A wrestling singlet is a one-piece, tight-fitting uniform, usually made of spandex (elastane) or nylon, used in wrestling.
The athletes trickle down to the weight room either individually or with their respective sports on a daily basis, all the while preparing themselves for the physical and mental strain they’ll face in that black-and-gold room.
The uniform is tight-fitting so as not to be grasped accidentally by one's opponent, and it allows the referee to see each wrestler's body clearly when awarding points or a pin.
In most high school and college wrestling matches, the competitors wear singlets in their team colors.
История и развитие Греко - Римской борьбы
Evolution of the Wrestling Singlet
The singlet became common in college wrestling in the late 1960s and early 1970s; in fact, it had been banned by the NCAA for years.
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After combing through the photo archives of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the singlet appears to make its Olympic debut in 1912. In the prior modern Olympics, most wrestlers wore tight fitting t-shirts and shorts, which is ironically the style that the sport is slowly moving back to.
This debut is almost 60 years before singlets became the mandated style of collegiate wrestling. Dan Gable, one of the icons of the sport of wrestling, did not wear a singlet while he competed at Iowa State, but did wear a singlet when he took gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
From a style perspective, the style of the singlets (fabric excluded) worn in Stockholm in 1912, are not that different than the style of the singlets worn on the mats this summer in Tokyo. However, there has been a range in styles in the century between Stockholm and Tokyo.
Singlets became consistently smaller throughout the following Olympics. The inseams grew shorter and the torsos became more narrow, less resembling a tank top.
This trend continued in to the 1980s, when singlets began to look more like a pair of short shorts with suspenders than the modern-day singlet.
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For my generation, this was the first style of singlet that many of us saw. After the 80s, inseams reversed trend began to increase again and the upper half began to look more like a tight tank top.
Singlets hit their modern cut and proportions at the 2004 Olympics in Greece, coinciding with the introduction of women’s Olympic wrestling.
United World Wrestling (UWW) provides the guidelines for Olympic singlets. The guidelines outline the maximum length of necklines and arm cuts and minimum length of inseams.
These maximum measurements prevent the return of the low-cut singleton the Olympic stage.
The guidelines also require the three digit National Olympic Committee (NOC) country code and wrestler last name to be printed on the back of the singlet.
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However, the guideline that might have biggest impact on the look of singlets is the Color Marking requirements.
Wrestling scoring distinguishes wrestlers by color. One wrestler is blue, one wrestler is red.
To facilitate this scoring system, Olympic singlets are required to have three red or blue markings, or more specifically, Pantone 2347C and Pantone 299C.
These three marking consist of one 7 centimeter band on each leg and one 7 centimeter band on the back below the name and country.
The markings are “uninterrupted sport-specific design components which must remain untouched from any graphic, logo or third party identification.”
These markings create a potential design challenge as counties have to incorporate a red or a blue into their singlet identity. Some may even have to drop a core color - think about the challenge of a blue singlet for Canada.
In the Tokyo Olympics, this has been addressed through a few approaches:
- Markings Only: In a markings-only singlet design, a country creates a singlet design true to its national flag colors and does not add any red or blue elements to the core of the design. The red or blue is only visible in the markings.
- Blue-ing / Red-ing: This isn’t quite blue for blue sake because it’s a requirement to have blue, but countries will create a mostly red or blue singlet style with their national colors as accent colors, if red and blue are not a national color. See India’s Blue singlet.
- Combination Colors: The UWW has a list of combination colors that can be used as primary for both red and blue. Some countries will use combination colors with country colors to create their singlet design. See China’s Blue singlet, where black is an approved combination color.
After looking at all the trends this year, stripes are definitely in. Many singlet designs have stripes in their designs.
One of the most talked about style elements from this Olympics is the common horizontal stripped Nike style. Multiple countries wearing Nike singlets have the similar horizontal stripped singlet style, including the United States, Canada, Serbia, and Estonia. This has been a bit confusing for those of that initially assumed their country would be the only country in that style.
Fortunately, the regulations don’t restrict all creativity. The Krygystan’s men team has a shark on their singlets, based on a nickname of one of their top wrestlers - not because the landlocked country is associated with sharks.
The Doublet
A new style of singlet, known as a double or doublet, that covers more of the upper body has recently emerged in college wrestling.
Made of the same spandex material, it is sleeve-like rather than the traditional thin-strap, open-chested singlet more commonly worn.
