Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle welterweight explained
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] Welterweight was the fourth-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 67to.
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.[1]
Results
Round 1
Ochman and Rantanen withdrew after their bouts.
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|
| | Fall | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Bye | N/A | N/A | |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|
| 1 | | | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | | | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | | | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | | | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 14 | | | 0 | 3 | 3* |
| 14 | | | 0 | 3 | 3* | |
Round 2
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Fall | | |
| | Bye | N/A | N/A | |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|
| 1 | | | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | | | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | | | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | | | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | | | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 11 | | | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 11 | | | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 11 | | | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
Round 3
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | | |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|
| 1 | | | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | | | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | | | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | | | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | | | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | | | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 9 | | | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
Round 4
- Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
|---|
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Decision, 3–0 | | |
| | Fall | | | |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
|---|
| 1 | | | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | | | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | | | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | | | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | | | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | | | 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 |
|---|
| | Fall | | | |
- Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
|---|
| | | 2 | 0 |
| | | 1 | 1 |
| | | 0 | 2 | |
References
General
Notes and References
- Web site: Wrestling at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Welterweight . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418132139/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1956/WRE/mens-welterweight-freestyle.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 14 March 2019.
