The men's freestyle lightweight 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. Lightweight was the fourth-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 Muhammad Ashraf Fall O Tae-geun Mario Tovar Fall Mateo Tanaquin Jay Thomas Evans Fall Jack Taylor Shigeru Kasahara Fall David Schumacher Gyula Tóth Fall Juan Rolón Emam-Ali Habibi Fall Olle Anderberg Roger Bielle Decision, 2–1 Väinö Hakkarainen Garibaldo Nizzola Fall Lakhshmi Kant Pandey Adil Güngör Decision, 3–0 Georgi Zaychev Alimbeg Bestaev Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 1 1 9 0 1 1 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 O Tae-geun 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3 11 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Alimbeg Bestaev Fall O Tae-geun Mario Tovar Decision, 2–1 Muhammad Ashraf Jack Taylor Decision, 3–0 Mateo Tanaquin Jay Thomas Evans Decision, 3–0 Shigeru Kasahara Juan Rolón Decision, 3–0 David Schumacher Emam-Ali Habibi Decision, 3–0 Gyula Tóth Olle Anderberg Decision, 2–1 Väinö Hakkarainen Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 2–1 Roger Bielle Adil Güngör Decision, 3–0 Lakhshmi Kant Pandey Georgi Zaychev Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 6 1 1 2 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 3 0 3 11 3 1 4 11 1 3 4 11 3 1 4 11 3 1 4 15 3 3 6 15 O Tae-geun 3 3 6 15 3 3 6 15 3 3 6 15 3 3 6
Round 3
Anderberg was injured and withdrew.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Alimbeg Bestaev Fall Georgi Zaychev Muhammad Ashraf Decision, 3–0 Jack Taylor Jay Thomas Evans Decision, 3–0 Mario Tovar Shigeru Kasahara Fall Juan Rolón Gyula Tóth Forfeit Olle Anderberg Emam-Ali Habibi Decision, 3–0 Roger Bielle Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 2–1 Adil Güngör
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 5 3 0 3 5 3 0 3 7 3 1 4 7 1 3 4 9 2 3 5 10 3 3 6 11 4 3 7 11 4 3 7 11 4 3 7 11 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Alimbeg Bestaev Fall Muhammad Ashraf Shigeru Kasahara Fall Mario Tovar Gyula Tóth Decision, 3–0 Jay Thomas Evans Emam-Ali Habibi Decision, 3–0 Garibaldo Nizzola
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 2 1 3 2 3 0 3 4 3 1 4 5 2 3 5 5 2 3 5 7 4 3 7 7 4 3 7
Round 5
It is unclear why Tóth finished fourth despite having fewer bad points than Kasahara, who advanced to the medal rounds, at the end of this round.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gyula Tóth Decision, 2–1 Alimbeg Bestaev Emam-Ali Habibi Decision, 3–0 Shigeru Kasahara
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 3 3 2 3 1 4 3 3 3 6 4 4 1 5
Medal rounds
Habibi's round 5 victory over Kasahara counted for the medal rounds. Habibi also defeated Bestaev, taking the gold medal with a 2–0 record against the other medalists. Kasahara never faced Bestaev; it is unclear how the silver and bronze medals were decided.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Emam-Ali Habibi Fall Alimbeg Bestaev
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses 2 0 0 1 0 1
References
General