Wrestling at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle middleweight explained

Event:Men's freestyle middleweight
Games:1964 Summer
Venue:Komazawa Gymnasium
Dates:11–14 October
Competitors:16
Nations:16
Gold:Prodan Gardzhev
Goldnoc:BUL
Silver:Hasan Güngör
Silvernoc:TUR
Bronze:Dan Brand
Bronzenoc:USA
Prev:1960
Next:1968

The men's freestyle middleweight competition at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 11 to 14 October at the Komazawa Gymnasium. 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, as adjusted at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Each bout awarded 4 points. If the victory was by fall, the winner received 0 and the loser 4. If the victory was by decision, the winner received 1 and the loser 3. If the bout was tied, each wrestler received 2 points. A wrestler who accumulated 6 or more points was eliminated. Rounds continued until there were 3 or fewer uneliminated wrestlers. If only 1 wrestler remained, he received the gold medal. If 2 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and they faced each other for gold and silver (if they had already wrestled each other, that result was used). If 3 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and a round-robin was held among those 3 to determine medals (with previous head-to-head results, if any, counting for this round-robin).[1] [2]

Results

Round 1

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Fall
Fall
Rudolf Kobelt Fall
Tie
Fall
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation R1
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
5 1
5 1
5 1
8 2
8 2
10 3
10 3
10 3
13 4
13 4
13 4
13 4

Round 2

Five of the 16 wrestlers were eliminated, four with two losses and one with a loss by fall and a tie. Güngör was the only wrestler left with 0 points.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Fall
Fall
Tie
Fall
Tie
Decision Rudolf Kobelt
Fall
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 Total
1 0 0 0
2 1 0 1
3 0 2 2
3 0 2 2
3 2 0 2
6 3 0 3
6 0 3 3
6 2 1 3
6 1 2 3
10 3 1 4
11 1 4 5
12 4 2 6
12 3 3 6
14 4 4 8
14 4 4 8
14 4 4 8

Round 3

Three wrestlers were eliminated. Güngör remained in the lead, now with 1 point.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Decision
Decision Rudolf Kobelt
Decision
Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 Total
1 0 0 1 1
2 2 0 0 2
3 0 2 1 3
4 3 0 1 4
4 1 2 1 4
4 1 0 3 4
7 3 1 1 5
7 0 2 3 5
9 0 3 3 6
9 2 1 3 6
11 1 4 3 8

Round 4

Hollósi and Sasaki's draw eliminated both wrestlers. Bauch and Faiz were also eliminated in losses. Güngör's loss moved him to 4 points, now behind Gardzhev at 2 points and Brand at 3 points. Mahdizadeh picked up a 5th point.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Fall
Tie
Fall
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1 2 0 0 0 2
2 0 2 1 0 3
3 0 0 1 3 4
4 1 2 1 1 5
5 3 0 1 2 6
5 1 0 3 2 6
7 3 1 1 4 9
7 0 2 3 4 9

Round 5

Mahdizadeh defeated Gardzhev, but was eliminated by the win while Gardzhev had only 5 points and continued. Brand was eliminated by his loss to Güngör, who also reached 5 points and was not eliminated. With Brand and Mahdizadeh both at 6 points, the bronze medal was decided by their head-to-head result from round 2; since it was a draw, Brand won due to his lower body weight.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total
1 2 0 0 0 3 5
1 0 0 1 3 1 5
0 2 1 0 3 6
4 1 2 1 1 1 6

Final round

With two remaining wrestlers who had not yet faced each other, there was a final bout for the gold and silver medals. Gardzhev and Güngör wrestled to a draw. Gardzhev took the gold medal due to lower body weight.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Decision
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Points
2
2

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wrestling at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's Freestyle Middleweight . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418130359/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/WRE/mens-middleweight-freestyle.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 30 March 2019.
  2. Official Report, p. 477.