Welterweight, Freestyle (≤74 kg), Men

This was the only freestyle wrestling class in Los Angeles in which the 1983 World Champion competed, which was American Dave Schultz. Likely the most competitive class in 1984, other top competitors present were Yugoslav Macedonian Šaban Sejdi, Olympic bronze medalist in 1980 as a lightweight and the 1984 European welterweight champion, and West German Martin Knosp, 1982 European champion and bronze medalist at the 1983 Worlds. Schultz crushed all his opponents in Group A, advancing to the final against Knosp, who put up a close match, Schultz winning the gold on decision, 4-1. Sejdi won the bronze medal after he had lost out in Group A to Schultz. The day after this event ended, Mark Schultz, Dave’s brother, won a gold medal in the middleweight division.

Schultz won silver and bronze medals at the 1985-87 World Championships and then retired, but he came back in 1993, winning another World silver medal. He began training in Wilmington, Delaware at a club called Team Foxcatcher, which was sponsored by DuPont Chemical heir, John Eleuthère du Pont. In January 1996, with Schultz in full Olympic training mode, he was shot and killed by du Pont, who had become mentally unstable.