| | Event type
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman (≤57 kilograms), Men
| Date | 19 – 20 July 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia (Hall G) | |
| Participants | 20 from 20 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament with classification rounds for placements. | |
There were three favorites, with little to help choose between them. The podium at the 1994-95 Worlds had the same three athletes – American Dennis Hall (1995 champion), Kazakh Yury Melnichenko (1994 champion), and Russian Aleksandr Ignatenko, four-times a World medalist, but never the champion. With wrestling’s odd method of not seeding wrestlers, Ignatenko and Melnichenko met in the first round, which resulted in an 11-0 romp for Melnichenko. He continued to win and made it to the final where he again met Dennis Hall. Melnichenko went up early with a 4-point lift and toss and Hall could not recover, the Kazakh winning gold, 4-1. This made him the first athlete to win a gold medal for independent Kazakhstan.
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | CP | TP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yury Melnichenko |  KAZ | – | – | Gold | ||
| 2 | Dennis Hall |  USA | – | – | Silver | ||
| 3 | Sheng Zetian |  CHN | – | – | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Ruslan Khakymov |  UKR | – | – | |||
| 5 | Rifat Yildiz |  GER | – | – | |||
| 6 | Luis Sarmiento |  CUB | – | – | |||
| 7 | Sarkis Elgkian |  GRE | – | – | |||
| 8 | Kenkichi Nishimi |  JPN | – | – | |||
| 9 | Aigars Jansons |  LAT | 8 | 18 | |||
| 10 | Vilayət Ağayev |  AZE | 7 | 15 | |||
| 11 | Park Chi-Ho |  KOR | 6 | 21 | |||
| 12 | Remigijus Šukevičius |  LTU | 6 | 17 | |||
| 13 | Aghasi Manukyan |  ARM | 4 | 6 | |||
| 14 | Armando Fernández |  MEX | 3 | 7 | |||
| 15 | Marian Sandu |  ROU | 3 | 3 | |||
| 16 | Stanisław Pawłowski |  POL | 2 | 6 | |||
| 17 | Şeref Eroğlu |  TUR | 1 | 7 | |||
| 18 | David Maia |  POR | 1 | 3 | |||
| 19 | Aleksandr Ignatenko |  RUS | 1 | 2 | |||
| 20 | Nabil Salhi |  TUN | 0 | 0 |
Round One (19 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Aghasi Manukyan | ARM | decision (4-0) (5:00) | Nabil Salhi | TUN |
| Match #2 | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR | decision (5-1) (5:00) | Remigijus Šukevičius | LTU |
| Match #3 | Yury Melnichenko | KAZ | grand superiority (11-0) (2:29) | Aleksandr Ignatenko | RUS |
| Match #4 | Marian Sandu | ROU | decision (3-2) (5:00) | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE |
| Match #5 | Rifat Yildiz | GER | grand superiority (12-0) (1:52) | Armando Fernández | MEX |
| Match #6 | Luis Sarmiento | CUB | decision (5-0) (5:00) | David Maia | POR |
| Match #7 | Park Chi-Ho | KOR | grand superiority (17-6) (3:58) | Kenkichi Nishimi | JPN |
| Match #8 | Dennis Hall | USA | decision (3-0) (7:53) | Şeref Eroğlu | TUR |
| Match #9 | Aigars Jansons | LAT | decision (4-3) (5:00) | Stanisław Pawłowski | POL |
| Match #10 | Sheng Zetian | CHN | decision (5-4) (5:00) | Vilayət Ağayev | AZE |
Round Two (19 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR | grand superiority (11-0) (2:02) | Aghasi Manukyan | ARM |
| Match #2 | Yury Melnichenko | KAZ | decision (4-0) (6:10) | Marian Sandu | ROU |
| Match #3 | Rifat Yildiz | GER | decision (4-1) (5:00) | Luis Sarmiento | CUB |
| Match #4 | Dennis Hall | USA | decision (3-2) (5:47) | Park Chi-Ho | KOR |
| Match #5 | Sheng Zetian | CHN | decision (7-1) (5:00) | Aigars Jansons | LAT |
Quarter-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Yury Melnichenko | KAZ | decision (8-1) (5:00) | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR |
| Match #2 | Rifat Yildiz | GER | bye | ||
| Match #3 | Dennis Hall | USA | bye | ||
| Match #4 | Sheng Zetian | CHN | bye |
Semi-Finals (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Yury Melnichenko | KAZ | decision (3-0) (5:00) | Rifat Yildiz | GER |
| Match #2 | Dennis Hall | USA | decision (1-0) (8:00) | Sheng Zetian | CHN |
Final Round (20 July 1996)
| Match 1/2 | Yury Melnichenko | KAZ | decision (4-1) (5:00) | Dennis Hall | USA |
| Match 3/4 | Sheng Zetian | CHN | decision (4-0) (6:49) | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR |
| Match 5/6 | Rifat Yildiz | GER | default (0-0) (0:32) | Luis Sarmiento | CUB |
| Match 7/8 | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE | decision (5-4) (5:00) | Kenkichi Nishimi | JPN |
Classification Round Two (19 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Remigijus Šukevičius | LTU | grand superiority (11-0) (1:27) | Nabil Salhi | TUN |
| Match #2 | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE | decision (3-2) (5:00) | Aleksandr Ignatenko | RUS |
| Match #3 | Armando Fernández | MEX | decision (7-3) (5:00) | David Maia | POR |
| Match #4 | Kenkichi Nishimi | JPN | decision (8-7) (5:00) | Şeref Eroğlu | TUR |
| Match #5 | Vilayət Ağayev | AZE | decision (4-3) (5:00) | Stanisław Pawłowski | POL |
Classification Round Three (19 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE | decision (6-5) (5:00) | Remigijus Šukevičius | LTU |
| Match #2 | Kenkichi Nishimi | JPN | grand superiority (12-0) (1:18) | Armando Fernández | MEX |
| Match #3 | Vilayət Ağayev | AZE | decision (7-2) (5:00) | Aghasi Manukyan | ARM |
| Match #4 | Luis Sarmiento | CUB | decision (7-0) (5:00) | Marian Sandu | ROU |
| Match #5 | Aigars Jansons | LAT | decision (9-2) (5:00) | Park Chi-Ho | KOR |
Classification Round Four (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE | decision (4-2) (5:00) | Kenkichi Nishimi | JPN |
| Match #2 | Luis Sarmiento | CUB | decision (1-0) (8:00) | Vilayət Ağayev | AZE |
| Match #3 | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR | decision (9-4) (5:00) | Aigars Jansons | LAT |
Classification Round Five (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Luis Sarmiento | CUB | decision (4-2) (5:00) | Sarkis Elgkian | GRE |
| Match #2 | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR | bye |
Classification Round Six (20 July 1996)
| Match #1 | Ruslan Khakymov | UKR | decision (3-2) (7:16) | Rifat Yildiz | GER |
| Match #2 | Sheng Zetian | CHN | decision (8-2) (5:00) | Luis Sarmiento | CUB |