The men's freestyle light heavyweight 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. Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest 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
Defteraios withdrew after his bout.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Kevin Coote Decision, 3–0 Bob Steckle Gholam Reza Takhti Fall Jan Theron Peter Blair Fall Veikko Lahti Adil Atan Fall Mitsuhiro Ohira Boris Kulayev Decision, 3–0 Viking Palm Gerry Martina Fall Spyros Defteraios
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 1 1 5 0 1 1 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 12 0 3 3*
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Jan Theron Decision, 3–0 Kevin Coote Gholam Reza Takhti Fall Bob Steckle Mitsuhiro Ohira Decision, 2–1 Veikko Lahti Viking Palm Decision, 3–0 Peter Blair Boris Kulayev Decision, 2–1 Adil Atan Gerry Martina Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 1 2 4 0 3 3 4 0 3 3 6 1 3 4 6 3 1 4 6 3 1 4 6 3 1 4 10 3 3 6 10 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Kevin Coote Fall Gerry Martina Peter Blair Fall Jan Theron Gholam Reza Takhti Fall Mitsuhiro Ohira Adil Atan Decision, 2–1 Viking Palm Boris Kulayev Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 3 3 0 3 3 0 3 3 5 3 1 4 5 4 0 4 7 4 3 7 7 4 3 7 7 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Boris Kulayev Fall Gerry Martina Gholam Reza Takhti Fall Kevin Coote Peter Blair Decision, 3–0 Adil Atan
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 3 3 1 4 4 3 3 6 5 4 3 7 5 4 3 7
Medal rounds
None of the medalists had faced each other yet, so a full round-robin was held. Takhti beat each of the other two medalists to win the gold medal, with Kulayev earning silver by beating Blair.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gholam Reza Takhti Fall Boris Kulayev Boris Kulayev Fall Peter Blair Gholam Reza Takhti Decision, 3–0 Peter Blair
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses 2 0 1 1 0 2
References
General