2,400-year-old grave of possible ancient pro wrestler discovered in Turkey
A tomb excavated in Aspendos, Turkey, revealed a skeleton buried with several coins featuring ancient wrestlers.
Archaeologists excavating near the ancient town of Aspendos in Turkey have discovered the grave of a person who may have been a pro athlete over two millennia ago.
“Coins with depictions of wrestlers and other artifacts found in the tomb indicate that the person buried here may have been involved in sports, perhaps even a wrestler,” Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkey’s minister of culture and tourism, said in a translated statement Monday (Aug. 10).
The archaeologists found the skeleton and artifacts in a box-style sarcophagus made of stone slabs while digging in one of the cemeteries outside Aspendos. The tomb likely dates to between 475 and 300 B.C., during the city’s Classical period, according to the statement.
Aspendos was a Greco-Roman city in southwest Turkey, roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The city was founded by Greek colonists in the fifth century B.C. and quickly rose to prominence as a trading center for salt, olive oil, wood and horses. Aspendos had a large Greek gymnasium as well as a large stadium that was erected in the second century A.D. and could hold up to 8,000 spectators who watched footraces, javelin contests and wrestling.
The ancient sport of wrestling is linked to Aspendos primarily through the city’s coinage. … more at … https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/2-400-year-old-grave-of-possible-ancient-pro-wrestler-discovered-in-turkey?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
2027 Senior World Team Procedures Approved In Olympic Weights
Aug 10, 2026, 1:38 PM EDT
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Wrestling has approved and posted its procedures to determine the Senior World Team in the 18 Olympic weight classes for the 2027 season.
A distinct set of procedures is established for each Olympic discipline—men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. These procedures were developed and approved by the Sport Committee for each discipline, then received final approval from the USA Wrestling Board of Directors.
All three Olympic disciplines will determine their Senior World Team in the Olympic weight classes—six weights per discipline—at the U.S. Open Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April 2027. This is a significant procedural update from the 2026 Senior World Team selection process. … more at … https://www.themat.com/news/2026/august/10/2027-senior-world-team-procedures-approved-in-olympic-weights?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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