The lower peak blood lactate levels reached during the training period of the two Greco-Roman championships may be interpreted as a result of the lower intensity of the loading prior to competition. On the other hand, better lactate elimination rates should have been obtained. The omission of an active recovery following match type wrestling might be the reason of such a result. A similar effect could be seen in the actual competition situation. The higher blood lactate concentrations obtained following the training match two weeks prior to the free-style championship in Toronto 1993 could be considered as a reflection of a high intensity loading in wrestling. Conversely, the peak blood lactate levels reached after the training match a week before the championship were considerably low. When analyzed individually, it could be seen that experienced wrestlers were not willing to perform high loadings a week before the championship. The fairly low lactate elimination rate in this period may be considered as a sign of fatigue which has yet to be removed. The lactate levels observed during the actual competition were in-between the two training situations. When the two different wrestling styles are compared, it can be observed that lower blood lactate levels are reached following the free-style world championship compared with the Greco-Roman style (12.8 vs. 14.8 mmol/l). This observation may be explained by the fact that, compared with the free-style, Greco-Roman style involves closer contact between opponents and that upper extremities perform dynamic contractions, whereas lower extremities enter mostly isometric contractions. In conclusion, if a five minute wrestling bout is considered basically a loading of anaerobic nature, it can be used in the determination of lactacid anaerobic capacity. Thus, one may employ it as a tool to determine and control the level of anaerobic loading in training. When analyzed individually, the wrestlers with higher blood lactate elimination (65-78 %) were observed to be more successful. Still, the coach should be aware that blood lactate analysis is only one of the dimensions in evaluating performance in wrestling.