# Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle middleweight

The men's freestyle middleweight competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne took place from 28 November to 1 December at the Royal Exhibition Building. Nations were limited to one competitor. Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 73 to 79 kilograms (160.9 to 174.2 lb).

## Competition format

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 modified in 1952 (adding medal rounds and making all losses worth 3 points—from 1936 to 1948 losses by split decision only cost 2). Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points. The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.

## Results
### Round 1
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Viljo Punkari | Finland | Fall | Muhammad Faiz | Pakistan |
| Dan Hodge | United States | Fall | George Farquhar | Great Britain |
| Bakshish Singh | India | Decision, 3–0 | William Davies | Australia |
| Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Manie van Zyl | South Africa |
| Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | Fall | Nicolas Arcales | Philippines |
| Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | Decision, 3–0 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union |
| Abbas Zandi | Iran | Decision, 3–0 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan |
| İsmet Atlı | Turkey | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Dan Hodge | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Viljo Punkari | Finland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Bakshish Singh | India | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Nicolas Arcales | Philippines | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | William Davies | Australia | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Muhammad Faiz | Pakistan | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | George Farquhar | Great Britain | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Manie van Zyl | South Africa | 0 | 3 | 3 |

### Round 2

Punkari withdrew after his bout.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| İsmet Atlı | Turkey | Fall | Muhammad Faiz | Pakistan |
| Dan Hodge | United States | Decision, 3–0 | Viljo Punkari | Finland |
| William Davies | Australia | Decision, 3–0 | George Farquhar | Great Britain |
| Manie van Zyl | South Africa | Decision, 3–0 | Bakshish Singh | India |
| Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | Fall | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden |
| Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | Fall | Nicolas Arcales | Philippines |
| Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | Fall | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria |
| Abbas Zandi | Iran | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Dan Hodge | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | William Davies | Australia | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | Bakshish Singh | India | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | Manie van Zyl | South Africa | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Viljo Punkari | Finland | 0 | 3 | 3* |
| 13 | Nicolas Arcales | Philippines | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 13 | Muhammad Faiz | Pakistan | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 13 | George Farquhar | Great Britain | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 3
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| İsmet Atlı | Turkey | Decision, 3–0 | Abbas Zandi | Iran |
| Dan Hodge | United States | Fall | William Davies | Australia |
| Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | Fall | Bakshish Singh | India |
| Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | Fall | Manie van Zyl | South Africa |
| Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | Fall | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany |
| Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | Dan Hodge | United States | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | William Davies | Australia | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 9 | Bakshish Singh | India | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 9 | Manie van Zyl | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Round 4
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| İsmet Atlı | Turkey | Decision, 3–0 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan |
| Dan Hodge | United States | Fall | Abbas Zandi | Iran |
| Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | Fall | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden |
| Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | Fall | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Dan Hodge | United States | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Kazuo Katsuramoto | Japan | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Hans Sterr | United Team of Germany | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Bengt Lindblad | Sweden | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Round 5
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | Decision, 2–1 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey |
| Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | Fall | Dan Hodge | United States |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Dan Hodge | United States | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 1 | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 | Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | İsmet Atlı | Turkey | 2 | 3 | 5 |

### Medal rounds

Stanchev's victories over Skhirtladze in round 1 and Hodge in round 5 counted for the medal rounds, giving the Bulgarian wrestler the gold medal with a 2–0 record against the other medalists. Hodge defeated Skhirtladze in a de facto silver medal match.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Dan Hodge | United States | Fall | Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union |

#### Points

| Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
| Nikola Stanchev | Bulgaria | 2 | 0 |
| Dan Hodge | United States | 1 | 1 |
| Georgy Skhirtladze | Soviet Union | 0 | 2 |