# Wrestling at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 74 kg

The Men's Freestyle 74 kg at the 1972 Summer Olympics as part of the wrestling program at the Fairgrounds, Judo and Wrestling Hall.

## Medalists

| Gold | Wayne Wells United States |
| Silver | Jan Karlsson Sweden |
| Bronze | Adolf Seger West Germany |

## Tournament results

The competition used a form of negative points tournament, with negative points given for any result short of a fall. Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler. When only two or three wrestlers remain, a special final round is used to determine the order of the medals.

### Legend

* DNA — Did not appear
* TPP — Total penalty points
* MPP — Match penalty points

### Penalties

* 0 — Won by Fall, Passivity, Injury and Forfeit
* 0.5 — Won by Technical Superiority
* 1 — Won by Points
* 2 — Draw
* 2.5 — Draw, Passivity
* 3 — Lost by Points
* 3.5 — Lost by Technical Superiority
* 4 — Lost by Fall, Passivity, Injury and Forfeit

### Round 1

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 4 | 4 | Toshitada Yoshida (JPN) | 7:31 | Francisco Lebeque (CUB) | 4 | 4 |
| 0 | 0 | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 8:23 | Alfred Wurr (CAN) | 4 | 4 |
| 1 | 1 | Yuri Gusov (URS) | | Ludovic Ambruș (ROU) | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | Bruce Akers (AUS) | | Mukhtiar Singh (IND) | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Robin (FRA) | | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 | Bachir Hani Abou Assi (LIB) | 5:06 | Robert Blaser (SUI) | 0 | 0 |
| 3.5 | 3.5 | Bruno Hartmann (AUT) | | Danzandarjaagiin Sereeter (MGL) | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| 0 | 0 | Wayne Wells (USA) | 5:59 | Mehmet Ali Demirtaş (TUR) | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | Tony Shacklady (GBR) | | Miroslav Musil (TCH) | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 | Nestor González (ARG) | 5:07 | Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR) | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | 2:28 | Shakar Khan Shakar (AFG) | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | Muhammad Yaghoub (PAK) | | Miklós Urbanovics (HUN) | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | | Mansour Barzegar (IRI) | | Bye | | |

### Round 2

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | Mansour Barzegar (IRI) | | Toshitada Yoshida (JPN) | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| 8 | 4 | Francisco Lebeque (CUB) | 2:55 | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 4 | Alfred Wurr (CAN) | 3:51 | Yuri Gusov (URS) | 0 | 1 |
| 3.5 | 0.5 | Ludovic Ambruș (ROU) | | Bruce Akers (AUS) | 3.5 | 6.5 |
| 5 | 4 | Mukhtiar Singh (IND) | 2:24 | Daniel Robin (FRA) | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | 0 | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | 2:02 | Bachir Hani Abou Assi (LIB) | 4 | 8 |
| 1 | 1 | Robert Blaser (SUI) | | Bruno Hartmann (AUT) | 3 | 6.5 |
| 4.5 | 4 | Danzandarjaagiin Sereeter (MGL) | 8:25 | Wayne Wells (USA) | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 1 | Mehmet Ali Demirtaş (TUR) | | Tony Shacklady (GBR) | 3 | 6 |
| 1 | 0 | Miroslav Musil (TCH) | 4:46 | Nestor González (ARG) | 4 | 8 |
| 1 | 1 | Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR) | | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | Shakar Khan Shakar (AFG) | | Muhammad Yaghoub (PAK) | 2 | 5 |
| 1 | | Miklós Urbanovics (HUN) | | Bye | | |

### Round 3

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 3.5 | 2.5 | Miklós Urbanovics (HUN) | | Mansour Barzegar (IRI) | 2.5 | 3 |
| 1 | 1 | Adolf Seger (FRG) | | Yuri Gusov (URS) | 3 | 4 |
| 3.5 | 0 | Ludovic Ambruș (ROU) | 2:27 | Mukhtiar Singh (IND) | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | 0 | Daniel Robin (FRA) | 4:17 | Robert Blaser (SUI) | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | | Danzandarjaagiin Sereeter (MGL) | 3 | 7.5 |
| 0 | 0 | Wayne Wells (USA) | 1:24 | Miroslav Musil (TCH) | 4 | 5 |
| 9 | 4 | Mehmet Ali Demirtaş (TUR) | 8:18 | Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR) | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 0 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | 3:49 | Muhammad Yaghoub (PAK) | 4 | 9 |

### Round 4

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 6.5 | 3 | Miklós Urbanovics (HUN) | | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 0 | Mansour Barzegar (IRI) | 6:18 | Yuri Gusov (URS) | 4 | 8 |
| 6.5 | 3 | Ludovic Ambruș (ROU) | | Daniel Robin (FRA) | 1 | 4 |
| 2.5 | 0.5 | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | | Robert Blaser (SUI) | 3.5 | 8.5 |
| 1 | 1 | Wayne Wells (USA) | | Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR) | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | 4 | Miroslav Musil (TCH) | 5:36 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | 0 | 3 |

### Round 5

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 7 | 4 | Mansour Barzegar (IRI) | 5:18 | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Robin (FRA) | | Wayne Wells (USA) | 1 | 2 |
| 3.5 | 1 | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | | Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR) | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | | Bye | | |

### Round 6

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 4 | 1 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 3 | 5 |
| 7.5 | 4 | Yancho Pavlov (BUL) | 6:37 | Wayne Wells (USA) | 0 | 2 |

### Final

Results from the preliminary round are carried forward into the final (shown in yellow).
| TPP | MPP | | | MPP | TPP |
| | 1 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | Adolf Seger (FRG) | 3 | |
| 4 | 3 | Jan Karlsson (SWE) | Wayne Wells (USA) | 1 | |
| 6 | 3 | Adolf Seger (FRG) | Wayne Wells (USA) | 1 | 2 |

## Final standings

* Wayne Wells (USA)
* Jan Karlsson (SWE)
* Adolf Seger (FRG)
* Yancho Pavlov (BUL)
* Daniel Robin (FRA), Mansour Barzegar (IRI) and Wolfgang Nitschke (GDR)