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Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤100 kilograms), Men

Date20 – 24 July 1976
StatusOlympic
LocationCentre Pierre-Charbonneau, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants13 from 13 countries
FormatScoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall. Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler.

Nikolay Balboshin of the Soviet Union came in as the overwhelming favorite. He had won the World Championships in 1973-74 and he European title in 1973 and 1975-76. His expected victory in Montréal was one of the most dominant in Olympic history, winning four matches by falls and one by disqualification. The competition really came down to who would win the silver medal, which went to Bulgaria’s Kamen Goranov over Poland’s Andrzej Skrzydlewski, who won bronze. This was based on Goranov defeating Skrzydlewski by decision in the final round, 6-2. Fourth-place unusually went to an American, with Brad Rheingans posting the best ever US finish in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling, until the 1984 Olympics.

Balboshin would continue to dominate this class over the next few years. He won three more World Championships (1977-79) and five consecutive European titles (1975-79), and went to Moskva in 1980 expected to defend his gold medal. In Moskva, however, he was injured and at far less than his best and was withdrew after two rounds.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCREBad Points
1Nikolay BalboshinURSGold
2Kamen GoranovBULSilver
3Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOLBronze
4Brad RheingansUSA
5Tore HemNOR
6Heinz SchäferFRG
=7József FarkasHUN
=7Nicolae MartinescuROU
ACDaniel VerníkARGEliminated r3/58,0
ACFredi AlbrechtGDREliminated r3/58,0
ACBahram MoshtaghiIRIEliminated r2/58,0
ACYasunari AkiyamaJPNEliminated r2/58,0
ACRobert N'DiayeSENEliminated r2/58,0

Round One (20 July 1976 — 19:50)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Daniel VerníkARG0,0
=1Kamen GoranovBUL0,0
=1Fredi AlbrechtGDR0,0
=1József FarkasHUN0,0
=1Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL0,0
=1Nikolay BalboshinURS0,0
7Brad RheingansUSA1,0
8Tore HemNOR3,0
=9Heinz SchäferFRG4,0
=9Bahram MoshtaghiIRI4,0
=9Yasunari AkiyamaJPN4,0
=9Nicolae MartinescuROU4,0
=9Robert N'DiayeSEN4,0

Match #1 Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
fall (2:24)
Bahram MoshtaghiIRI
Match #2 Brad RheingansUSA
decision (4-3)
Tore HemNOR
Match #3 Fredi AlbrechtGDR
DQ (8:53)
Yasunari AkiyamaJPN
Match #4 József FarkasHUN
fall (2:24)
Robert N'DiayeSEN
Match #5 Nikolay BalboshinURS
fall (1:23)
Nicolae MartinescuROU
Match #6 Kamen GoranovBUL
fall (1:52)
Heinz SchäferFRG
Match #7 Daniel VerníkARG bye

Round Two (21 July 1976 — 19:51)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL0,0
=1Nikolay BalboshinURS0,0
3Brad RheingansUSA1,0
4Tore HemNOR3,0
=5Daniel VerníkARG4,0
=5Kamen GoranovBUL4,0
=5Fredi AlbrechtGDR4,0
=5Heinz SchäferFRG4,0
=5József FarkasHUN4,0
=5Nicolae MartinescuROU4,0
=11Bahram MoshtaghiIRI8,0eliminated
=11Yasunari AkiyamaJPN8,0eliminated
=11Robert N'DiayeSEN8,0eliminated

Match #1 Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
fall (1:17)
Daniel VerníkARG
Match #2 Brad RheingansUSA
fall (0:34)
Bahram MoshtaghiIRI
Match #3 Tore HemNOR
fall (5:40)
Yasunari AkiyamaJPN
Match #4 Fredi AlbrechtGDR
DQ (passivity)
József FarkasHUN
Match #5 Nicolae MartinescuROU
fall (2:18)
Robert N'DiayeSEN
Match #6 Nikolay BalboshinURS
DQ (5:51)
Kamen GoranovBUL
Match #7 Heinz SchäferFRG bye

Round Three (22 July 1976 — 20:24)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Nikolay BalboshinURS0,0
2Brad RheingansUSA2,0
=3Tore HemNOR3,0
=3Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL3,0
=5Kamen GoranovBUL4,0
=5Heinz SchäferFRG4,0
=7Daniel VerníkARG8,0eliminated
=7Fredi AlbrechtGDR8,0eliminated
=7József FarkasHUN8,0eliminated
=7Nicolae MartinescuROU8,0eliminated

Match #1 Heinz SchäferFRG
fall (1:57)
Daniel VerníkARG
Match #2 Brad RheingansUSA
decision (9-7)
Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
Match #3 Tore HemNOR
DQ (8:56)
Fredi AlbrechtGDR
Match #4 Nikolay BalboshinURS
fall (3:32)
József FarkasHUN
Match #5 Kamen GoranovBUL
fall (5:51)
Nicolae MartinescuROU

Round Four (23 July 1976 — 20:39)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Nikolay BalboshinURS0,0
2Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL3,0
3Kamen GoranovBUL4,0
4Brad RheingansUSA6,0eliminated
5Tore HemNOR7,0eliminated
6Heinz SchäferFRG8,0eliminated

Match #1 Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
fall (2:59)
Heinz SchäferFRG
Match #2 Nikolay BalboshinURS
fall (3:58)
Brad RheingansUSA
Match #3 Kamen GoranovBUL
fall (1:14)
Tore HemNOR

Final Round (24 July 1976 — 21:50)

Match #1 Nikolay BalboshinURS
fall (2:04)
Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL
Match #2 Kamen GoranovBUL
decision (6-2)
Andrzej SkrzydlewskiPOL