# Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman heavyweight

The men's Greco-Roman heavyweight competition at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne took place from 3 December to 6 December at the Royal Exhibition Building. Nations were limited to one competitor. Heavyweight was the heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing over 87 kilograms (191.8 lb).

## Competition format

This Greco-Roman 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 three points—from 1936 to 1948 losses by split decision only cost two points). 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 three points. The winner received one point if the win was by decision and zero points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least five points was eliminated. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when three wrestlers remained. These three 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 |
| Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | Decision, 3–0 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy |
| Antonios Georgoulis | Greece | Decision, 3–0 | Joseph Zammit | Australia |
| Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria | Decision, 3–0 | Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland |
| Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | Fall | Dale Lewis | United States |
| Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | Decision, 2–1 | Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Antonios Georgoulis | Greece | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Dale Lewis | United States | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Joseph Zammit | Australia | 0 | 3 | 3 |

### Round 2
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | Fall | Joseph Zammit | Australia |
| Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | Decision, 3–0 | Antonios Georgoulis | Greece |
| Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland | Fall | Dale Lewis | United States |
| Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | Fall | Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria |
| Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Antonios Georgoulis | Greece | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | Dale Lewis | United States | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Joseph Zammit | Australia | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 3
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | Fall | Antonios Georgoulis | Greece |
| Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | Decision, 2–1 | Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland |
| Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | Forfeit | Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria |
| Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | Decision, 3–0 | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 1 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Taisto Kangasniemi | Finland | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Antonios Georgoulis | Greece | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Yusein Mekhmedov | Bulgaria | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Round 4
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | Fall | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden |
| Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | Decision, 3–0 | Hamit Kaplan | Turkey |
| Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Hamit Kaplan | Turkey | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Bertil Antonsson | Sweden | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Medal rounds

Parfyonov's victory over Dietrich in round 1 counted for the medal rounds. Parfyonov faced Bulgarelli in the medal rounds, winning the bout to secure the gold medal at 2–0 against the other medalists. Dietrich then also defeated Bulgarelli to earn silver at 1–1, with Bulgarelli earning the bronze at 0–2 against the other medalists.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy |
| Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | Decision, 3–0 | Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy |

#### Points

| Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
| Anatoly Parfyonov | Soviet Union | 2 | 0 |
| Wilfried Dietrich | United Team of Germany | 1 | 1 |
| Adelmo Bulgarelli | Italy | 0 | 2 |