The men's freestyle lightweight competition at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

in Melbourne took place from 28 November to 1 December at the Royal Exhibition Building. Nations were limited to one competitor.

Competition format

This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

for Greco-Roman and at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

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.Official Report, p. 664.

Results

Round 1

; Bouts ; Points

Round 2

; Bouts ; Points

Round 3

Anderberg was injured and withdrew. ; Bouts ; Points

Round 4

; Bouts ; Points

Round 5

It is unclear why Tóth finished fourth despite having fewer bad points than Kasahara, who advanced to the medal rounds, at the end of this round. ; Bouts ; Points

Medal rounds

Habibi's round 5 victory over Kasahara counted for the medal rounds. Habibi also defeated Bestayev, taking the gold medal with a 2–0 record against the other medalists. Kasahara never faced Bestayev; it is unclear how the silver and bronze medals were decided. ; Bouts ; Points

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics - Men's freestyle lightweight Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics