| | Event type

Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤87 kg), Men

Date	1 – 6 September 1960
Status	Olympic
Location	Basilica di Massenzio, Roma
Participants	19 from 19 countries
Format	Scoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall (win by fall-0; win by decision-1; draw-2; loss by decision-3; loss by fall-4). Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler. When three or fewer wrestlers remained, they advanced to a final round, with preliminary results carried forward.

The heavy favorite was the defending champion, Iran’s Gholam Reza Takhti, who had also won the 1959 World Championships. Through five rounds, the result was not in doubt as Takhti won all five of his matches by falls. Only one competitor remained, Turkey’s İsmet Atlı, who had barely survived with 5 bad points, but in the final round, Atlı defeated Takhti by decision to win the gold medal in a major upset. A bronze medal match was necessary, which was a draw between Soviet Anatoly Albul and Sweden’s Viking Palm, but Albul was awarded the bronze based on lower bodyweight.

Takhti would win the World Championships again in 1961 and won silver at the 1962 Worlds. He competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, placing fourth in this class. Atlı competed through 1962, winning a bronze medal at the Worlds in Greco-Roman, and then retired.

Pos	Competitor	NOC
1	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Gold
2	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Silver
3	Anatoly Albul	URS	Bronze
4	Viking Palm	SWE
5	Dan Brand	USA
6	Manie van Zyl	RSA
7	Sajan Singh	IND
=8	Shunichi Kawano	JPN
=8	György Gurics	HUN
=10	Antonio Marcucci	ITA
=10	César Ferreras	VEN
12	Eugen Holzherr	SUI
=13	Bob Steckle	CAN
=13	Valko Kostov	BUL
=15	Maurice Jacquel	FRA
=15	Pat Parsons	AUS
=15	Dieter Rauchbach	GER
18	Ghulam Mohiddin Gunga	AFG
19	Gerry Martina	IRL
DNS	Eugen Wiesberger, Jr.	AUT
DNS	Kazuo Abe	JPN
DNS	Gheorghe Popovici	ROU

Round One

Date	1 September 1960

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	0	–
=1	Manie van Zyl	RSA	0	–
=1	Dan Brand	USA	0	–
=1	César Ferreras	VEN	0	–
=5	György Gurics	HUN	1	–
=5	Sajan Singh	IND	1	–
=5	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	1	–
=5	Viking Palm	SWE	1	–
=5	İsmet Atlı	TUR	1	–
=5	Anatoly Albul	URS	1	–
=11	Pat Parsons	AUS	3	–
=11	Valko Kostov	BUL	3	–
=11	Bob Steckle	CAN	3	–
=11	Dieter Rauchbach	GER	3	–
=11	Antonio Marcucci	ITA	3	–
=11	Eugen Holzherr	SUI	3	–
=17	Ghulam Mohiddin Gunga	AFG	4	–
=17	Maurice Jacquel	FRA	4	–
=17	Gerry Martina	IRL	4	withdrew

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	01 Sep	Anatoly Albul	URS	Decision	Eugen Holzherr	SUI
Match #2	01 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Valko Kostov	BUL
Match #3	01 Sep	György Gurics	HUN	Decision	Bob Steckle	CAN
Match #4	01 Sep	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision	Dieter Rauchbach	GER
Match #5	01 Sep	Sajan Singh	IND	Decision	Antonio Marcucci	ITA
Match #6	01 Sep	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Fall (1:15)	Ghulam Mohiddin Gunga	AFG
Match #7	01 Sep	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	Decision	Pat Parsons	AUS
Match #8	01 Sep	Manie van Zyl	RSA	Fall (2:05)	Gerry Martina	IRL
Match #9	01 Sep	Dan Brand	USA	Fall (1:50)	Maurice Jacquel	FRA
Match #10	01 Sep	César Ferreras	VEN

