This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, as adjusted at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Each bout awarded 4 points. If the victory was by fall, the winner received 0 and the loser 4. If the victory was by decision, the winner received 1 and the loser 3. If the bout was tied, each wrestler received 2 points. A wrestler who accumulated 6 or more points was eliminated. Rounds continued until there were 3 or fewer uneliminated wrestlers. If only 1 wrestler remained, he received the gold medal. If 2 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and they faced each other for gold and silver. If 3 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and a round-robin was held among those 3 to determine medals.
Five of the 16 wrestlers were eliminated, four with two losses and one with a loss by fall and a tie. Güngör was the only wrestler left with 0 points. ; Bouts
Winner
Nation
Victory Type
Loser
Nation
Günther Bauch
Decision
Fernando García
Tatsuo Sasaki
Fall
Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh
Géza Hollósi
Fall
Theunis van Wyk
Dan Brand
Tie
Mansour Mahdizadeh
Hasan Güngör
Fall
Alfonso González
Muhammad Faiz
Tie
Gang Du-man
Shota Lomidze
Decision
Rudolf Kobelt
Prodan Gardzhev
Fall
Jit Singh
; Points
Rank
Wrestler
Nation
R1
R2
Total
1
0
0
0
2
1
0
1
3
0
2
2
3
0
2
2
3
2
0
2
6
3
0
3
6
0
3
3
6
2
1
3
6
1
2
3
10
3
1
4
11
Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh
1
4
5
12
Gang Du-man
4
2
6
12
3
3
6
14
4
4
8
14
4
4
8
14
4
4
8
Round 3
Three wrestlers were eliminated. Güngör remained in the lead, now with 1 point. ; Bouts
Winner
Nation
Victory Type
Loser
Nation
Günther Bauch
Decision
Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh
Dan Brand
Decision
Tatsuo Sasaki
Géza Hollósi
Decision
Muhammad Faiz
Mansour Mahdizadeh
Decision
Rudolf Kobelt
Hasan Güngör
Decision
Shota Lomidze
Prodan Gardzhev
Bye
N/A
N/A
; Points
Rank
Wrestler
Nation
R1
R2
R3
Total
1
0
0
1
1
2
2
0
0
2
3
0
2
1
3
4
3
0
1
4
4
1
2
1
4
4
1
0
3
4
7
3
1
1
5
7
0
2
3
5
9
0
3
3
6
9
2
1
3
6
11
Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh
1
4
3
8
Round 4
Hollósi and Sasaki's draw eliminated both wrestlers. Bauch and Faiz were also eliminated in losses. Güngör's loss moved him to 4 points, now behind Gardzhev at 2 points and Brand at 3 points. Mahdizadeh picked up a 5th point. ; Bouts
Winner
Nation
Victory Type
Loser
Nation
Prodan Gardzhev
Fall
Günther Bauch
Tatsuo Sasaki
Tie
Géza Hollósi
Dan Brand
Fall
Muhammad Faiz
Mansour Mahdizadeh
Decision
Hasan Güngör
; Points
Rank
Wrestler
Nation
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
1
2
0
0
0
2
2
0
2
1
0
3
3
0
0
1
3
4
4
1
2
1
1
5
5
3
0
1
2
6
5
1
0
3
2
6
7
3
1
1
4
9
7
0
2
3
4
9
Round 5
Mahdizadeh defeated Gardzhev, but was eliminated by the win while Gardzhev had only 5 points and continued. Brand was eliminated by his loss to Güngör, who also reached 5 points and was not eliminated. With Brand and Mahdizadeh both at 6 points, the bronze medal was decided by their head-to-head result from round 2; since it was a draw, Brand won due to his lower body weight. ; Bouts
Winner
Nation
Victory Type
Loser
Nation
Mansour Mahdizadeh
Decision
Prodan Gardzhev
Hasan Güngör
Decision
Dan Brand
; Points
Rank
Wrestler
Nation
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
Total
1
2
0
0
0
3
5
1
0
0
1
3
1
5
0
2
1
0
3
6
4
1
2
1
1
1
6
Final round
With two remaining wrestlers who had not yet faced each other, there was a final bout for the gold and silver medals. Gardzhev and Güngör wrestled to a draw. Gardzhev took the gold medal due to lower body weight. ; Bouts
