Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight

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
VenueRoyal Exhibition Building
DatesDecember 3–6
Competitors10 from 10 nations
Medalists
Valentin Nikolayev  Soviet Union
Petko Sirakov  Bulgaria
Karl-Erik Nilsson  Sweden

Competition format

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

Source: Official results[3][1]

Round 1

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Adil Atan TurkeyDecision, 2–1Gyula Kovács Hungary
Valentin Nikolayev Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Petko Sirakov Bulgaria
Dale O. Thomas United StatesFallEugen Wiesberger Jr. Austria
Karl-Erik Nilsson SwedenDecision, 3–0Veikko Lahti Finland
Bob Steckle CanadaDecision, 2–1Victor Mucha Australia
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Dale O. Thomas United States000
2Adil Atan Turkey011
2Valentin Nikolayev Soviet Union011
2Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden011
2Bob Steckle Canada011
6Gyula Kovács Hungary033
6Veikko Lahti Finland033
6Victor Macha Yugoslavia033
6Petko Sirakov Bulgaria033
6Eugen Wiesberger Jr. Austria033

Round 2

Atan withdrew due to injury after his bout.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Petko Sirakov BulgariaDecision, 2–1Adil Atan Turkey
Valentin Nikolayev Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Gyula Kovács Hungary
Veikko Lahti FinlandFallDale O. Thomas United States
Eugen Wiesberger Jr. AustriaFallVictor Mucha Australia
Karl-Erik Nilsson SwedenFallBob Steckle Canada
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden101
2Valentin Nikolayev Soviet Union112
3Veikko Lahti Finland303
3Dale O. Thomas United States033
3Eugen Wiesberger Jr. Austria303
6Petko Sirakov Bulgaria314
6Bob Steckle Canada134
8Adil Atan Turkey134*
9Gyula Kovács Hungary336
9Victor Macha Yugoslavia336

Round 3

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Petko Sirakov BulgariaFallDale O. Thomas United States
Valentin Nikolayev Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Veikko Lahti Finland
Karl-Erik Nilsson SwedenDecision, 3–0Eugen Wiesberger Jr. Austria
Bob Steckle CanadaByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden112
2Valentin Nikolayev Soviet Union213
3Petko Sirakov Bulgaria404
3Bob Steckle Canada404
5Dale O. Thomas United States336
6Eugen Wiesberger Jr. Austria336
7Veikko Lahti Finland336

Round 4

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Petko Sirakov BulgariaFallBob Steckle Canada
Valentin Nikolayev Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Valentin Nikolayev Soviet Union314
1Petko Sirakov Bulgaria404
3Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden235
4Bob Steckle Canada437

Medal rounds

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
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Petko Sirakov BulgariaDecision, 3–0Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden
Points
RankWrestlerNationWinsLosses
Valentin Nikolayev Soviet Union20
Petko Sirakov Bulgaria11
Karl-Erik Nilsson Sweden02

References

  1. "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.
  2. Official Report, p. 686.
  3. "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.
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