Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle lightweight explained

Event:Men's freestyle lightweight
Games:1960 Summer
Venue:Basilica of Maxentius
Dates:1–6 September
Competitors:24
Nations:24
Gold:Shelby Wilson
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Volodymyr Syniavskiy
Silvernoc:URS
Bronze:Enyu Valchev
Bronzenoc:BUL
Prev:1956
Next:1964

The men's freestyle lightweight competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome took place from 1 to 6 September at the Basilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.[1]

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, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist.[2] [1]

Results

Round 1

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Decision
Decision
Fall
Fall
Fall
Decision
Decision
Decision
Decision
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
4 0 1 1
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
13 0 3 3
22 0 4 4
22 0 4 4
22 0 4 4

Round 2

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Fall
Decision
Decision
Fall
Decision
Decision
Fall
Decision
Fall
Fall
Decision
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 1 0 1
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
6 1 1 2
6 1 1 2
6 1 1 2
9 3 0 3
9 0 3 3
9 3 0 3
12 3 1 4
12 1 3 4
12 1 3 4
15 1 4 5
15 4 1 5
17 3 3 6
17 3 3 6
17 3 3 6
20 3 4 7
20 3 4 7
20 4 3 7
20 3 4 7
24 4 4 8

Round 3

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Decision
Fall
Hayrullah Şahinkaya Tie Garibaldo Nizzola
Decision
Decision
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 1 0 1
2 1 1 2
3 2 1 3
3 1 2 3
3 2 1 3
6 1 3 4
6 1 3 4
8 2 3 5
8 4 1 5
8 4 1 5
8 3 2 5
12 5 1 6
12 3 3 6
12 3 3 6
15 4 3 7
16 5 4 9

Round 4

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Fall
Decision
Decision
Fall
Decision
Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 1 0 1
2 3 0 3
3 3 1 4
3 3 1 4
5 5 0 5
5 2 3 5
5 4 1 5
8 4 4 8
8 5 3 8
8 5 3 8
11 5 4 9

Round 5

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Fall
Fall
Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 4 0 4
2 4 1 5
2 5 0 5
2 5 0 5
2 1 4 5
6 3 4 7
7 5 3 8

Round 6

Wilson's victory over Syniavskiy in round 4 turned out to be the gold medal winning match, as those two wrestlers were the only ones left with fewer than 6 points at the end of round 6. They each had 5 points, so the tie was broken by head-to-head results. (Bong and Tajiki had not faced each other, and ties for 4th or worse place were not broken unless head-to-head results were already achieved, so they shared 4th place.)

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
4 1 5
5 0 5
5 1 6
4 5 3 8
4 5 3 8

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wrestling at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Lightweight . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170554/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/WRE/mens-lightweight-freestyle.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 22 March 2019.
  2. Official Report, p. 515.