# Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 96 kg

Men's freestyle 96 kilograms competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, took place on 21 August at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium.
This freestyle wrestling competition consists of a single-elimination tournament, with a repechage used to determine the winner of two bronze medals. The two finalists face off for gold and silver medals. Each wrestler who loses to one of the two finalists moves into the repechage, culminating in a pair of bronze medal matches featuring the semifinal losers each facing the remaining repechage opponent from their half of the bracket.
Each bout consists of up to three rounds, lasting two minutes apiece. The wrestler who scores more points in each round is the winner of that rounds; the bout ends when one wrestler has won two rounds (and thus the match).

## Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00)
| Date | Time | Event |
| 21 August 2008 | 09:30 | Qualification rounds |
| 21 August 2008 | 16:00 | Repechage |
| 21 August 2008 | 17:00 | Finals |

## Results
### Legend

* F — Won by fall
* WO — Won by walkover

### Final

| Final | Final | Final | Final |
| Taimuraz Tigiyev (KAZ) | 0 | 0 | |
| Shirvani Muradov (RUS) | 1 | 1 | |

### Top half

| 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| Saleh Emara (EGY) | 3 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| Saeid Ebrahimi (IRI) | 4 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Saeid Ebrahimi (IRI) | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| | | | Giorgi Gogshelidze (GEO) | 3 | 1 | | | | |
| Aleksey Krupnyakov (KGZ) | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Giorgi Gogshelidze (GEO) | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | Giorgi Gogshelidze (GEO) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| | | | | | | Taimuraz Tigiyev (KAZ) | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Luis Vivenes (VEN) | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Taimuraz Tigiyev (KAZ) | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Taimuraz Tigiyev (KAZ) | 2 | 1 | | | | |
| | | | Michel Batista (CUB) | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| Michel Batista (CUB) | W | O | | | | | | | |
| Daniel Cormier (USA) | | | | | | | | | |

### Bottom half

| Qualifications | Qualifications | Qualifications | 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| | | | Stefan Kehrer (GER) | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Hakan Koç (TUR) | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Hakan Koç (TUR) | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Shirvani Muradov (RUS) | 1 | 2 | | | | |
| | | | Georgii Tibilov (UKR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Shirvani Muradov (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Shirvani Muradov (RUS) | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | | | Vincent Aka-Akesse (FRA) | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) | 3 | 3 | Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| Mateusz Gucman (POL) | 0 | 0 | | | | | Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) | 4 | 6 | | | | |
| Kurban Kurbanov (UZB) | 3 | 1 | | | | | Kurban Kurbanov (UZB) | 0 | 0 | | | | |
| David Zilberman (CAN) | 1 | 0 | Kurban Kurbanov (UZB) | 1 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | |
| Gergely Kiss (HUN) | 5 | 5 | Gergely Kiss (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 4 | | | | | | | |
| Nicolae Ceban (MDA) | 3 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Repechage

| Repechage round 2 | Repechage round 2 | Repechage round 2 | Bronze medals | Bronze medals | Bronze medals |
| Luis Vivenes (VEN) | 1 | 0 | Michel Batista (CUB) | 0 | 0 |
| Michel Batista (CUB) | 1 | 2 | Giorgi Gogshelidze (GEO) | 1 | 4$^F$ |
| Georgii Tibilov (UKR) | 1 | 3 | Georgii Tibilov (UKR) | 0 | 0 |
| Hakan Koç (TUR) | 0 | 1 | Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) | 5 | 2 |

## Final standing

| Rank | Athlete |
| | Shirvani Muradov (RUS) |
| | Giorgi Gogshelidze (GEO) |
| | Michel Batista (CUB) |
| | Khetag Gazyumov (AZE) |
| 5 | Georgii Tibilov (UKR) |
| 6 | Kurban Kurbanov (UZB) |
| 7 | Gergely Kiss (HUN) |
| 8 | Hakan Koç (TUR) |
| 9 | Saeid Ebrahimi (IRI) |
| 10 | Saleh Emara (EGY) |
| 11 | Nicolae Ceban (MDA) |
| 12 | Stefan Kehrer (GER) |
| 13 | David Zilberman (CAN) |
| 14 | Luis Vivenes (VEN) |
| 15 | Aleksey Krupnyakov (KGZ) |
| 16 | Mateusz Gucman (POL) |
| 17 | Vincent Aka-Akesse (FRA) |
| 18 | Daniel Cormier (USA) |
| DQ | Taimuraz Tigiyev (KAZ) |
* Taimuraz Tigiyev of Kazakhstan originally won the silver medal, but in November 2016, it was announced that he tested positive for Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone.