Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤90 kg), Men

Ben Peterson was not supposed to make the 1972 US Olympic team, the spot in this class virtually conceded to Russ Hellickson, bronze medalist at the 1971 World Championships, but Peterson defeated Hellickson in the US Trials. Peterson’s brother, John, also made the 1972 Olympic wrestling team, and would win a silver medal in middleweight freestyle. Ben would do him one better, winning the gold medal in this class in his first international competition. In the final round he secured the gold by throwing Bulgarian World Champion Rusi Petrov in round six. After that round, the only other wrestler remaining was Soviet Gennady Strakhov. Strakhov and Peterson had wrestled to a draw in round three, but Peterson won the gold medal because he had more falls than Strakhov, 3-2.

In 1976 Ben Peterson won a silver medal in this class, losing to Soviet Georgian Levan “Teddy” Tediashvili. Tediashvili won gold in 1972 as a middleweight, defeating John Peterson in an early round, with John taking silver. Hellickson would also make the 1976 Olympics, winning a silver medal in the new heavyweight class.