| | Event type

Flyweight, Freestyle (≤52 kilograms), Men

Date	17 – 20 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Pista de Hielo Insurgentes, Ciudad de México
Participants	23 from 23 countries
Format	Scoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall. Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler. When three or fewer wrestlers remained, they advanced to a final round, with preliminary results carried forward.

At the 1967 World Championships Shigeo Nakata of Japan had defeated American Rich Sanders for the gold medal. Sanders had also won a bronze medal at the 1966 Worlds and the two were expected to battle it out in this class, along with Turkey’s Mehmet Esenceli, winner of the 1966-67 European Championships. Esenceli was never a factor, drawing his first match and then losing by fall in round to Mongolian Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav, which led to his elimination. Nakata, Sanders, and Damdinsharav made it to the final round, where Nakata won the gold medal with a throw over Damdinsharav, and winning a close decision over Sanders.

Nakata never wrestled internationally again. Sanders would return to the Olympics in 1972 and win another silver medal, that time as a bantamweight. Tragically he was killed in an automobile accident only seven weeks after that second Olympic medal. Many previous sources list the Mongolian in this class as Surenjaav Sukhbaatar, but the Mongolian Olympic Committee has confirmed that it was actually Damdinsharav.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	RE	Bad Points
1	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	–	–	Gold
2	Rich Sanders	USA	–	–	Silver
3	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	–	–	Bronze	1
4	Nazar Albaryan	URS	–	–
5	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	–	–
6	Sudesh Kumar	IND	–	–
AC	Paul Neff	FRG	Eliminated r5/6	8,0
AC	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	Eliminated r5/6	8,0
AC	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	Eliminated r4/6	6,0
AC	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	Eliminated r4/6	7,5
AC	Márton Erdős	HUN	Eliminated r4/6	9,0
AC	Bayo Baev	BUL	Eliminated r3/6	6,0
AC	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE	Eliminated r3/6	7,0
AC	Boris Dimovski	YUG	Eliminated r3/6	7,5
AC	Mohamed Salem	EGY	Eliminated r2/6	6,5
AC	André Gaudinot	FRA	Eliminated r2/6	6,5
AC	Mehmet Esenceli	TUR	Eliminated r2/6	6,5
AC	Florentino Martínez	MEX	Eliminated r2/6	7,0
AC	Gheorghe Stoiciu	ROU	Eliminated r2/6	7,0
AC	John Kinsela	AUS	Eliminated r2/6	7,5
AC	José Defran	DOM	Eliminated r2/6	8,0
AC	César Solari	ECU	Eliminated r2/6	8,0
AC	Gustavo Ramírez	GUA	Eliminated r2/6	8,0

Round One (17 October 1968)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE	0,0
=1	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	0,0
=1	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	0,0
=1	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	0,0
=1	Rich Sanders	USA	0,0
6	Sudesh Kumar	IND	0,5
=7	Márton Erdős	HUN	1,0
=7	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	1,0
=7	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	1,0
=7	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	1,0
=7	Nazar Albaryan	URS	1,0
=12	Paul Neff	FRG	2,5
=12	Mehmet Esenceli	TUR	2,5
=14	Bayo Baev	BUL	3,0
=14	Mohamed Salem	EGY	3,0
=14	André Gaudinot	FRA	3,0
=14	Florentino Martínez	MEX	3,0
=14	Gheorghe Stoiciu	ROU	3,0
19	Boris Dimovski	YUG	3,5
=20	John Kinsela	AUS	4,0
=20	José Defran	DOM	4,0
=20	César Solari	ECU	4,0
=20	Gustavo Ramírez	GUA	4,0

Match #1	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	fall (1:55)	José Defran	DOM
Match #2	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE	DQ (0:08)	César Solari	ECU
Match #3	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	decision	André Gaudinot	FRA
Match #4	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	decision	Bayo Baev	BUL
Match #5	Nazar Albaryan	URS	decision	Gheorghe Stoiciu	ROU
Match #6	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	fall (10:50)	John Kinsela	AUS
Match #7 2	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 3	decision	Mohamed Salem	EGY
Match #8	Mehmet Esenceli	TUR	draw	Paul Neff	FRG
Match #9	Márton Erdős	HUN	decision	Florentino Martínez	MEX
Match #10	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	fall (8:15)	Gustavo Ramírez	GUA
Match #11	Sudesh Kumar	IND	superiority	Boris Dimovski	YUG
Match #12	Rich Sanders	USA	bye

Round Two (18 October 1968)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	0,0
=1	Rich Sanders	USA	0,0
=3	Sudesh Kumar	IND	0,5
=3	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	0,5
5	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	1,0
=6	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	1,5
=6	Nazar Albaryan	URS	1,5
=8	Márton Erdős	HUN	2,0
=8	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	2,0
10	Paul Neff	FRG	2,5
=11	Bayo Baev	BUL	3,0
=11	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE	3,0
=11	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	3,0
14	Boris Dimovski	YUG	3,5
=15	Mohamed Salem	EGY	6,5	eliminated
=15	André Gaudinot	FRA	6,5	eliminated
=15	Mehmet Esenceli	TUR	6,5	eliminated
=18	Florentino Martínez	MEX	7,0	eliminated
=18	Gheorghe Stoiciu	ROU	7,0	eliminated
20	John Kinsela	AUS	7,5	eliminated
=21	José Defran	DOM	8,0	eliminated
=21	César Solari	ECU	8,0	eliminated
=21	Gustavo Ramírez	GUA	8,0	eliminated

Match #1	Rich Sanders	USA	fall (1:11)	José Defran	DOM
Match #2	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	fall (5:00)	César Solari	ECU
Match #3	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	decision	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE
Match #4	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	superiority	André Gaudinot	FRA
Match #5	Bayo Baev	BUL	fall (5:30)	Gheorghe Stoiciu	ROU
Match #6	Nazar Albaryan	URS	superiority	John Kinsela	AUS
Match #7	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	superiority	Mohamed Salem	EGY
Match #8 4	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 5	fall (10:14)	Mehmet Esenceli	TUR
Match #9	Paul Neff	FRG	fall (6:40)	Florentino Martínez	MEX
Match #10	Márton Erdős	HUN	decision	Wanelge Castillo	PAN
Match #11	Sudesh Kumar	IND	fall (5:32)	Gustavo Ramírez	GUA
Match #12	Boris Dimovski	YUG	bye

Round Three (19 October 1968)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	0,0
=1	Rich Sanders	USA	0,0
3	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	0,5
=4	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	2,5
=4	Nazar Albaryan	URS	2,5
=6	Paul Neff	FRG	3,5
=6	Sudesh Kumar	IND	3,5
8	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	4,0
=9	Márton Erdős	HUN	5,0
=9	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	5,0
=9	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	5,0
12	Bayo Baev	BUL	6,0	eliminated
13	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE	7,0	eliminated
14	Boris Dimovski	YUG	7,5	eliminated

Match #1	Rich Sanders	USA	fall (8:41)	Boris Dimovski	YUG
Match #2	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	fall (8:43)	Petros Triantafyllidis	GRE
Match #3	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	decision	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR
Match #4	Nazar Albaryan	URS	decision	Bayo Baev	BUL
Match #5 6	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	DQ	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 7
Match #6	Paul Neff	FRG	decision	Márton Erdős	HUN
Match #7	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	decision	Sudesh Kumar	IND

Round Four (20 October 1968)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Rich Sanders	USA	0,0
=2	Sudesh Kumar	IND	3,5
=2	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	3,5
=2	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	3,5
=5	Paul Neff	FRG	4,0
=5	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	4,0
7	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	5,0
8	Nazar Albaryan	URS	5,5
9	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	6,0	eliminated
10	Wanelge Castillo	PAN	7,5	eliminated
11	Márton Erdős	HUN	9,0	eliminated

Match #1	Rich Sanders	USA	fall (2:48)	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI
Match #2	Oh Jeong-Ryong	KOR	decision	Nazar Albaryan	URS
Match #3	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	decision	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA
Match #4 8	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 9	fall (5:44)	Márton Erdős	HUN
Match #5	Paul Neff	FRG	superiority	Wanelge Castillo	PAN
Match #6	Sudesh Kumar	IND	bye

Round Five (20 October 1968)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Rich Sanders	USA	0,0
2	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	3,5
3	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL	5,0
=4	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA	6,5	eliminated
=4	Nazar Albaryan	URS	6,5	eliminated
6	Sudesh Kumar	IND	7,5	eliminated
=7	Paul Neff	FRG	8,0	eliminated
=7	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI	8,0	eliminated

Match #1	Rich Sanders	USA	fall (1:34)	Sudesh Kumar	IND
Match #2	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	fall (6:32)	Mohammad Ghorbani	IRI
Match #3	Nazar Albaryan	URS	decision	Vincenzo Grassi	ITA
Match #4 10	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 11	walkover

Final Round One (20 October 1968)

Match #1	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	decision	Rich Sanders	USA
Match #2 12	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 13	bye

Final Round Two (20 October 1968)

Match #1 14	Rich Sanders	USA	decision	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 15
Match #2	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	bye

Final Round Three (20 October 1968)

Match #1 16	Shigeo Nakata	JPN	fall (5:07)	Chimedbazaryn Damdinsharav	MGL 17
Match #2	Rich Sanders	USA	bye