Wrestling at the 1968 Summer Olympics

The 1968 wrestling tournament was conducted at the Pista de Hielo Insurgents, an indoor arena built specifically for the 1968 Olympics. It has since become an indoor ice rink.

There was no change in the wrestling program in 1968 as the same eight events, and weight limits, were held in freestyle and Greco-Roman. In 1972 the program would expand to 10 events in both classes. Competition was again conducted by a negative (bad) point system, with 6 points eliminating a wrestler. However, the system was tweaked once again, with scoring as follows: win by fall – 0.0 points, win by superior decision – 0.5 points, win by decision – 1.0 points, draw – 2.5 points, loss by decision – 3.0 points, loss by superior decision – 3.5 points, and a loss by fall – 4.0 points. The negative (bad) point system was effectively a double elimination tournament. When three wrestlers remained in any class, they entered a medal round-robin competition, with previous match results carried over.

As they had since they entered Olympic wrestling competition in 1952, the Soviet Union won the most medals with 9. They won 3 gold medals, trailing Japan’s 4. The Soviets won 6 Greco-Roman medals, but only 1 event, as Hungary, Bulgaria, and the GDR (East Germany) won 2 Greco-Roman golds. In freestyle, Bulgaria and Mongolia both won 4 medals, but won no events, as Japan won 3 freestyle gold medals.