# Wrestling at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 90 kg

The Men's Freestyle 90 kg at the 1972 Summer Olympics as part of the wrestling program at the Fairgrounds, Judo and Wrestling Hall.

## Medalists

| Gold | Ben Peterson United States |
| Silver | Gennadi Strakhov Soviet Union |
| Bronze | Károly Bajkó Hungary |

## 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 |
| 0 | 0 | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | 5:50 | Makoto Kamada (JPN) | 4 | 4 |
| 0 | 0 | Reza Khorrami (IRI) | 0:53 | Etienne Martinetti (SUI) | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | Alioune Camara (SEN) | 2:11 | Raúl García (MEX) | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | Ben Peterson (USA) | | Paweł Kurczewski (POL) | 3 | 3 |
| 0 | 0 | George Saunders (CAN) | 1:59 | Chandgi Ram (IND) | 4 | 4 |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | | Roland Andersson (SWE) | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| 1 | 1 | Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) | | Ion Marton (ROU) | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | Kwak Kwang-Woong (KOR) | 1:42 | Günter Spindler (GDR) | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | Michel Grangier (FRA) | | Umberto Marcheggiani (ITA) | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | Ronald Grinstead (GBR) | 3:41 | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | Mehmet Güçlü (TUR) | | Jigjidiin Mönkhbat (MGL) | 3 | 3 |
| 0 | | Ernst Knoll (FRG) | | Bye | | |

### Round 2

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 3 | 3 | Ernst Knoll (FRG) | | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | 3 | Makoto Kamada (JPN) | | Reza Khorrami (IRI) | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 0 | Etienne Martinetti (SUI) | 1:38 | Alioune Camara (SEN) | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | 4 | Raúl García (MEX) | 8:09 | Ben Peterson (USA) | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | Paweł Kurczewski (POL) | | George Saunders (CAN) | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 | Chandgi Ram (IND) | 2:45 | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | 0 | 0.5 |
| 6.5 | 3 | Roland Andersson (SWE) | | Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | Ion Marton (ROU) | | Kwak Kwang-Woong (KOR) | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | Günter Spindler (GDR) | | Michel Grangier (FRA) | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | 2 | Umberto Marcheggiani (ITA) | | Ronald Grinstead (GBR) | 2 | 6 |
| 1 | 1 | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | | Mehmet Güçlü (TUR) | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | | Jigjidiin Mönkhbat (MGL) | | Bye | | |

### Round 3

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 6 | 3 | Ernst Knoll (FRG) | | Reza Khorrami (IRI) | 1 | 2 |
| 1.5 | 0.5 | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | | Etienne Martinetti (SUI) | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| 7.5 | 3.5 | Raúl García (MEX) | | Paweł Kurczewski (POL) | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| 3 | 2 | Ben Peterson (USA) | | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | 2 | 2.5 |
| 2 | 0 | Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) | 1:00 | Kwak Kwang-Woong (KOR) | 4 | 9 |
| 3.5 | 0.5 | Günter Spindler (GDR) | | Umberto Marcheggiani (ITA) | 3.5 | 8.5 |
| 5.5 | 3.5 | Michel Grangier (FRA) | | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| 4 | | Mehmet Güçlü (TUR) | | Bye | | |
| 3 | | Jigjidiin Mönkhbat (MGL) | | DNA | | |
| 3 | | George Saunders (CAN) | | DNA | | |

### Round 4

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 8 | 4 | Mehmet Güçlü (TUR) | 8:25 | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 | Reza Khorrami (IRI) | | Ben Peterson (USA) | 1 | 4 |
| 8.5 | 4 | Paweł Kurczewski (POL) | 1:52 | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | 0 | 2.5 |
| 3 | 1 | Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) | | Michel Grangier (FRA) | 3 | 8.5 |
| 4.5 | 1 | Günter Spindler (GDR) | | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | 3 | 4.5 |

### Round 5

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 5 | 2 | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | | Reza Khorrami (IRI) | 2 | 7 |
| 4 | 0 | Ben Peterson (USA) | 5:24 | Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) | 4 | 7 |
| 3 | 0.5 | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | | Günter Spindler (GDR) | 3.5 | 8 |
| 4.5 | | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | | Bye | | |

### Round 6

| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 8.5 | 4 | Rusi Petrov (BUL) | 2:41 | Ben Peterson (USA) | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | 3 | Károly Bajkó (HUN) | | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | 1 | 4 |

### Final

Results from the preliminary round are carried forward into the final (shown in yellow).
| TPP | MPP | | Time | | MPP | TPP |
| 2 | 2 | Ben Peterson (USA) | | Gennadi Strakhov (URS) | 2 | 2 |
The tie was broken by comparing the finalists' falls records. Peterson had 3, while Strakhov had 2.

## Final standings

* Ben Peterson (USA)
* Gennadi Strakhov (URS)
* Károly Bajkó (HUN)
* Rusi Petrov (BUL)
* Bárbaro Morgan (CUB) and Reza Khorrami (IRI)
* Günter Spindler (GDR)