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

The men's freestyle light heavyweight 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. Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 79 to 87 kilograms (174.2 to 191.8 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

Defteraios withdrew after his bout.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Kevin Coote | Australia | Decision, 3–0 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Fall | Jan Theron | South Africa |
| Peter Blair | United States | Fall | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Fall | Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Viking Palm | Sweden |
| Gerry Martina | Ireland | Fall | Spyros Defteraios | Greece |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Peter Blair | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Gerry Martina | Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Veikko Lahti | Finland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | Spyros Defteraios | Greece | 0 | 3 | 3* |

### Round 2
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Jan Theron | South Africa | Decision, 3–0 | Kevin Coote | Australia |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada |
| Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan | Decision, 2–1 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Peter Blair | United States |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 2–1 | Adil Atan | Turkey |
| Gerry Martina | Ireland | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Gerry Martina | Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Peter Blair | United States | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Veikko Lahti | Finland | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 3
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Kevin Coote | Australia | Fall | Gerry Martina | Ireland |
| Peter Blair | United States | Fall | Jan Theron | South Africa |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Fall | Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Decision, 2–1 | Viking Palm | Sweden |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Peter Blair | United States | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Gerry Martina | Ireland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | Mitsuhiro Ohira | Japan | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Round 4
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | Fall | Gerry Martina | Ireland |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Fall | Kevin Coote | Australia |
| Peter Blair | United States | Decision, 3–0 | Adil Atan | Turkey |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Peter Blair | United States | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Gerry Martina | Ireland | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Medal rounds

None of the medalists had faced each other yet, so a full round-robin was held. Takhti beat each of the other two medalists to win the gold medal, with Kulayev earning silver by beating Blair.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Fall | Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | Fall | Peter Blair | United States |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | Decision, 3–0 | Peter Blair | United States |

#### Points

| Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
| Gholam Reza Takhti | Iran | 2 | 0 |
| Boris Kulayev | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 |
| Peter Blair | United States | 0 | 2 |