medved8
Ivan Yarygin
Born
Freestyle, 100 kg. Olympic champion in 1972 and 1976, winning every Munich bout by fall. The annual Yarygin Grand Prix in Krasnoyarsk carries his name and is still one of the hardest tournaments on the freestyle calendar.
More about Ivan Yarygin9
Dan Gable
Born
Freestyle, 68 kg. Won the 1971 world title and Munich 1972 gold without conceding a single point at the Olympics. His international career was short, but its standard of conditioning and relentless pace set the template he then took into decades of coaching at Iowa.
More about Dan Gable10
Sergei Beloglazov
Freestyle, 52 and 57 kg. Olympic champion in 1980 and 1988 with six world titles in between, the eight-year gap showing how long he stayed at the top of the lightest weights. His twin brother Anatoly was also a world champion.
More about Sergei Beloglazov11
Arsen Fadzaev
Born
Freestyle, 68 kg. Two Olympic golds (1988 for the Soviet Union, 1992 for the Unified Team) and six world titles. Fadzaev was famous for scoring from positions where others defended, and his technical range made him a reference point for a generation of Ossetian wrestlers.
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John Smith (American wrestler)
Freestyle, 62 kg. Six consecutive world and Olympic titles from 1987 to 1992, including Olympic golds in Seoul and Barcelona. His low single leg, shot from a crouch almost at mat level, was so efficient that opponents rebuilt their stances to defend it.
More about John Smith (American wrestler)13
Valentin Yordanov
Born
Freestyle, 52 kg. Seven world titles across the 1980s and 1990s, then Olympic gold at Atlanta 1996 after several near misses. Yordanov's record is a lesson in persistence at a weight where one bad day ends a four-year cycle.
More about Valentin Yordanov14
Buvaisar Saitiev
Born
Freestyle, 74 kg. Olympic gold in 1996, 2004 and 2008 and six world titles. Saitiev's balance and hip movement let him score from positions that looked like defence, and many coaches still call him the most technically complete freestyler of the modern era.
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Abdulrashid Sadulaev
Born
Freestyle, 86, 92 and 97 kg. Olympic gold in 2016 and 2020 and six world titles across three weights, the latest at 92 kg in 2024. His forward pressure and single-leg finishes earned the nickname "the Russian Tank", and his series of bouts with Kyle Snyder is the defining rivalry of modern 97 kg wrestling.
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Kyle Snyder (wrestler)
Freestyle, 97 kg. Became the youngest American Olympic wrestling champion at Rio 2016, took silver in Tokyo, and has five world titles, the latest in 2025 and 2026. A decade at the top of one weight, with a high-paced, front-headlock style built to break opponents in the second period.
More about Kyle Snyder (wrestler)17
Hassan Yazdani
Born
Freestyle, 74, 86 and 97 kg. Olympic gold at 74 kg in 2016, silver at 86 kg in 2020 and 2024, and three world titles. Yazdani's late-bout comebacks are the draw: he is at his most dangerous when behind on points with a minute left.
More about Hassan Yazdani18
Jordan Burroughs
Born
Freestyle, 74 and 79 kg. London 2012 gold and six world titles from 2011 to 2022. His blast double leg, shot from distance at full speed, made him the most watched American wrestler of the 2010s and a fixture on the world podium for more than a decade.
More about Jordan Burroughs19
Saori Yoshida
Born
Women's freestyle, 55 kg. Three Olympic golds (2004 to 2012), Rio 2016 silver and 13 world titles. Her tackle, a double leg taken with unusual speed and depth, was the foundation of Japan's dominance once women's wrestling joined the Olympics.
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Kaori Icho
Women's freestyle, 63 and 58 kg. The first woman in any sport to win individual gold at four consecutive Olympics (2004 to 2016), with ten world titles alongside. Icho's defence was so sound that her bouts were often decided by a single scoring exchange.
More about Kaori Icho21
Adeline Gray
Born
Women's freestyle, 67 to 76 kg. Six world titles between 2012 and 2021, the most by any American wrestler, plus Tokyo 2020 silver. Gray's longevity across weight changes and rule tweaks makes her career a useful benchmark for the heavier women's divisions.
More about Adeline Gray22
Helen Maroulis
Women's freestyle, 53 to 58 kg. Beat Saori Yoshida for Rio 2016 gold, then came back from concussions to win Olympic bronze in 2020 and 2024 and a fourth world title in 2025. Few careers show tactical adaptation as clearly: the later Maroulis wins with positioning, not volume.
More about Helen Maroulis23
Yui Susaki
Born
Women's freestyle, 48 and 50 kg. Won Tokyo 2020 gold without conceding a point and has five world titles, the latest in 2026. Her shock first-round loss in Paris, followed by a bronze, only underlined how rarely anyone scores on her.
More about Yui Susaki24
Tamyra Mensah-Stock
Born
Women's freestyle, 68 kg. Tokyo 2020 gold, the first by a Black American woman in wrestling, with world titles in 2019 and 2022. Her explosive leg attacks and joyful presence did a lot to widen the sport's audience in the United States.
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