This is the 25th appearance of men's freestyle middleweight category, debut in 1908 as 73kg, except 1912, 1920 as 69kg, from 1924 through 1960 as 79kg, from 1964 through 1968 as 87kg, from 1972 through 1996 as 82kg, 2000 as 85kg, from 2004 through 2012 as 84kg, from 2016 as 86kg as a current weight limit.
David Taylor has originally won a quota at the 2023 world championships, but his spot was taken by Aaron Brooks, Brooks lost to eventual champion Magomed Ramazanov, Hassan Yazdani won over Jayden Lawrence, then Dauren Kurugliev, then Myles Amine, and lost to Magomed Ramazanov in the final, one of the bronze medalists, Artur Naifonov has originally won a quota at the European Qualifiers, but the IOC did not claim him as neutral, Vasyl Mykhailov lost to Myles Nazem Amine, Amine won against Mykhailov, then Osman Nurmagomedov and lost to potentially silver medalist Hassan Yazdani, Amine got into the bronze medal match, loss to Dauren Kurugliev.
Format
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.[2]
Rules
A typical bout consists of two halves of three minutes each separated by a 30-second break. The two competitors compete on a mat, which is nine meters in diameter. Wrestlers try to score points by executing various legal maneuvers. Points ranging from one to five are awarded by the mat referee depending on the degree of difficulty of the maneuvers. Points are also awarded to the opponent in case of infractions such as illegal holds, passivity etc. A wrestler is automatically disqualified if three cautions are awarded during a bout. Forcing an opponent's shoulders to the mat results in an instant victory by fall.[3]
During the course of a match, if a wrestler builds a 10-point advantage over the opponent, the bout is stopped and the leader is declared as the winner by technical superiority. The total scores are totaled at the end of the stipulated six-minute period, and the wrestler with the maximum points wins. In case of a tie, the wrestler who has scored the last point is declared the winner. A competitor might also be declared a winner if the opponent does not turn up or is medically unfit to compete.[3]
