Middleweight, Freestyle (≤74 kilograms), Men

The dominant wrestler in this class since 1995 had been Buvaysar Saytiyev, who was Olympic Champion in 1996, and had since won five World and five European Championships. He was upset at the 2000 Olympics by American Brandon Slay, but resumed his winning ways, coming to Athina as a the 2001 and 2003 World Champion.

At the 2003 Worlds, Saytiyev had barely beaten Murad Gaydarov of Belarus, winning on classification points after they tied 2-2 after overtime. They met again in the quarterfinals in Athina, and were again tied 2-2 after regulation time, but Saytiyev won when he was given a controversial point after only six seconds in overtime. Gaydarov was not happy and in the mixed zone he went after Saytiyev, with the two having to be separated by police. Gaydarov was disqualified, while Saytiyev kept winning, taking a second gold medal by defeating Kazakh Gennady Laliyev in the final, 7-0. Saytiyev won his third gold medal in 2008, making him the only Olympic wrestler to win three gold medals in the same class, but not consecutively. He would also finish his career, after 2008, with six World titles and six European titles.