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| Event type

Middleweight, Freestyle (≤82 kilograms), Men

Date27 – 31 July 1976
StatusOlympic
LocationAréna Maurice-Richard, Montréal, Québec / Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants18 from 18 countries
FormatScoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall. Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler, but a wrestler could not be eliminated after a victory. When three or fewer wrestlers remained, they advanced to a final round, with preliminary results carried forward.

In 1972 Soviet Georgian Levan Tediashvili had defeated the American John Petersen in this class, while Petersen’s brother Ben had won a gold medal as a light-heavyweight. In Montréal both Petersen brothers were back in the same classes, but Tediashvili had moved up to light-heavyweight, where he won another gold, shunting Ben Petersen back to the silver medal position. But John Petersen, with Tediashvili, considered the world’s greatest freestyler in this era, out of the class, was able to move up and win the gold medal in 1976. The decisive match came in round five when John Petersen defeated Soviet Viktor Novozhilov, the 1974 World and European Champion, who would win silver. West German Adolf Seger, the 1975 World Champion and 1976 European Champion, won the bronze medal, although he had been easily beaten by Petersen in round three, 14-4. Seger would again win the World title in 1977.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCREBad Points
1John PetersonUSAGold
2Viktor NovozhilovURSSilver
3Adolf SegerFRGBronze
4Mehmet UzunTUR
5Ismail AbilovBUL
6Henryk MazurPOL
7István KovácsHUN
8Masaru MotegiJPN
ACVasile IorgaROUEliminated r4/69,0
ACRichard DeschateletsCANEliminated r3/67,0
ACChimidiin GochoosürenMGLEliminated r3/68,0
ACIbrahim DiopSENEliminated r3/68,0
ACMohamed Hossein MohebbiIRIEliminated r2/67,0
ACAndré BouchouleFRAEliminated r2/68,0
ACTony ShackladyGBREliminated r2/68,0
ACImad FaddoulLBNEliminated r2/68,0
ACDavid AspinNZLEliminated r2/68,0
ACManuel VillapolPUREliminated r2/68,0

Round One (27 July 1976 — 20:37)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Ismail AbilovBUL0,0
=1Richard DeschateletsCAN0,0
=1Adolf SegerFRG0,0
=1István KovácsHUN0,0
=1Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL0,0
=1Ibrahim DiopSEN0,0
=1Viktor NovozhilovURS0,0
=1John PetersonUSA0,0
9Henryk MazurPOL1,0
10Mehmet UzunTUR3,0
=11André BouchouleFRA4,0
=11Tony ShackladyGBR4,0
=11Mohamed Hossein MohebbiIRI4,0
=11Masaru MotegiJPN4,0
=11Imad FaddoulLBN4,0
=11David AspinNZL4,0
=11Manuel VillapolPUR4,0
=11Vasile IorgaROU4,0

Match #1 Ismail AbilovBUL
fall (1:03)
Masaru MotegiJPN
Match #2 Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL
fall (1:18)
David AspinNZL
Match #3 Viktor NovozhilovURS
DQ (8:42)
Vasile IorgaROU
Match #4 Richard DeschateletsCAN
DQ (5:54)
Imad FaddoulLBN
Match #5 John PetersonUSA
fall (1:18)
Tony ShackladyGBR
Match #6 Adolf SegerFRG
decision (18-5)
André BouchouleFRA
Match #7 István KovácsHUN
DQ (7:39)
Mohamed Hossein MohebbiIRI
Match #8 Ibrahim DiopSEN
DQ (7:43)
Manuel VillapolPUR
Match #9 Henryk MazurPOL
decision (9-4)
Mehmet UzunTUR

