The men's Greco-Roman light heavyweight competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome took place from 26 to 31 August at the Basilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.[1]Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 79 to 87 kilograms (174.2 to 191.8 lb).[2]
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, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist.[2][1]
The sixth round ended with all four wrestlers having at least 6 points; there were two ties, a tie for first place and a tie for third place. Kış and Bimbalov tied for first. They had faced each other in round 2, with the bout ending in a tie. The decision was ultimately based on body weight, with Kış (the lighter wrestler) prevailing and taking the gold medal. Kartozia took the bronze medal over Piti due to head-to-head results; Kartozia had won in round 5.[1][3]
