The men's freestyle featherweight competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne took place from 28 November to 1 December at the Royal Exhibition Building. Nations were limited to one competitor. Featherweight was the third-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing .
Competition format
This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, as modified in 1952 (adding medal rounds and making all losses worth 3 points—from 1936 to 1948 losses by split decision only cost 2). Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points. The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Shozo Sasahara Decision, 3–0 Muhammad Nazir Bayram Şit Fall John Elliott Myron Roderick Decision, 3–0 Bálint Galántai Nasser Givehchi Decision, 3–0 Abe Geldenhuys Erkki Penttilä Fall Herbie Hall Jef Mewis Decision, 3–0 Ram Sarup Linar Salimullin Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 1 1 4 0 1 1 4 0 1 1 4 0 1 1 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Shozo Sasahara Decision, 2–1 Linar Salimullin Bayram Şit Decision, 2–1 Muhammad Nazir Myron Roderick Fall John Elliott Abe Geldenhuys Decision, 3–0 Bálint Galántai Nasser Givehchi Fall Herbie Hall Jef Mewis Decision, 3–0 Erkki Penttilä Ram Sarup Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 4 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 6 0 3 3 6 0 3 3 6 3 0 3 9 3 1 4 10 3 3 6 10 3 3 6 10 3 3 6 10 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Linar Salimullin Decision, 3–0 Ram Sarup Shozo Sasahara Decision, 3–0 Bayram Şit Myron Roderick Decision, 3–0 Abe Geldenhuys Erkki Penttilä Decision, 2–1 Nasser Givehchi Jef Mewis Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 2 0 2 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 3 4 1 3 4 4 3 1 4 4 3 1 4 4 1 3 4 8 3 3 6 9 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Jef Mewis Decision, 3–0 Linar Salimullin Shozo Sasahara Decision, 3–0 Myron Roderick Bayram Şit Decision, 3–0 Nasser Givehchi Erkki Penttilä Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 2 1 3 2 4 0 4 2 3 1 4 4 2 3 5 4 4 1 5 6 4 3 7 6 4 3 7
Medal rounds
Mewis's round 2 victory over Penttilä counted for the medal rounds. Sasahara received a walkover victory over Penttilä, then defeated Mewis by decision to go 2–0 against the other medalists and win the gold medal. Mewis's 1–1 record against Sasahara and Penttilä gave the Belgian silver. Penttilä finished with bronze, 0–2 against the other two medalists.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Shozo Sasahara Walkover Erkki Penttilä Shozo Sasahara Decision Jef Mewis
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses 2 0 1 1 0 2
References
General