Round Two (28 July 1976 — 20:31)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Ismail AbilovBUL0,0
=1Adolf SegerFRG0,0
=1István KovácsHUN0,0
=1Viktor NovozhilovURS0,0
=1John PetersonUSA0,0
6Henryk MazurPOL2,0
7Mehmet UzunTUR3,0
=8Richard DeschateletsCAN4,0
=8Masaru MotegiJPN4,0
=8Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL4,0
=8Vasile IorgaROU4,0
=8Ibrahim DiopSEN4,0
13Mohamed Hossein MohebbiIRI7,0eliminated
=14André BouchouleFRA8,0eliminated
=14Tony ShackladyGBR8,0eliminated
=14Imad FaddoulLBN8,0eliminated
=14David AspinNZL8,0eliminated
=14Manuel VillapolPUR8,0eliminated

Match #1 Masaru MotegiJPN
fall (0:41)
David AspinNZL
Match #2 Ismail AbilovBUL
fall (5:01)
Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL
Match #3 Viktor NovozhilovURS
fall (0:42)
Richard DeschateletsCAN
Match #4 Vasile IorgaROU
DQ (7:37)
Imad FaddoulLBN
Match #5 John PetersonUSA
DQ (8:43)
André BouchouleFRA
Match #6 Adolf SegerFRG
fall (2:32)
Tony ShackladyGBR
Match #7 István KovácsHUN
fall (2:06)
Manuel VillapolPUR
Match #8 Henryk MazurPOL
decision (13-10)
Mohamed Hossein MohebbiIRI
Match #9 Mehmet UzunTUR
DQ (5:26)
Ibrahim DiopSEN

Round Three (29 July 1976 — 20:27)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Viktor NovozhilovURS0,5
=1John PetersonUSA0,5
3Henryk MazurPOL2,0
4István KovácsHUN3,0
=5Ismail AbilovBUL3,5
=5Adolf SegerFRG3,5
=7Masaru MotegiJPN4,0
=7Mehmet UzunTUR4,0
9Vasile IorgaROU5,0
10Richard DeschateletsCAN7,0eliminated
=11Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL8,0eliminated
=11Ibrahim DiopSEN8,0eliminated

Match #1 Masaru MotegiJPN
DQ (7:00)
Chimidiin GochoosürenMGL
Match #2 Viktor NovozhilovURS
decision (11-2)
Ismail AbilovBUL
Match #3 Vasile IorgaROU
decision (8-6)
Richard DeschateletsCAN
Match #4 John PetersonUSA
decision (14-4)
Adolf SegerFRG
Match #5 Mehmet UzunTUR
decision (8-7)
István KovácsHUN
Match #6 Henryk MazurPOL
fall (5:21)
Ibrahim DiopSEN

Round Four (30 July 1976 — 19:45)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Viktor NovozhilovURS0,5
2John PetersonUSA1,5
=3Ismail AbilovBUL3,5
=3Adolf SegerFRG3,5
5Mehmet UzunTUR4,0
=6István KovácsHUN6,0eliminated
=6Henryk MazurPOL6,0eliminated
8Masaru MotegiJPN8,0eliminated
9Vasile IorgaROU9,0eliminated

Match #1 Viktor NovozhilovURS
fall (1:34)
Masaru MotegiJPN
Match #2 Ismail AbilovBUL
fall (3:48)
Vasile IorgaROU
Match #3 John PetersonUSA
decision (10-3)
István KovácsHUN
Match #4 Adolf SegerFRG
decision (26-6)
Henryk MazurPOL
Match #5 Mehmet UzunTUR bye

Round Five (31 July 1976 — 11:00)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1John PetersonUSA1,5
2Adolf SegerFRG3,5
3Mehmet UzunTUR4,0
4Viktor NovozhilovURS4,5
5Ismail AbilovBUL7,5eliminated

Match #1 Mehmet UzunTUR
DQ (7:30)
Ismail AbilovBUL
Match #2 John PetersonUSA
decision (20-4)
Viktor NovozhilovURS
Match #3 Adolf SegerFRG bye

Final Round (31 July 1976 — 15:44)

Match #1 Viktor NovozhilovURS
decision (13-9)
Adolf SegerFRG
Match #2 John PetersonUSA
decision (13-5)
Mehmet UzunTUR