Men's freestyle heavyweight
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueRoyal Exhibition Building
Dates28 November–1 December
Competitors11 from 11 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Hamit Kaplan  Turkey
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Yusein Mekhmedov  Bulgaria
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Taisto Kangasniemi  Finland

The men's freestyle 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.[1]

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.[2][1]

Results

Round 1

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Yusein Mekhmedov BulgariaDecision, 3–0Hossein Nouri Iran
Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0John Da Silva New Zealand
Ken Richmond Great BritainDecision, 3–0Lila Ram India
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyDecision, 2–1Bill Kerslake United States
Ray Mitchell AustraliaDecision, 2–1Saburo Nakao Japan
Taisto Kangasniemi FinlandByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Taisto Kangasniemi Finland000
2Hamit Kaplan Turkey011
2Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria011
2Ray Mitchell Australia011
2Ken Richmond Great Britain011
2Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet Union011
7John Da Silva New Zealand033
7Bill Kerslake United States033
7Saburo Nakao Japan033
7Hossein Nouri Iran033
7Lila Ram India033

Round 2

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Yusein Mekhmedov BulgariaFallTaisto Kangasniemi Finland
Hossein Nouri IranDecision, 3–0John Da Silva New Zealand
Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Ken Richmond Great Britain
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyFallLila Ram India
Bill Kerslake United StatesFallRay Mitchell Australia
Saburo Nakao JapanByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Hamit Kaplan Turkey101
1Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria101
3Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet Union112
4Taisto Kangasniemi Finland033
4Bill Kerslake United States303
4Saburo Nakao Japan303
7Ray Mitchell Australia134
7Hossein Nouri Iran314
7Ken Richmond Great Britain134
10John Da Silva New Zealand336
10Lila Ram India336

Round 3

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Taisto Kangasniemi FinlandFallSaburo Nakao Japan
Yusein Mekhmedov BulgariaDecision, 3–0Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet Union
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyFallHossein Nouri Iran
Ken Richmond Great BritainFallBill Kerslake United States
Ray Mitchell AustraliaByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Hamit Kaplan Turkey101
2Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria112
3Taisto Kangasniemi Finland303
4Ray Mitchell Australia404
4Ken Richmond Great Britain404
6Ivan Vykhristyuk Soviet Union235
7Bill Kerslake United States336
7Saburo Nakao Japan336
9Hossein Nouri Iran437

Round 4

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Taisto Kangasniemi FinlandFallRay Mitchell Australia
Yusein Mekhmedov BulgariaDecision, 3–0Ken Richmond Great Britain
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Hamit Kaplan Turkey101
2Taisto Kangasniemi Finland303
2Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria213
4Ray Mitchell Australia437
4Ken Richmond Great Britain437

Medal rounds

Mekhmedov's victory over Kangasniemi in round 2 counted for the medal rounds. That victory essentially decided the silver medal, as Kaplan defeated both of the other two wrestlers to take the gold medal.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyDecision, 3–0Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria
Hamit Kaplan TurkeyDecision, 3–0Taisto Kangasniemi Finland
Points
RankWrestlerNationWinsLosses
1st place, gold medalist(s)Hamit Kaplan Turkey20
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Yusein Mekhmedov Bulgaria11
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Taisto Kangasniemi Finland02

References

  1. 1 2 "Wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Heavyweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. ↑ Official Report, p. 672.
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