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

The men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight was a Greco-Roman wrestling event held as part of the Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 79 to 87 kilograms (174.2 to 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 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

Source: Official results

### Round 1
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Decision, 2–1 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary |
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria |
| Dale O. Thomas | United States | Fall | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
| Bob Steckle | Canada | Decision, 2–1 | Victor Mucha | Australia |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Dale O. Thomas | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Veikko Lahti | Finland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Victor Mucha | Australia | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria | 0 | 3 | 3 |

### Round 2

Atan withdrew due to injury after his bout.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | Decision, 2–1 | Adil Atan | Turkey |
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary |
| Veikko Lahti | Finland | Fall | Dale O. Thomas | United States |
| Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria | Fall | Victor Mucha | Australia |
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Veikko Lahti | Finland | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Dale O. Thomas | United States | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 1 | 3 | 4* |
| 9 | Gyula Kovács | Hungary | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Victor Mucha | Australia | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 3
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | Fall | Dale O. Thomas | United States |
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Veikko Lahti | Finland |
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria |
| Bob Steckle | Canada | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Dale O. Thomas | United States | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Eugen Wiesberger Jr. | Austria | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Veikko Lahti | Finland | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 4
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada |
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 | Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Medal rounds

Nikolayev's victories over Sirakov in round 1 and over Nilsson in round 4 counted for the medal round, giving him the gold medal at 2–0 against the other medalists. Sirakov defeated Nilsson in a de facto silver medal bout.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | Decision, 3–0 | Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden |

#### Points

| Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses |
| Valentin Nikolayev | Soviet Union | 2 | 0 |
| Petko Sirakov | Bulgaria | 1 | 1 |
| Karl-Erik Nilsson | Sweden | 0 | 2 |