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| Event type

Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>87 kilograms), Men

Date3 – 6 December 1956
StatusOlympic
LocationRoyal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants10 from 10 countries
FormatElimination by bad points. Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss by 2-1 decision = 3 points; loss by 3-0 decision = 3 points; loss by fall = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler.

Sweden’s Bertil Antonsson was favored, having won the 1950 and 1953 World Championships, and a silver medal at the 1955 Worlds. He had won silver medals in 1948 and 1952 as a heavyweight, but in freestyle. However, Antonsson lost his third-round match to Germany’s Wilfried Dietrich and his fourth-round match to the unknown Italian, Adelmo Bulgarelli, and was eliminated. Dietrich had seemed to win his first-round match against Soviet wrestler Anatoly Parfyonov, but the Soviets appealed the decision, and it was reversed, giving Parfyonov a split decision. Parfyonov then lost to Antonsson in round two, but he would advance to the final round with a walkover in round three, and a bye in round four. In the first round of the finals, Parfyonov defeated Bulgarelli by decision, which gave the Soviet the gold medal, because of his disputed first-round victory over Dietrich, the other finalist. Dietrich then defeated Bulgarelli by unanimous decision for the silver medal.

Dietrich was competing in his first Olympics, but he would compete in five Olympics (1956-72), and in eight Olympic wrestling tournaments, an Olympic record, competing in both styles in 1960, 1964, and 1972. He would eventually win five Olympic medals, including gold in 1960 freestyle heavyweight, which is an all-time best in Olympic wrestling through 2012. In contrast, this was the only international tournament of Parfyonov’s career.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCREBad Points
1Anatoly ParfyonovURSGold
2Wilfried DietrichGERSilver
3Adelmo BulgarelliITABronze
4Hamit KaplanTUR
5Bertil AntonssonSWE
6Taisto KangasniemiFIN
ACAntonios GeorgoulisGREEliminated r3/67
ACYusein MehmedovBULWithdrew r3/64
ACJoe ZammitAUSEliminated r2/66
ACDale LewisUSAEliminated r2/66

Round One (3 December 1956 — -)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Bertil AntonssonSWE0
=2Yusein MehmedovBUL1
=2Antonios GeorgoulisGRE1
=2Hamit KaplanTUR1
=2Anatoly ParfyonovURS1
6Wilfried DietrichGER2
=7Joe ZammitAUS3
=7Taisto KangasniemiFIN3
=7Adelmo BulgarelliITA3
=7Dale LewisUSA3

Match #1 Hamit KaplanTUR
decision (3-0)
Adelmo BulgarelliITA
Match #2 Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
decision (3-0)
Joe ZammitAUS
Match #3 Yusein MehmedovBUL
decision (3-0)
Taisto KangasniemiFIN
Match #4 Bertil AntonssonSWE
fall (10:00)
Dale LewisUSA
Match #5 Anatoly ParfyonovURS
decision (2-1)
Wilfried DietrichGER

Round Two (4 December 1956 — -)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Bertil AntonssonSWE1
=2Wilfried DietrichGER2
=2Hamit KaplanTUR2
=4Taisto KangasniemiFIN3
=4Adelmo BulgarelliITA3
=6Yusein MehmedovBUL4
=6Antonios GeorgoulisGRE4
=6Anatoly ParfyonovURS4
=9Joe ZammitAUS6eliminated
=9Dale LewisUSA6eliminated

Match #1 Adelmo BulgarelliITA
fall (11:00)
Joe ZammitAUS
Match #2 Hamit KaplanTUR
decision (3-0)
Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
Match #3 Taisto KangasniemiFIN
fall (14:52)
Dale LewisUSA
Match #4 Wilfried DietrichGER
fall (7:09)
Yusein MehmedovBUL
Match #5 Bertil AntonssonSWE
decision (3-0)
Anatoly ParfyonovURS

Round Three (5 December 1956 — -)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Wilfried DietrichGER3
=1Adelmo BulgarelliITA3
=1Hamit KaplanTUR3
=4Bertil AntonssonSWE4
=4Anatoly ParfyonovURS4
6Taisto KangasniemiFIN5eliminated
7Antonios GeorgoulisGRE7eliminated

Match #1 Adelmo BulgarelliITA
fall (9:00)
Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
Match #2 Hamit KaplanTUR
decision (2-1)
Taisto KangasniemiFIN
Match #3 Anatoly ParfyonovURS walkover
Match #4 Wilfried DietrichGER
decision (3-0)
Bertil AntonssonSWE

Round Four (6 December 1956 — -)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Wilfried DietrichGER4
=1Adelmo BulgarelliITA4
=1Anatoly ParfyonovURS4
4Hamit KaplanTUR6eliminated
5Bertil AntonssonSWE7eliminated

Match #1 Adelmo BulgarelliITA
decision (3-0)
Bertil AntonssonSWE
Match #2 Wilfried DietrichGER
decision (3-0)
Hamit KaplanTUR
Match #3 Anatoly ParfyonovURS bye

Round Five (6 December 1956 — -)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Wilfried DietrichGER4
2Anatoly ParfyonovURS5eliminated
3Adelmo BulgarelliITA7eliminated

Match #1 Anatoly ParfyonovURS
decision (3-0)
Adelmo BulgarelliITA
Match #2 Wilfried DietrichGER bye

Final Round (6 December 1956)

Match #1 Wilfried DietrichGER
decision (3-0)
Adelmo BulgarelliITA