Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle welterweight

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Men's freestyle welterweight
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueRoyal Exhibition Building
Dates28 November–1 December
Competitors15 from 15 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan
2nd place, silver medalist(s) İbrahim Zengin  Turkey
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union
← 1952
1960 →

The men's freestyle welterweight 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

Ochman and Rantanen withdrew after their bouts.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria Fall Bruno Ochman  Canada
Nabi Sorouri  Iran Fall Devi Singh  India
Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan Decision, 3–0 Ernie Fischer  United States
İbrahim Zengin  Turkey Fall Ernst Wandaller  Austria
Per Berlin  Sweden Decision, 3–0 Noel Granger  Australia
Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union Decision, 3–0 Veikko Rantanen  Finland
Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany Decision, 3–0 Muhammad Latif  Pakistan
Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa 0 0 0
1 Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria 0 0 0
1 Nabi Sorouri  Iran 0 0 0
1 İbrahim Zengin  Turkey 0 0 0
5 Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union 0 1 1
5 Per Berlin  Sweden 0 1 1
5 Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan 0 1 1
5 Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany 0 1 1
9 Ernie Fischer  United States 0 3 3
9 Noel Granger  Australia 0 3 3
9 Muhammad Latif  Pakistan 0 3 3
9 Devi Singh  India 0 3 3
9 Ernst Wandaller  Austria 0 3 3
14 Bruno Ochman  Canada 0 3 3*
14 Veikko Rantanen  Finland 0 3 3*

Round 2

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa Decision, 3–0 Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria
Ernie Fischer  United States Decision, 3–0 Nabi Sorouri  Iran
Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan Fall Devi Singh  India
İbrahim Zengin  Turkey Fall Noel Granger  Australia
Per Berlin  Sweden Fall Ernst Wandaller  Austria
Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union Fall Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany
Muhammad Latif  Pakistan Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 İbrahim Zengin  Turkey 0 0 0
2 Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union 1 0 1
2 Per Berlin  Sweden 1 0 1
2 Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa 0 1 1
2 Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan 1 0 1
6 Muhammad Latif  Pakistan 3 0 3
6 Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria 0 3 3
6 Nabi Sorouri  Iran 0 3 3
9 Ernie Fischer  United States 3 1 4
9 Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany 1 3 4
11 Noel Granger  Australia 3 3 6
11 Devi Singh  India 3 3 6
11 Ernst Wandaller  Austria 3 3 6

Round 3

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa Decision, 3–0 Muhammad Latif  Pakistan
Nabi Sorouri  Iran Decision, 3–0 Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria
İbrahim Zengin  Turkey Decision, 3–0 Ernie Fischer  United States
Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan Decision, 3–0 Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union
Per Berlin  Sweden Decision, 3–0 Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 İbrahim Zengin  Turkey 0 1 1
2 Per Berlin  Sweden 1 1 2
2 Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa 1 1 2
2 Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan 1 1 2
5 Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union 1 3 4
5 Nabi Sorouri  Iran 3 1 4
7 Muhammad Latif  Pakistan 3 3 6
7 Mitko Petkov  Bulgaria 3 3 6
9 Ernie Fischer  United States 4 3 7
9 Alfred Tischendorf  United Team of Germany 4 3 7

Round 4

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Nabi Sorouri  Iran Decision, 3–0 Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa
Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan Decision, 3–0 İbrahim Zengin  Turkey
Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union Fall Per Berlin  Sweden
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan 2 1 3
2 Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union 4 0 4
2 İbrahim Zengin  Turkey 1 3 4
4 Per Berlin  Sweden 2 3 5
4 Coenraad de Villiers  South Africa 2 3 5
4 Nabi Sorouri  Iran 4 1 5

Medal rounds

Ikeda's victories over Balavadze in round 3 and Zengin in round 4 counted for the medal rounds, giving the Japanese wrestler the gold medal with a 2–0 record against the other medalists. Zengin defeated Balavadze in a de facto silver medal match.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
İbrahim Zengin  Turkey Fall Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mitsuo Ikeda  Japan 2 0
2nd place, silver medalist(s) İbrahim Zengin  Turkey 1 1
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Vakhtang Balavadze  Soviet Union 0 2

References

  1. ^ a b "Wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Welterweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 666.