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 79 to 87 kilograms (174.2 to 191.8 lb).[1][2]

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
1st place, gold medalist(s) Valentin Nikolayev  Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Petko Sirakov  Bulgaria
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Karl-Erik Nilsson  Sweden
← 1952
1960 →

Competition format

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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

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Source: Official results[3][4][1]

Round 1

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b Official Report 1958, 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.
  4. ^ Official Report 1958.

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