The men's freestyle bantamweight 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. Bantamweight was the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing .
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.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Mustafa Dağıstanlı Decision, 3–0 Minoru Iizuka Tauno Jaskari Decision, 3–0 Lee Allen Adolfo Díaz Decision, 3–0 Omer Vercouteren Fred Kämmerer Decision, 3–0 Tarashkeswar Pandey Mohamed Mehdi Yaghoubi Decision, 3–0 Mykhailo Shakhov Din Zahur Decision, 3–0 Geoffrey Jameson Lee Sang-gyun Fall Ernesto Ramel
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Lee Sang-gyun 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3 8 0 3 3
Round 2
Jaskari withdrew after his bout.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Minoru Iizuka Decision, 3–0 Tauno Jaskari Mustafa Dağıstanlı Fall Lee Allen Fred Kämmerer Decision, 3–0 Adolfo Díaz Tarashkeswar Pandey Decision, 3–0 Omer Vercouteren Mohamed Mehdi Yaghoubi Fall Geoffrey Jameson Mykhailo Shakhov Fall Ernesto Ramel Lee Sang-gyun Decision, 3–0 Din Zahur
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 1 0 1 1 Lee Sang-gyun 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 4 1 1 2 5 3 0 3 6 1 3 4 6 3 1 4 6 3 1 4 6 1 3 4 10 1 3 4* 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Minoru Iizuka Fall Adolfo Díaz Mustafa Dağıstanlı Decision, 3–0 Fred Kämmerer Mohamed Mehdi Yaghoubi Fall Tarashkeswar Pandey Mykhailo Shakhov Fall Din Zahur Lee Sang-gyun Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Lee Sang-gyun 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 4 3 0 3 5 4 0 4 6 2 3 5 7 4 3 7 7 4 3 7 7 4 3 4
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Minoru Iizuka Decision, 3–0 Lee Sang-gyun Mustafa Dağıstanlı Decision, 2–1 Mohamed Mehdi Yaghoubi Mykhailo Shakhov Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 2 1 3 1 3 0 3 3 Lee Sang-gyun 1 3 4 3 1 3 4 5 4 1 5
Round 5
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Mustafa Dağıstanlı Decision, 3–0 Mykhailo Shakhov Mohamed Mehdi Yaghoubi Decision, 3–0 Lee Sang-gyun
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 3 1 4 2 4 1 5 3 3 3 6 4 Lee Sang-gyun 4 3 7
Medal rounds
Each of the three medalists had already faced the others two already, so no additional bouts were used. The results consisted of Dağıstanlı's victories over Yaghoubi in round 4 and Shakhov in round 5 and Yaghoubi's victory over Shakhov in round 1. This gave Dağıstanlı a 2–0 record against the other medalists and therefore the gold medal; Yaghoubi a 1–1 record and the silver medal, and Shakhov a 0–2 record and the bronze medal.
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses 2 0 1 1 0 2
References
General