| | Event type

Heavyweight, Freestyle (>87 kilograms), Men

Date	28 November – 1 December 1956
Status	Olympic
Location	Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	11 from 11 countries
Format	Elimination by bad points. Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss by 2-1 decision = 2 points; loss by 3-0 decision = 3 points; loss by fall = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler.

The heavyweight division was considered wide-open. The gold medal was eventually won by Turkey’s Hamit Kaplan, whose only previous international experience was winning the 1955 Balkan Games gold medal, but he would become a legend in Turkish wrestling. He had started out in Turkish oil wrestling, or yağlı güreş, but would eventually win three Olympic medals in heavyweight freestyle, adding silver in 1960 and bronze in 1964. He would win the World Championship in 1957, and added silver medals in 1959 and 1961 and a bronze medal in 1963. Kaplan also wrestled Greco-Roman, placing fourth in that class in Melbourne, and also competing in Greco in 1964 at Tokyo.

The silver in Melbourne went to Bulgarian Yusein Mekhmedov, who was from the Turkish minority in Bulgaria. He also competed in Greco-Roman in 1956 but did not place. Bronze went to Finn Taisto Kangasniemi, who was competing in his third Olympics, and would compete again in 1964, but this was his only Olympic medal.

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	RE	Bad Points
1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	–	–	Gold
2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	–	–	Silver
3	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	–	–	Bronze
=4	Ray Mitchell	AUS	–	–
=4	Ken Richmond	GBR	–	–
6	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	–	–
AC	Saburo Nakao	JPN	Eliminated r3/6	5
AC	Bill Kerslake	USA	Eliminated r3/6	5
AC	Hussain Noori	IRI	Eliminated r3/6	7
AC	Lila Ram	IND	Eliminated r2/6	6
AC	John Da Silva	NZL	Eliminated r2/6	6

Round One (28 November 1956 — -)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	0
=2	Ray Mitchell	AUS	1
=2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	1
=2	Ken Richmond	GBR	1
=2	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1
=2	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	1
=7	Saburo Nakao	JPN	2
=7	Bill Kerslake	USA	2
=9	Lila Ram	IND	3
=9	Hussain Noori	IRI	3
=9	John Da Silva	NZL	3

Match #1	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	decision (3-0)	Hussain Noori	IRI
Match #2	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	decision (3-0)	John Da Silva	NZL
Match #3	Ken Richmond	GBR	decision (3-0)	Lila Ram	IND
Match #4	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	decision (2-1)	Bill Kerslake	USA
Match #5	Ray Mitchell	AUS	decision (2-1)	Saburo Nakao	JPN
Match #6	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	bye

Round Two (29 November 1956 — -)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	1
=1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1
=3	Saburo Nakao	JPN	2
=3	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	2
=3	Bill Kerslake	USA	2
6	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3
=7	Ray Mitchell	AUS	4
=7	Ken Richmond	GBR	4
=7	Hussain Noori	IRI	4
=10	Lila Ram	IND	6	eliminated
=10	John Da Silva	NZL	6	eliminated

Match #1	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	fall (2:45)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #2	Hussain Noori	IRI	decision (3-0)	John Da Silva	NZL
Match #3	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	decision (3-0)	Ken Richmond	GBR
Match #4	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	fall (14:45)	Lila Ram	IND
Match #5	Bill Kerslake	USA	fall (3:00)	Ray Mitchell	AUS
Match #6	Saburo Nakao	JPN	bye

Round Three (30 November 1956 — -)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1
2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	2
3	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3
=4	Ray Mitchell	AUS	4
=4	Ken Richmond	GBR	4
=6	Saburo Nakao	JPN	5	eliminated
=6	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	5	eliminated
=6	Bill Kerslake	USA	5	eliminated
9	Hussain Noori	IRI	7	eliminated

Match #1	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	fall (2:00)	Saburo Nakao	JPN
Match #2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	decision (3-0)	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS
Match #3	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	fall (11:30)	Hussain Noori	IRI
Match #4	Ken Richmond	GBR	fall (3:45)	Bill Kerslake	USA
Match #5	Ray Mitchell	AUS	bye

Round Four (1 December 1956)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1
=2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	3
=2	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3
=4	Ray Mitchell	AUS	7	eliminated
=4	Ken Richmond	GBR	7	eliminated

Match #1	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	fall (6:40)	Ray Mitchell	AUS
Match #2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	decision (3-0)	Ken Richmond	GBR
Match #3	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	bye

Round Five (1 December 1956 — -)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	2
2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	3
3	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	6	eliminated

Match #1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	decision (3-0)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #2	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	bye

Final Round (1 December 1956)

Match #1	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	decision (3-0)	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL