The Pan American Wrestling Championships is the continental

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

championships for nations from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Three wrestling styles, recognized internationally by

FILA Fila Holdings Corp. is a sportswear brand of shoes and apparel. The company was founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Piedmont, Italy. In 2003, it was sold to United States-based Sports Brand International. Sub ...

, have been contested annually since the inception, namely:

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

, freestyle and

Sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

wrestling. Since 1997 women's freestyle is also contested along with the mentioned styles.

History

Since the inception, Sambo wrestling has been contested jointly with the Olympic wrestling styles. National teams, including the U.S. team, featured a number of veteran Sambo athletes, along with experienced international wrestlers who have decided to compete in Sambo. From the 1980s to 2000s saw the period of separation until the 2006, when FILA again took Sambo under its control, and the Pan American Sambo Championships were expected to be included at the 2006 Pan American Wrestling Championships in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The hosts in Brazil had difficulties that prevented the Sambo event to be included in the competition.

USA Wrestling USA Wrestling (formerly known as the United States Wrestling Federation and as the United States Wrestling Association) is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is ...

has agreed to host the Pan American Sambo Championships alongside its U.S. Sambo National Championships.Pan American Sombo Championships to be held alongside U S Nationals in North Palm Beach Fla Aug 19 20
BY JOSH HENSON , JULY 05, 2006, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Official Website In 2013 the Olympic styles and Sambo has been contested in

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. Following the inclusion of the Combat Sambo into the Pan American Sambo Championships programme, which isn't exactly a wrestling style, the two championships are being held separately.

Championships

Senior

Youth

Youth (Espoir) Pan American Wrestling Championships

Junior

Junior Pan American Wrestling Championships for athletes aged 17–20 years (U21) predates the Senior Championships by one year.

Cadet

U15

Team Championships

Pan American Team Championships

References

{{Panamerican Championships Wrestling competitions International sports championships in the Americas Recurring sporting events established in 1977