Wrestling at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 31 July 1976
Medal Events 20

Wrestling in 1976 was mostly conducted at the Pierre Charbonneau Center in the Olympic Park, although the final rounds of freestyle were held at the Maurice Richard Arena. The Pierre Charbonneau Arena was built in 1957 and hosts various conventions, exhibitions and sporting events. It was originally built as a police academy but has been the home arena for various Canadian professional basketball teams. The Maurice Richard Arena was built in 1962 and is named after an all-time Canadian hero from the NHL. It is mainly an ice rink, although some conventions and corporate events are held there.

The 1976 wrestling program was the same as in 1972 with 10 weight classes in each style, with no change in the weight limits. The event was again conducted by the negative (bad) point system, with a slight tweak in the scoring system from 1972, as win by fall or superior decision was now given 0 points, and loss by fall or superior decision earned 4 points. The negative (bad) point system was effectively a double elimination tournament, although a wrestler could not be eliminated after a victory. When three wrestlers remained in any class, they entered a medal round-robin competition, with previous match results carried over.

Soviet wrestling dominance was absolute in 1976. They won 12 gold medals and 18 medals in the 20 classes. They led both styles in both medal lists, with 8 medals and 5 golds in freestyle, and winning medals in all 10 classes in Greco-Roman, with 7 gold medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Light-Flyweight, Greco-Roman (≤48 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 15 15
Flyweight, Greco-Roman (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 17 17
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 17 17
Featherweight, Greco-Roman (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 17 17
Lightweight, Greco-Roman (≤68 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 21 21
Welterweight, Greco-Roman (≤74 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 18 18
Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤82 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 17 17
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤90 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 13 13
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤100 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 13 13
Super-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>100 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1976 12 12
Light-Flyweight, Freestyle (≤48 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 18 18
Flyweight, Freestyle (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 19 19
Bantamweight, Freestyle (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 21 21
Featherweight, Freestyle (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 17 17
Lightweight, Freestyle (≤68 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 24 24
Welterweight, Freestyle (≤74 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 21 21
Middleweight, Freestyle (≤82 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 18 18
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤90 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 21 21
Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤100 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 15 15
Super-Heavyweight, Freestyle (>100 kilograms), Men Olympic 27 – 31 July 1976 15 15
330 (330/0) 41 (41/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Light-Flyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Aleksey ShumakovURS Gheorghe BerceanuROU Stefan AngelovBUL
Flyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Vitaly KonstantinovURS Nicu GingăROU Koichiro HirayamaJPN
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman, Men Pertti UkkolaFIN Ivica FrgićYUG Farkhat MustafinURS
Featherweight, Greco-Roman, Men Kazimierz LipieńPOL Nelson DavidyanURS László RécziHUN
Lightweight, Greco-Roman, Men Suren NalbandyanURS Ștefan RusuROU Heinz-Helmut WehlingGDR
Welterweight, Greco-Roman, Men Anatoly BykovURS Vítězslav MáchaTCH Karl-Heinz HelbingFRG
Middleweight, Greco-Roman, Men Momir PetkovićYUG Vladimir CheboksarovURS Ivan KolevBUL
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Valery RezantsevURS Stoyan NikolovBUL Czesław KwiecińskiPOL
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Nikolay BalboshinURS Kamen GoranovBUL Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
Super-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Aleksandr KolchinskyURS Aleksandar TomovBUL Roman CodreanuROU
Light-Flyweight, Freestyle, Men Hasan IsaevBUL Roman DmitriyevURS Akira KudoJPN
Flyweight, Freestyle, Men Yuji TakadaJPN Aleksandr IvanovURS Jeon Hae-SeopKOR
Bantamweight, Freestyle, Men Vladimir YuminURS Hans-Dieter BrüchertGDR Masao AraiJPN
Featherweight, Freestyle, Men Yang Jeong-MoKOR Zevegiin OidovMGL Gene DavisUSA
Lightweight, Freestyle, Men Pavel PiniginURS Butch KeaserUSA Yasaburo SugawaraJPN
Welterweight, Freestyle, Men Jiichiro DateJPN Mansour BarzegarIRI Stan DziedzicUSA
Middleweight, Freestyle, Men John PetersonUSA Viktor NovozhilovURS Adolf SegerFRG
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Levan TediashviliURS Ben PetersonUSA Stelica MorcovROU
Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Ivan YaryginURS Russ HellicksonUSA Dimo KostovBUL
Super-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Soslan AndiyevURS József BallaHUN Ladislau ȘimonROU

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 12 5 1 18
Japan JPN 2 0 4 6
Bulgaria BUL 1 3 3 7
United States USA 1 3 2 6
Yugoslavia YUG 1 1 0 2
Poland POL 1 0 2 3
Republic of Korea KOR 1 0 1 2
Finland FIN 1 0 0 1
Romania ROU 0 3 3 6
East Germany GDR 0 1 1 2
Hungary HUN 0 1 1 2
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 1 0 1
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 0 1 0 1
Mongolia MGL 0 1 0 1
West Germany FRG 0 0 2 2