Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Dates 19 July – 2 August 1996
Medal Events 20

The 1996 Olympic wrestling tournaments were held at the Georgia World Congress Center, which hosted multiple sports in Atlanta, including fencing, handball, judo, modern pentathlon fencing and shooting, table tennis, and weightlifting, in addition to wrestling. The Georgia World Congress Center is the fourth-largest convention center in the US, which was opened in 1976. It was also the venue for the International Broadcast Center (IBC) during the Atlanta Olympics.

There was no change in the wrestling program in 1996 with 10 classes in each style, and the same weight limits, including an upper weight limit of 130 kg (286 lbs) for the heaviest class in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. The format within each class was different in 1996, with the competition being decided by single-elimination matches, with classification matches for places 1-8, and a classification tournament to determine the lower places.

For the first time since 1948, a nation besides the USSR (or the Unified Team in 1992) led the Olympic medal lists in wrestling, save for 1984 when the Soviet Union did not compete. The United States won 8 medals, against the Russians 7. Russia won the most gold medals, however, with 4, followed by the USA and Poland, with 3. The US and Russia both won 3 freestyle golds, but the US led with 5 freestyle medals won. Poland led the Greco-Roman medal lists with 5 medals and 3 gold medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Light-Flyweight, Greco-Roman (≤48 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 19 19
Flyweight, Greco-Roman (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 20 20
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 20 20
Featherweight, Greco-Roman (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1996 19 19
Lightweight, Greco-Roman (≤68 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 22 22
Welterweight, Greco-Roman (≤74 kilograms), Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1996 20 20
Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤82 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 19 19
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤90 kilograms), Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1996 23 23
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤100 kilograms), Men Olympic 19 – 20 July 1996 20 20
Super-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤130 kilograms), Men Olympic 21 – 22 July 1996 19 19
Light-Flyweight, Freestyle (≤48 kilograms), Men Olympic 29 – 30 July 1996 19 19
Flyweight, Freestyle (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 31 July – 1 August 1996 19 19
Bantamweight, Freestyle (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 29 – 30 July 1996 21 21
Featherweight, Freestyle (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 31 July – 1 August 1996 21 21
Lightweight, Freestyle (≤68 kilograms), Men Olympic 29 – 30 July 1996 19 19
Welterweight, Freestyle (≤74 kilograms), Men Olympic 31 July – 1 August 1996 22 22
Middleweight, Freestyle (≤82 kilograms), Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1996 21 21
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤90 kilograms), Men Olympic 1 – 2 August 1996 21 21
Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤100 kilograms), Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1996 19 19
Super-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤130 kilograms), Men Olympic 1 – 2 August 1996 18 18
401 (401/0) 75 (75/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Light-Flyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Sim Gwon-HoKOR Aliaksandr PaulauBLR Zafar GuliyevRUS
Flyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Armen NazaryanARM Brandon PaulsonUSA Andriy KalashnykovUKR
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman, Men Yury MelnichenkoKAZ Dennis HallUSA Sheng ZetianCHN
Featherweight, Greco-Roman, Men Włodzimierz ZawadzkiPOL Juan Luis MarénCUB Mehmet Akif PirimTUR
Lightweight, Greco-Roman, Men Ryszard WolnyPOL Ghani YalouzFRA Aleksandr TretyakovRUS
Welterweight, Greco-Roman, Men Filiberto AzcuyCUB Marko AsellFIN Józef TraczPOL
Middleweight, Greco-Roman, Men Hamza YerlikayaTUR Thomas ZanderGER Valery TsylentsBLR
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men V'iacheslav OliynykUKR Jacek FafińskiPOL Maik BullmannGER
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Andrzej WrońskiPOL Siarhei LishtvanBLR Mikael LjungbergSWE
Super-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Aleksandr KarelinRUS Matt GhaffariUSA Sergei MureicoMDA
Light-Flyweight, Freestyle, Men Kim Il-OngPRK Armen MkrtchyanARM Alexis VilaCUB
Flyweight, Freestyle, Men Valentin YordanovBUL Namiq AbdullayevAZE Maulen MamyrovKAZ
Bantamweight, Freestyle, Men Kendall CrossUSA Gia SissaouriCAN Ri Yong-SamPRK
Featherweight, Freestyle, Men Tom BrandsUSA Jang Jae-SeongKOR Elbrus TedieievUKR
Lightweight, Freestyle, Men Vadim BogiyevRUS Townsend SaundersUSA Zaza ZazirovUKR
Welterweight, Freestyle, Men Buvaysar SaytiyevRUS Park Jang-SunKOR Takuya OtaJPN
Middleweight, Freestyle, Men Khadzhimurat MagomedovRUS Yang Hyeong-MoKOR Amir Reza Khadem AzgadhiIRI
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Rasoul Khadem AzgadhiIRI Makharbek KhadartsevRUS Eldar K'urt'anidzeGEO
Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Kurt AngleUSA Abbas JadidiIRI Arawat SabejewGER
Super-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Mahmut DemirTUR Aliaksei MiadzvedzeuBLR Bruce BaumgartnerUSA

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Russian Federation RUS 4 1 2 7
United States USA 3 4 1 8
Poland POL 3 1 1 5
Türkiye TUR 2 0 1 3
Republic of Korea KOR 1 3 0 4
Cuba CUB 1 1 1 3
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 1 1 1 3
Armenia ARM 1 1 0 2
Ukraine UKR 1 0 3 4
Democratic People's Republic of Korea PRK 1 0 1 2
Kazakhstan KAZ 1 0 1 2
Bulgaria BUL 1 0 0 1
Belarus BLR 0 3 1 4
Germany GER 0 1 2 3
Azerbaijan AZE 0 1 0 1
Canada CAN 0 1 0 1
Finland FIN 0 1 0 1
France FRA 0 1 0 1
Georgia GEO 0 0 1 1
Japan JPN 0 0 1 1
People's Republic of China CHN 0 0 1 1
Republic of Moldova MDA 0 0 1 1
Sweden SWE 0 0 1 1