Round Two

Date	2 September 1960

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	0	–
=2	Sajan Singh	IND	1	–
=2	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	1	–
=2	Manie van Zyl	RSA	1	–
=2	Viking Palm	SWE	1	–
=6	İsmet Atlı	TUR	2	–
=6	Anatoly Albul	URS	2	–
=6	César Ferreras	VEN	2	–
9	Antonio Marcucci	ITA	3	–
10	Dan Brand	USA	4	–
=11	György Gurics	HUN	5	–
=11	Eugen Holzherr	SUI	5	–
=13	Valko Kostov	BUL	6	eliminated
=13	Bob Steckle	CAN	6	eliminated
=15	Pat Parsons	AUS	7	eliminated
=15	Maurice Jacquel	FRA	7	eliminated
=15	Dieter Rauchbach	GER	7	eliminated
18	Ghulam Mohiddin Gunga	AFG	8	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	02 Sep	César Ferreras	VEN	Draw	Eugen Holzherr	SUI
Match #2	02 Sep	Anatoly Albul	URS	Decision	Valko Kostov	BUL
Match #3	02 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Bob Steckle	CAN
Match #4	02 Sep	Viking Palm	SWE	Fall (7:44)	György Gurics	HUN
Match #5	02 Sep	Sajan Singh	IND	Fall (3:45)	Dieter Rauchbach	GER
Match #6	02 Sep	Antonio Marcucci	ITA	Fall (2:58)	Ghulam Mohiddin Gunga	AFG
Match #7	02 Sep	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Fall (3:35)	Pat Parsons	AUS
Match #8	02 Sep	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	Fall (2:20)	Dan Brand	USA
Match #9	02 Sep	Manie van Zyl	RSA	Decision	Maurice Jacquel	FRA

Round Three

Date	3 September 1960

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	0	–
=2	Viking Palm	SWE	2	–
=2	Anatoly Albul	URS	2	–
4	İsmet Atlı	TUR	3	–
5	Dan Brand	USA	4	–
=6	György Gurics	HUN	5	–
=6	Sajan Singh	IND	5	–
=6	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	5	–
=6	Manie van Zyl	RSA	5	–
=10	Antonio Marcucci	ITA	6	eliminated
=10	César Ferreras	VEN	6	eliminated
12	Eugen Holzherr	SUI	8	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Anatoly Albul	URS	Fall (11:41)	César Ferreras	VEN
Match #2	03 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Eugen Holzherr	SUI
Match #3	03 Sep	György Gurics	HUN	Fall (3:37)	Sajan Singh	IND
Match #4	03 Sep	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision	Antonio Marcucci	ITA
Match #5	03 Sep	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Fall (2:03)	Shunichi Kawano	JPN
Match #6	03 Sep	Dan Brand	USA	Fall (2:30)	Manie van Zyl	RSA

Round Four

Date	5 September 1960

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	0	–
2	Viking Palm	SWE	3	–
=3	İsmet Atlı	TUR	4	–
=3	Dan Brand	USA	4	–
=5	Manie van Zyl	RSA	5	–
=5	Anatoly Albul	URS	5	–
7	Sajan Singh	IND	8	eliminated
=8	György Gurics	HUN	9	eliminated
=8	Shunichi Kawano	JPN	9	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	05 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Anatoly Albul	URS
Match #2	05 Sep	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Fall (5:00)	György Gurics	HUN
Match #3	05 Sep	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision	Sajan Singh	IND
Match #4	05 Sep	Manie van Zyl	RSA	Fall (6:27)	Shunichi Kawano	JPN
Match #5	05 Sep	Dan Brand	USA

Round Five

Date	6 September 1960

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	0	–
2	İsmet Atlı	TUR	5	–
=3	Viking Palm	SWE	6	eliminated
=3	Anatoly Albul	URS	6	eliminated
5	Dan Brand	USA	7	eliminated
6	Manie van Zyl	RSA	9	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	06 Sep	Anatoly Albul	URS	Decision	Dan Brand	USA
Match #2	06 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Viking Palm	SWE
Match #3	06 Sep	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	Fall (7:05)	Manie van Zyl	RSA

Final Round

Date	6 September 1960

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	06 Sep	Anatoly Albul	URS	Draw	Viking Palm	SWE
Match #2	06 Sep	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Decision	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI