室伏広治
This was the 26th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1896. Seven of the 12 finalists from the 2008 Games returned: gold medalist Primož Kozmus of Slovenia, fourth-place finisher (and 2004 finalist) Krisztián Pars of Hungary, fifth-place finisher (and 2008 gold medalist and 2000 finalist) Koji Murofushi of Japan, seventh-place finisher (and 2000 gold medalist) Szymon Ziółkowski of Poland, tenth-place finisher András Haklits of Croatia, eleventh-place finisher Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan, and twelfth-place finisher James Steacy of Canada. After a retesting of his 2004 sample (which resulted in his 2004 silver medal being stripped), 2008 bronze medalist and 2012 world leader Ivan Tsikhan's entry was withdrawn. Kozmus had won the 2009 World Championship and finished third in 2011; Murofoshi had won the 2011 Worlds with Pars the runner-up. Pars was the favorite in London.