| | Event type
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤90 kilograms), Men
| Date | 20 – 24 July 1976 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec | |
| Participants | 13 from 13 countries | |
| Format | Scoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall. Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler. | |
There was no heavier favorite in Olympic wrestling in 1976 than Soviet Valery Rezantsev. Rezantsev was the defending Olympic Champion and had won the last five World titles. Rezantsev won his first four matches with only 1.0 bad points, and then defeated Bulgarian Stoyan Nikolov in the final round on criteria (tie-breakers), 6-6. Rezantsev retired after the 1976 Olympics, ending his career with 10 international gold medals in 10 competitions, also winning the European title three times.
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | RE | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valery Rezantsev |  URS | – | – | Gold | ||
| 2 | Stoyan Nikolov |  BUL | – | – | Silver | ||
| 3 | Czesław Kwieciński |  POL | – | – | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Darko Nišavić |  YUG | – | – | |||
| 5 | Frank Andersson |  SWE | – | – | |||
| 6 | István Séllyei |  HUN | – | – | |||
| =7 | Sadao Sato |  JPN | – | – | |||
| =7 | James Johnson |  USA | – | – | |||
| Hashem Kolahi |  IRI | Eliminated r3/6 | 8,0 | ||||
| Fred Theobald |  FRG | Eliminated r3/6 | 9,0 | ||||
| Michel Grangier |  FRA | Eliminated r2/6 | 7,0 | ||||
| Petre Dicu |  ROU | Eliminated r2/6 | 7,0 | ||||
| Ambroise Sarr |  SEN | Eliminated r2/6 | 8,0 |
Round One (20 July 1976 — 20:25)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Sadao Sato | JPN | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Frank Andersson | SWE | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | James Johnson | USA | 0,0 | |||
| =6 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | 1,0 | |||
| =6 | István Séllyei | HUN | 1,0 | |||
| =8 | Petre Dicu | ROU | 3,0 | |||
| =8 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | 3,0 | |||
| =10 | Michel Grangier | FRA | 4,0 | |||
| =10 | Fred Theobald | FRG | 4,0 | |||
| =10 | Hashem Kolahi | IRI | 4,0 | |||
| =10 | Ambroise Sarr | SEN | 4,0 |
| Match #1 | Sadao Sato | JPN | fall (2:00) | Fred Theobald | FRG |
| Match #2 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | DQ (7:54) | Michel Grangier | FRA |
| Match #3 | István Séllyei | HUN | decision (7-2) | Petre Dicu | ROU |
| Match #4 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | decision (10-3) | Darko Nišavić | YUG |
| Match #5 | James Johnson | USA | fall (1:20) | Ambroise Sarr | SEN |
| Match #6 | Frank Andersson | SWE | decision (25-9) | Hashem Kolahi | IRI |
| Match #7 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | bye |
Round Two (21 July 1976 — 20:06)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Frank Andersson | SWE | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | 0,0 | |||
| 4 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | 1,0 | |||
| =5 | István Séllyei | HUN | 4,0 | |||
| =5 | Hashem Kolahi | IRI | 4,0 | |||
| =5 | Sadao Sato | JPN | 4,0 | |||
| =5 | James Johnson | USA | 4,0 | |||
| =5 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | 4,0 | |||
| 10 | Fred Theobald | FRG | 5,0 | |||
| =11 | Michel Grangier | FRA | 7,0 | eliminated | ||
| =11 | Petre Dicu | ROU | 7,0 | eliminated | ||
| 13 | Ambroise Sarr | SEN | 8,0 | eliminated |
| Match #1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | fall (2:00) | Sadao Sato | JPN |
| Match #2 | Fred Theobald | FRG | decision (11-x) | Michel Grangier | FRA |
| Match #3 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | fall (2:51) | Petre Dicu | ROU |
| Match #4 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | decision (4-2) | István Séllyei | HUN |
| Match #5 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | fall (8:02) | James Johnson | USA |
| Match #6 | Frank Andersson | SWE | fall (1:32) | Ambroise Sarr | SEN |
| Match #7 | Hashem Kolahi | IRI | bye |
Round Three (22 July 1976 — 20:54)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | 0,0 | |||
| =1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | 0,0 | |||
| 3 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | 2,0 | |||
| 4 | Frank Andersson | SWE | 3,0 | |||
| =5 | István Séllyei | HUN | 4,0 | |||
| =5 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | 4,0 | |||
| =7 | Hashem Kolahi | IRI | 8,0 | eliminated | ||
| =7 | Sadao Sato | JPN | 8,0 | eliminated | ||
| =7 | James Johnson | USA | 8,0 | eliminated | ||
| 10 | Fred Theobald | FRG | 9,0 | eliminated |
| Match #1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | fall (0:12) | Hashem Kolahi | IRI |
| Match #2 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | fall (3:55) | Sadao Sato | JPN |
| Match #3 | István Séllyei | HUN | DQ (5:06) | Fred Theobald | FRG |
| Match #4 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | DQ (7:28) | James Johnson | USA |
| Match #5 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | decision (10-4) | Frank Andersson | SWE |
Round Four (23 July 1976 — 20:18)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | 1,0 | |||
| 2 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | 2,0 | |||
| 3 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | 3,0 | |||
| 4 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | 5,0 | |||
| 5 | Frank Andersson | SWE | 6,0 | eliminated | ||
| 6 | István Séllyei | HUN | 8,0 | eliminated |
| Match #1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | decision (9-3) | Czesław Kwieciński | POL |
| Match #2 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | DQ (4:55) | István Séllyei | HUN |
| Match #3 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | decision (3-2) | Frank Andersson | SWE |
Round Five (24 July 1976 — 11:16)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bad Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | 2,0 | |||
| 2 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | 3,0 | |||
| 3 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | 5,0 | |||
| 4 | Darko Nišavić | YUG | 9,0 | eliminated |
| Match #1 | Czesław Kwieciński | POL | DQ (---) | Darko Nišavić | YUG |
| Match #2 | Valery Rezantsev | URS | criteria (6-6) | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL |
Final Round (24 July 1976 — 21:35)
| Match #1 | Stoyan Nikolov | BUL | DQ (6:46) | Czesław Kwieciński | POL |