| | Event type

Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤90 kg), Men

Date	1 – 2 August 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia (Hall G)
Participants	21 from 21 countries
Format	Single-elimination tournament with classification rounds for placements.

This class would be discontinued after 1996, as the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) shuffled weight limits to decrease the number of weight classes, as mandated by the IOC. The last two gold medals had been won by Russia’s Makharbek Khadartsev, and he was back and still tough, having won the 1995 European title and been runner-up at the 1994-95 Worlds. He was not as dominant as he had been, however, losing the last two World titles, which had been won by Iranian Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi. The two met again in the Atlanta final, with Khadem Azgadhi winning a workmanlike final, 3-0. His brother, Amir Reza Khadem Azgadhi, won a bronze medal in Atlanta, as a freestyle middleweight.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	CP	TP
1	12	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI	–	–	Gold
2	20	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS	–	–	Silver
3	3	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	–	–	Bronze
4	7	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK	–	–
5	16	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR	–	–
6	11	Victor Kodei	NGR	–	–
7	21	Melvin Douglas	USA	–	–
8	5	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR	–	–
9	1	Ričardas Pauliukonis	LTU	9	24
10	6	Péter Bacsa	HUN	8	17
11	14	Islam Bayramukov	KAZ	7	11
12	18	Heiko Balz	GER	5	12
13	4	Kaloyan Baev	BUL	5	9
14	9	Bayanmönkhiin Gantogtokh	MGL	5	9
15	13	Scott Bianco	CAN	4	5
16	19	Bashir Bhola Bhala	PAK	3	7
17	15	Robert Kostecki	POL	2	6
18	17	Bob Renney	AUS	2	4
19	8	Tatsuo Kawai	JPN	1	2
=20	10	José Betancourt	PUR	0	0
=20	2	Louis Purcell	ASA	0	0

Round One

Date	1 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Aug	Hall G	Ričardas Pauliukonis	LTU	Grand superiority (11-0) (1:12)	Louis Purcell	ASA
Match #2	01 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Grand superiority (11-0) (1:59)	Kaloyan Baev	BUL
Match #3	01 Aug	Hall G	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR	Decision (2-1) (8:00)	Péter Bacsa	HUN
Match #4	01 Aug	Hall G	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK	Decision (5-0) (5:00)	Tatsuo Kawai	JPN
Match #5	01 Aug	Hall G	Bayanmönkhiin Gantogtokh	MGL	Decision (5-0) (5:00)	José Betancourt	PUR
Match #6	01 Aug	Hall G	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI	Decision (6-1) (5:00)	Victor Kodei	NGR
Match #7	01 Aug	Hall G	Islam Bayramukov	KAZ	Decision (5-2) (5:00)	Scott Bianco	CAN
Match #8	01 Aug	Hall G	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR	Decision (5-4) (5:00)	Robert Kostecki	POL
Match #9	01 Aug	Hall G	Heiko Balz	GER	Grand superiority (11-1) (2:28)	Bob Renney	AUS
Match #10	01 Aug	Hall G	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS	Grand superiority (10-0) (2:37)	Bashir Bhola Bhala	PAK
Match #11	01 Aug	Hall G	Melvin Douglas	USA

Round Two

Date	1 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Aug	Hall G	Melvin Douglas	USA	Decision (5-0) (5:00)	Ričardas Pauliukonis	LTU
Match #2	01 Aug	Hall G	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR	Decision (3-2) (5:00)	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO
Match #3	01 Aug	Hall G	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK	Decision (5-3) (5:00)	Bayanmönkhiin Gantogtokh	MGL
Match #4	01 Aug	Hall G	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI	Decision (4-3) (5:00)	Islam Bayramukov	KAZ
Match #5	01 Aug	Hall G	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR	Decision (4-1) (5:00)	Heiko Balz	GER
Match #6	01 Aug	Hall G	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS

Quarter-Finals

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Aug	Hall G	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS	Decision (4-1) (5:00)	Melvin Douglas	USA
Match #2	02 Aug	Hall G	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK	Decision (3-0) (6:09)	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR
Match #3	02 Aug	Hall G	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI
Match #4	02 Aug	Hall G	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR

Semi-Finals

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Aug	Hall G	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS	Decision (7-1) (5:00)	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK
Match #2	02 Aug	Hall G	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI	Decision (3-0) (6:41)	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR

Final Round

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match 1/2	02 Aug	Hall G	Rasoul Khadem Azgadhi	IRI	Decision (3-0) (5:00)	Makharbek Khadartsev	RUS
Match 3/4	02 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Decision (5-0) (5:00)	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK
Match 5/6	02 Aug	Hall G	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR	Fall (12-0) (0:48)	Victor Kodei	NGR
Match 7/8	02 Aug	Hall G	Melvin Douglas	USA	Decision (6-0) (5:00)	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR

Classification Round Two

Date	1 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Aug	Hall G	Kaloyan Baev	BUL	Fall (4-0) (1:09)	Louis Purcell	ASA
Match #2	01 Aug	Hall G	Péter Bacsa	HUN	Decision (5-2) (5:29)	Tatsuo Kawai	JPN
Match #3	01 Aug	Hall G	Victor Kodei	NGR	Grand superiority (10-0) (2:43)	José Betancourt	PUR
Match #4	01 Aug	Hall G	Scott Bianco	CAN	Decision (3-2) (5:00)	Robert Kostecki	POL
Match #5	01 Aug	Hall G	Bashir Bhola Bhala	PAK	Decision (7-3) (5:00)	Bob Renney	AUS

Classification Round Three

Date	1 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Aug	Hall G	Péter Bacsa	HUN	Decision (7-5) (5:00)	Kaloyan Baev	BUL
Match #2	01 Aug	Hall G	Victor Kodei	NGR	Decision (7-0) (5:00)	Scott Bianco	CAN
Match #3	01 Aug	Hall G	Ričardas Pauliukonis	LTU	Grand superiority (12-0) (1:22)	Bashir Bhola Bhala	PAK
Match #4	01 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Decision (6-1) (5:00)	Bayanmönkhiin Gantogtokh	MGL
Match #5	01 Aug	Hall G	Islam Bayramukov	KAZ	Decision (3-0) (5:00)	Heiko Balz	GER

Classification Round Four

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Aug	Hall G	Victor Kodei	NGR	Decision (7-4) (6:19)	Péter Bacsa	HUN
Match #2	02 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Decision (5-1) (5:00)	Ričardas Pauliukonis	LTU
Match #3	02 Aug	Hall G	Melvin Douglas	USA	Decision (3-0) (7:29)	Islam Bayramukov	KAZ
Match #4	02 Aug	Hall G	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR

Classification Round Five

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Aug	Hall G	Victor Kodei	NGR	Decision (7-0) (5:00)	Kim Ik-Hui	KOR
Match #2	02 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Decision (1-0) (8:00)	Melvin Douglas	USA

Classification Round Six

Date	2 August 1996

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Aug	Hall G	Jozef Lohyňa	SVK	Grand superiority (10-0) (2:09)	Victor Kodei	NGR
Match #2	02 Aug	Hall G	Eldar Kurtanidze	GEO	Decision (10-4) (5:00)	Dzhambolat Tedieiev	UKR