The men's freestyle middleweight competition at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place from 11 to 14 October at the Komazawa Gymnasium. Nations were limited to one competitor.[1]Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 78 to 87 kilograms (172.0 to 191.8 lb).[2]
Competition format
This freestyle 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, as adjusted at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Each bout awarded 4 points. If the victory was by fall, the winner received 0 and the loser 4. If the victory was by decision, the winner received 1 and the loser 3. If the bout was tied, each wrestler received 2 points. A wrestler who accumulated 6 or more points was eliminated. Rounds continued until there were 3 or fewer uneliminated wrestlers. If only 1 wrestler remained, he received the gold medal. If 2 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and they faced each other for gold and silver (if they had already wrestled each other, that result was used). If 3 wrestlers remained, point totals were ignored and a round-robin was held among those 3 to determine medals (with previous head-to-head results, if any, counting for this round-robin).[1][2]
Hollósi and Sasaki's draw eliminated both wrestlers. Bauch and Faiz were also eliminated in losses. Güngör's loss moved him to 4 points, now behind Gardzhev at 2 points and Brand at 3 points. Mahdizadeh picked up a 5th point.
Mahdizadeh defeated Gardzhev, but was eliminated by the win while Gardzhev had only 5 points and continued. Brand was eliminated by his loss to Güngör, who also reached 5 points and was not eliminated. With Brand and Mahdizadeh both at 6 points, the bronze medal was decided by their head-to-head result from round 2; since it was a draw, Brand won due to his lower body weight.
With two remaining wrestlers who had not yet faced each other, there was a final bout for the gold and silver medals. Gardzhev and Güngör wrestled to a draw. Gardzhev took the gold medal due to lower body weight.
