| | Event type

Heavyweight, Freestyle (>87 kg), 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	Number	Competitor	NOC	Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	–	–	Gold
2	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	–	–	Silver
3	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	–	–	Bronze
=4	98	Ray Mitchell	AUS	–	–
=4	101	Ken Richmond	GBR	–	–
6	165	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	–	–
AC	103	Saburo Nakao	JPN	eliminated r3/6	5
AC	106	Bill Kerslake	USA	eliminated r3/6	5
AC	102	Hussain Noori	IRI	eliminated r3/6	7
AC	–	Lila Ram	IND	eliminated r2/6	6
AC	104	John Da Silva	NZL	eliminated r2/6	6
DNS	105	Hans Antonsson	SWE	–	–

Round One

Date	28 November 1956 — -

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
1	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	0
=2	98	Ray Mitchell	AUS	1
=2	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	1
=2	101	Ken Richmond	GBR	1
=2	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1
=2	165	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	1
=7	103	Saburo Nakao	JPN	2
=7	106	Bill Kerslake	USA	2
=9	–	Lila Ram	IND	3
=9	102	Hussain Noori	IRI	3
=9	104	John Da Silva	NZL	3

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	28 Nov	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	Decision (3-0)	Hussain Noori	IRI
Match #2	28 Nov	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	Decision (3-0)	John Da Silva	NZL
Match #3	28 Nov	Ken Richmond	GBR	Decision (3-0)	Lila Ram	IND
Match #4	28 Nov	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	Decision (2-1)	Bill Kerslake	USA
Match #5	28 Nov	Ray Mitchell	AUS	Decision (2-1)	Saburo Nakao	JPN
Match #6	28 Nov	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN

Round Two

Date	29 November 1956 — -

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	1	–
=1	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1	–
=3	103	Saburo Nakao	JPN	2	–
=3	165	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	2	–
=3	106	Bill Kerslake	USA	2	–
6	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3	–
=7	98	Ray Mitchell	AUS	4	–
=7	101	Ken Richmond	GBR	4	–
=7	102	Hussain Noori	IRI	4	–
=10	–	Lila Ram	IND	6	eliminated
=10	104	John Da Silva	NZL	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	29 Nov	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	Fall (2:45)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #2	29 Nov	Hussain Noori	IRI	Decision (3-0)	John Da Silva	NZL
Match #3	29 Nov	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	Decision (3-0)	Ken Richmond	GBR
Match #4	29 Nov	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	Fall (14:45)	Lila Ram	IND
Match #5	29 Nov	Bill Kerslake	USA	Fall (3:00)	Ray Mitchell	AUS
Match #6	29 Nov	Saburo Nakao	JPN

Round Three

Date	30 November 1956 — -

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1	–
2	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	2	–
3	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3	–
=4	98	Ray Mitchell	AUS	4	–
=4	101	Ken Richmond	GBR	4	–
=6	103	Saburo Nakao	JPN	5	eliminated
=6	165	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS	5	eliminated
=6	106	Bill Kerslake	USA	5	eliminated
9	102	Hussain Noori	IRI	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	30 Nov	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	Fall (2:00)	Saburo Nakao	JPN
Match #2	30 Nov	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	Decision (3-0)	Ivan Vykhristyuk	URS
Match #3	30 Nov	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	Fall (11:30)	Hussain Noori	IRI
Match #4	30 Nov	Ken Richmond	GBR	Fall (3:45)	Bill Kerslake	USA
Match #5	30 Nov	Ray Mitchell	AUS

Round Four

Date	1 December 1956

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	1	–
=2	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	3	–
=2	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	3	–
=4	98	Ray Mitchell	AUS	7	eliminated
=4	101	Ken Richmond	GBR	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Dec	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	Fall (6:40)	Ray Mitchell	AUS
Match #2	01 Dec	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	Decision (3-0)	Ken Richmond	GBR
Match #3	01 Dec	Hamit Kaplan	TUR

Round Five

Date	1 December 1956 — -

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	187	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	2	–
2	99	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL	3	–
3	100	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Dec	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #2	01 Dec	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL

Final Round

Date	1 December 1956

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Dec	Hamit Kaplan	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Yusein Mehmedov	BUL