The high cut covers much of the chest and reaches up toward the under-arms on the side.
The low cut reaches down to the middle abdomen in the front and to the hips on the sides, and it features a single, very thin strap that runs up the back.
It is cooler, and some find it more comfortable.
Brief History of Wrestling Uniforms Before the Singlet
Contrary to what some may believe, singlets are not as old as the oldest and greatest sport. Jacob did not wear a singlet to wrestle the angel ... nor did a young Abe Lincoln when he took down town bully Jack Armstrong in their match in New Salem, Illinois nearly two centuries ago.
"Despite being all that most American fans know to be the uniform of wrestling, the singlet is not the traditional outfit of wrestling," InterMat columnist T.R. Foley wrote in 2016.
In fact, singlets were first approved by the NCAA in the late 1960s. All-time mat legends such as Bill Koll, Dan Hodge and Dan Gable did NOT wear a singlet in their high school and collegiate careers.
So what did wrestlers of the past compete in? Here's a look back at some of the uniform options of the past ...
1920s-1940s: Supporters, Tights, and Trunks
In the 1920s and early 1930s, some wrestlers wore what was called a black outside supporter, or a Black Tom, over full-length tights. A shirt was optional. Olympic wrestling team.
The outside supporter wasn't limited to the Roaring Twenties. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, wrestlers at some colleges wore tight-fitting trunks made of wool ... without shirts, without tights.
Oklahoma State, the top collegiate wrestling program at time, competed in this uniform right up to World War II ... as did Kent State University in Ohio, including the Golden Flashes' Walt Porowski, who was runner-up at heavyweight at the 1942 NCAAs.
Post-WWII: Trunks and Tights
Many college wrestling programs did not compete during World War II; the last NCAA championships were held in 1942, and did not resume until 1946.
In the years immediately after the war, a large number of college wrestlers wore tight-fitting trunks over full-length tights, stripped to the waist.
In this photo, Dick Hutton -- a three time NCAA heavyweight champ for Oklahoma State (1947-1948, 1950) -- is shown wearing this type of uniform which was common at wrestling programs in the Midwest and West.
Two other mat greats of the past -- Bill Koll, three-time NCAA champ at Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa) in the late 1940s, and Dan Hodge, also a three-time national titlewinner for University of Oklahoma in the mid-1950s -- dominated their opponents wearing trunks and tights ...
Mid-1960s: Shirts, Tights, and Trunks
By the mid-1960s, the NCAA banned shirtless wrestling.
Rules required all wrestlers to wear a three-piece uniform, consisting of a sleeveless shirt with long tails that snapped/buttoned at the crotch (much like a diaper), with full-length tights, and tight-fitting trunks made of wool, cotton or nylon.
In this photo, Frank Bettucci, Cornell University mat champ of the early 1950s -- and 2015 National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee -- is shown wearing this type of uniform.
The Singlet Era
After being specifically prohibited by NCAA rules for a number of years, one-piece singlets received the official blessing from the organization that governs most intercollegiate athletics ... and started making their appearance on college wrestling mats in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
This image from the 1970 NCAA 142-pound finals illustrates the two uniform options at the time. On the left, Larry Owings of the University of Washington, is wearing a singlet with tights (which were mandatory through the 1970s) ... while Dan Gable of Iowa State is wearing his school's three-piece uniform as described in the previous paragraph.
A decade or so ago, the NCAA altered its uniform rules to allow college wrestlers the option of wearing a two-piece, compression-type uniform instead of a singlet.
Arguments For and Against Singlets
The standard uniform for amateur wrestling creates strong feelings for and against. Those who are in favor of the singlet immediately mention the long tradition of the one-piece singlet being THE uniform for the sport ... and raise concerns about the potential for injuries when wrestlers get their fingers caught in an opponent's two-piece uniform.
The ongoing pro/con discussion about singlets has taken on new energy in recent weeks, thanks to Matt Krumrie's feature article for USA Wrestling titled "Is it time for wrestling to ditch the singlet?" ... and Edinboro University unveiling new two-piece uniforms this season.
That said, the singlet has been a subject of discussion -- and, in some cases, derision -- for years.
In that same article from more than a decade ago, Brian Smith, head coach at the University of Missouri, offered his opinion: "There is a lot of peer pressure when they are younger, especially in junior high school. We need kids to think of this as a really cool-looking outfit.