The men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight was a Greco-Roman wrestling event held as part of the Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing up to 87 kilograms.[1]
| Men's light heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling at the Games of the XVI Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Royal Exhibition Building | ||||||||||||
| Dates | December 3–6 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 10 from 10 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Competition format edit
This Greco-Roman 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 edit
Source: Official results[3][1]
Round 1 edit
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adil Atan |  Turkey |
Decision, 2–1 | Gyula Kovács |  Hungary
|
| Valentin Nikolayev |  Soviet Union |
Decision, 3–0 | Petko Sirakov |  Bulgaria
|
| Dale O. Thomas |  United States |
Fall | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. |  Austria
|
| Karl-Erik Nilsson |  Sweden |
Decision, 3–0 | Veikko Lahti |  Finland
|
| Bob Steckle |  Canada |
Decision, 2–1 | Victor Mucha |  Australia
|
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dale O. Thomas | United States |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Adil Atan | Turkey |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary |
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Victor Mucha | Australia |
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
0 | 3 | 3 |
Round 2 edit
Atan withdrew due to injury after his bout.
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
Decision, 2–1 | Adil Atan | Turkey
|
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
Decision, 3–0 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary
|
| Veikko Lahti | Finland |
Fall | Dale O. Thomas | United States
|
| Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
Fall | Victor Mucha | Australia
|
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada
|
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Dale O. Thomas | United States |
0 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
3 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Adil Atan | Turkey |
1 | 3 | 4* |
| 9 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary |
3 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Victor Mucha | Australia |
3 | 3 | 6 |
Round 3 edit
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
Fall | Dale O. Thomas | United States
|
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
Decision, 3–0 | Veikko Lahti | Finland
|
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
Decision, 3–0 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria
|
| Bob Steckle | Canada |
Bye | N/A | N/A |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Dale O. Thomas | United States |
3 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
3 | 3 | 6 |
Round 4 edit
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada
|
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
Decision, 3–0 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden
|
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
3 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
2 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
4 | 3 | 7 |
Medal rounds edit
Nikolayev's victories over Sirakov in round 1 and over Nilsson in round 4 counted for the medal round, giving him the gold medal at 2–0 against the other medalists. Sirakov defeated Nilsson in a de facto silver medal bout.
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
Decision, 3–0 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden
|
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union |
2 | 0 |
 |
Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
1 | 1 |
 |
Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |
0 | 2 |
References edit
- ^ a b c "Wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- ^ Official Report, p. 686.
- ^ "The Official Report of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XVI Olympiad Melbourne 1956" (PDF). The Organizing Committee of the XVI Olympiad, Melbourne. 1958. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2012-08-19.