Middleweight, Freestyle (≤82 kg), Men

In 1972 Soviet Georgian Levan Tediashvili had defeated the American John Petersen in this class, while Petersen’s brother Ben had won a gold medal as a light-heavyweight. In Montréal both Petersen brothers were back in the same classes, but Tediashvili had moved up to light-heavyweight, where he won another gold, shunting Ben Petersen back to the silver medal position. But John Petersen, with Tediashvili, considered the world’s greatest freestyler in this era, out of the class, was able to move up and win the gold medal in 1976. The decisive match came in round five when John Petersen defeated Soviet Viktor Novozhilov, the 1974 World and European Champion, who would win silver. West German Adolf Seger, the 1975 World Champion and 1976 European Champion, won the bronze medal, although he had been easily beaten by Petersen in round three, 14-4. Seger would again win the World title in 1977.