Neither my wife nor I had ever seen live wrestling before the Olympics. What a difference between this sport and the "show" put on by professional wrestlers on television. This was an extremely technical sport with precise rules and points awarded for various moves. Although we didn't understand the scoring, we were nevertheless enthralled by the competition.
    We were generally aware that there were two forms of wrestling contested in the Olympics; Freestyle and Greco-Roman. We only knew that from the Olympic ticket order form that listed both of these as different events. Since "Greco-Roman" sounded more authentic somehow, we selected that one. As it turns out, the primary difference is that in Greco Roman wrestling the competitors cannot use their legs, all of the wrestling being upper body moves. Freestyle, as we found out, is closer in rules and in style to what is practiced in U.S. high school and college wrestling, and accordingly, U.S. wrestlers tend to fare better in Freestyle Olympic wrestling than in Greco-Roman Olympic wrestling.
    Wrestling was conducted in the Anaheim Convention Center, about a 45 minute drive from Los Angeles, and in close proximity to Disneyland. The drive was, however, a pleasant one with little traffic. We arrived to find that, once again, we had good seats. We were surprised to find that there were several mats upon which various bouts were being held simultaneously, much as in a gymnastics competition.
    Although we didn't see wrestling again for seven years (until the Olympic Festival held in Los Angeles in 1991) we did enjoy it. In fact, at that later tournament we met and became friends with one of the wrestlers who eventually won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.