This was the 25th appearance of the men's Greco-Roman heavyweight, debut in 1912 until 1928, as +82.5kg, 1932-1960 (+87kg), 1964-1968 (+97kg), 1972-1996 (100kg), 2000 (97kg), 2004-2012 (96kg), 2016 (98kg) from 2020, as 97kg as a current weight.
Musa Evloev of Russia was a defending Olympic champion, but on 6 July 2024, the Russian Wrestling Federation (RWF) announced that all the Russian wrestlers boycotted this edition of these games, Artur Aleksanyan lost to Mohammad Hadi Saravi in the final, Hadi Saravi upgraded from bronze in Tokyo, to gold as eventual champion, in the World Qualifiers, Tadeusz Michalik won by beating Nitesh, and lost to Filip Smetko and failed to qualify.
Format
This Greco-Roman competition consists of a single-elimination tournament, with a repechage used to determine the winner of two bronze medals. The two finalists face off for gold and silver medals. Each wrestler who loses to one of the two finalists moves into the repechage, culminating in a pair of bronze medal matches featuring the semifinal losers each facing the remaining repechage opponent from their half of the bracket.[2]
Rules
A typical bout consists of two halves of three minutes each separated by a 30-second break. The two competitors compete on a mat, which is nine meters in diameter. Wrestlers try to score points by executing various legal maneuvers. Points ranging from one to five are awarded by the mat referee depending on the degree of difficulty of the maneuvers. Points are also awarded to the opponent in case of infractions such as illegal holds, passivity etc. A wrestler is automatically disqualified if three cautions are awarded during a bout. Forcing an opponent's shoulders to the mat results in an instant victory by fall.[3]
During the course of a match, if a wrestler builds a 10-point advantage over the opponent, the bout is stopped and the leader is declared as the winner by technical superiority. The total scores are totaled at the end of the stipulated six-minute period, and the wrestler with the maximum points wins. In case of a tie, the wrestler who has scored the last point is declared the winner. A competitor might also be declared a winner if the opponent does not turn up or is medically unfit to compete.[3]
