Welterweight, Freestyle (≤66 kilograms), Men
| Date | 20 August 2008 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Zhongguo Nongye Daxue Tiyuguan, Beijing | |
| Participants | 21 from 21 countries | |
| Format | Single elimination tournament. Competitors losing to the finalists entered repechage tournament for bronze medals. | |
Turkey’s Ramazan Şahin was favored, having won the 2007 World and 2008 European Championships. In the 2007 World final, he had beaten Cuban Geandry Garzón and, because FILA does not seed the wrestlers, they met in the first round, with Şahin winning again. He then defeated two-time junior world champion Mehdi Taghavi of Iran and 2006 World silver medalist Otar Tushishvili of Georgia. The final matched Şahin against Ukraine’s Andriy Stadnik and was extremely close, going three periods, with the final period resulting in a 2-2 tie, but Şahin won the gold medal on officials’ decision. Tushishvili shared the bronze medals with Indian Sushil Kumar, who would come back at London in 2012 and win the silver medal. Stadnik’s wife, Mariya, had won a bronze medal in women’s flyweight four days earlier, and would improve to a silver at London in 2012, both times representing Azerbaijan
Round One (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to round two. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.
| Match #1 | Ramazan Şahin |  TUR | |||
| Match #2 | Geandry Garzón |  CUB | |||
| Match #3 | Mehdi Taghavi |  IRI | |||
| Match #4 | Haislan Garcia |  CAN | |||
| Match #5 | Kazuhiko Ikematsu |  JPN | |||
| Match #6 | Otar Tushishvili |  GEO | |||
| Match #7 | Jeong Yeong-Ho |  KOR | |||
| Match #8 | Serafim Barzakov |  BUL | |||
| Match #9 | Albert Batyrau |  BLR | |||
| Match #10 | Yang Chun-Song |  PRK | |||
| Match #11 | Sushil Kumar |  IND | |||
| Match #12 | Andriy Stadnik |  UKR | Doug Schwab |  USA | |
| Match #13 | Buyanjavyn Batzorig |  MGL | Heinrich Barnes |  RSA | |
| Match #14 | Irbek Farniyev |  RUS | Suren Markosyan |  ARM | |
| Match #15 | Leonid Spiridonov |  KAZ | Wang Qiang |  CHN | |
| Match #16 | Emin Əzizov |  AZE | Grégory Sarrasin |  SUI |
Round Two (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.
Quarter-finals (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round two.
| Match #1 | Ramazan Şahin | TUR | Mehdi Taghavi | IRI | |
| Match #2 | Otar Tushishvili | GEO | Serafim Barzakov | BUL | |
| Match #3 | Andriy Stadnik | UKR | Albert Batyrau | BLR | |
| Match #4 | Leonid Spiridonov | KAZ | Irbek Farniyev | RUS |
Semi-finals (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to final. Losers advanced to repêchage final.
| Match #1 | Ramazan Şahin | TUR | Otar Tushishvili | GEO | |
| Match #2 | Andriy Stadnik | UKR | Leonid Spiridonov | KAZ |
Repêchage Round One (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to repêchage round two.
| Match #1 | Geandry Garzón | CUB | |||
| Match #2 | Sushil Kumar | IND | Doug Schwab | USA |
Repêchage Round Two (20 August 2008)
Winner of each match advanced to repêchage final.
| Match #1 | Geandry Garzón | CUB | Mehdi Taghavi | IRI | |
| Match #2 | Sushil Kumar | IND | Albert Batyrau | BLR |
Repêchage Final (20 August 2008)
| Match #1 | Otar Tushishvili | GEO | Geandry Garzón | CUB | |
| Match #2 | Sushil Kumar | IND | Leonid Spiridonov | KAZ |
Final (20 August 2008)
| Match 1/2 | Ramazan Şahin | TUR | Andriy Stadnik | UKR |