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

Men's freestyle middleweight
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueRoyal Exhibition Building
Dates28 November–1 December
Competitors15 from 15 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dan Hodge  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union
← 1952
1960 →

The men's freestyle middleweight 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] Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 73 to 79 kilograms (160.9 to 174.2 lb).[2]

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
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Viljo Punkari  Finland Fall Muhammad Faiz  Pakistan
Dan Hodge  United States Fall George Farquhar  Great Britain
Bakshish Singh  India Decision, 3–0 William Davies  Australia
Bengt Lindblad  Sweden Decision, 3–0 Manie van Zyl  South Africa
Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany Fall Nicolas Arcales  Philippines
Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria Decision, 3–0 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union
Abbas Zandi  Iran Decision, 3–0 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan
İsmet Atlı  Turkey Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 İsmet Atlı  Turkey 0 0 0
1 Dan Hodge  United States 0 0 0
1 Viljo Punkari  Finland 0 0 0
1 Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany 0 0 0
5 Bengt Lindblad  Sweden 0 1 1
5 Bakshish Singh  India 0 1 1
5 Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 0 1 1
5 Abbas Zandi  Iran 0 1 1
9 Nicolas Arcales  Philippines 0 3 3
9 William Davies  Australia 0 3 3
9 Muhammad Faiz  Pakistan 0 3 3
9 George Farquhar  Great Britain 0 3 3
9 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan 0 3 3
9 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 0 3 3
9 Manie van Zyl  South Africa 0 3 3

Round 2

Punkari withdrew after his bout.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
İsmet Atlı  Turkey Fall Muhammad Faiz  Pakistan
Dan Hodge  United States Decision, 3–0 Viljo Punkari  Finland
William Davies  Australia Decision, 3–0 George Farquhar  Great Britain
Manie van Zyl  South Africa Decision, 3–0 Bakshish Singh  India
Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany Fall Bengt Lindblad  Sweden
Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union Fall Nicolas Arcales  Philippines
Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan Fall Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria
Abbas Zandi  Iran Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 İsmet Atlı  Turkey 0 0 0
1 Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany 0 0 0
3 Dan Hodge  United States 0 1 1
3 Abbas Zandi  Iran 1 0 1
5 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan 3 0 3
5 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 3 0 3
7 William Davies  Australia 3 1 4
7 Bengt Lindblad  Sweden 1 3 4
7 Bakshish Singh  India 1 3 4
7 Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 1 3 4
7 Manie van Zyl  South Africa 3 1 4
12 Viljo Punkari  Finland 0 3 3*
13 Nicolas Arcales  Philippines 3 3 6
13 Muhammad Faiz  Pakistan 3 3 6
13 George Farquhar  Great Britain 3 3 6

Round 3

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
İsmet Atlı  Turkey Decision, 3–0 Abbas Zandi  Iran
Dan Hodge  United States Fall William Davies  Australia
Bengt Lindblad  Sweden Fall Bakshish Singh  India
Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union Fall Manie van Zyl  South Africa
Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria Fall Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany
Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 İsmet Atlı  Turkey 0 1 1
1 Dan Hodge  United States 1 0 1
3 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan 3 0 3
3 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 3 0 3
3 Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany 0 3 3
6 Bengt Lindblad  Sweden 4 0 4
6 Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 4 0 4
6 Abbas Zandi  Iran 1 3 4
9 William Davies  Australia 4 3 7
9 Bakshish Singh  India 4 3 7
9 Manie van Zyl  South Africa 4 3 7

Round 4

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
İsmet Atlı  Turkey Decision, 3–0 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan
Dan Hodge  United States Fall Abbas Zandi  Iran
Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria Fall Bengt Lindblad  Sweden
Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union Fall Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Dan Hodge  United States 1 0 1
2 İsmet Atlı  Turkey 1 1 2
3 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 3 0 3
4 Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 4 0 4
5 Kazuo Katsuramoto  Japan 3 3 6
5 Hans Sterr  United Team of Germany 3 3 6
7 Bengt Lindblad  Sweden 4 3 7
7 Abbas Zandi  Iran 4 3 7

Round 5

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union Decision, 2–1 İsmet Atlı  Turkey
Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria Fall Dan Hodge  United States
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Dan Hodge  United States 1 3 4
1 Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 3 1 4
1 Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 4 0 4
4 İsmet Atlı  Turkey 2 3 5

Medal rounds

Stanchev's victories over Skhirtladze in round 1 and Hodge in round 5 counted for the medal rounds, giving the Bulgarian wrestler the gold medal with a 2–0 record against the other medalists. Hodge defeated Skhirtladze in a de facto silver medal match.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Dan Hodge  United States Fall Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses
1st place, gold medalist(s) Nikola Stanchev  Bulgaria 2 0
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dan Hodge  United States 1 1
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Georgy Skhirtladze  Soviet Union 0 2

References

  1. ^ a b "Wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Middleweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  2. ^ a b Official Report 1958, p. 668.

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