| | Event type

Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤100 kg), Men

Date	27 – 31 July 1976
Status	Olympic
Location	Aréna Maurice-Richard, Montréal, Québec / Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, Parc olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants	15 from 15 countries
Format	Scoring by negative points, with negative points given for any result short of a fall (win by fall-0.0; win by superior decision-0.0; win by decision-1.0; draw-2.0; loss by decision-3.0; loss by superior decision-4.0; loss by fall-4.0). Accumulation of 6 negative points eliminated the wrestler, but a wrestler could not be eliminated after a victory. When three or fewer wrestlers remained, they advanced to a final round, with preliminary results carried forward.

The defending champion and favorite was Soviet Ivan Yarygin, who had won the World title in 1973 and the Europeans in 1972, 1975, and 1976. He was expected to be challenged by American Russ Hellickson, who had been a medal favorite as a light-heavyweight in 1972. Hellickson, however,had lost in the 1972 Olympic Trials to Ben Peterson, who went on to win the light-heavyweight gold medal in München. Hellickson continued to compete as a light-heavy but could not beat dominant Soviet Georgian Levan Tediashvili, so Hellickson elected to move up to heavyweight, which was a more natural weight for him. In round five Yarygin and Hellickson met with Yarygin winning a hard-fought match 19-13 to defend his gold medal. Hellickson then defeated Bulgarian Dimo Kostov to take the silver medal.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	–	–	Gold
2	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	–	–	Silver
3	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	–	–	Bronze
4	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	–	–
5	212	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	–	–
6	185	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	–	–
7	110	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	–	–
8	3	Daniel Verník	ARG	–	–
AC	155	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	eliminated r3/6	8.0
AC	36	Steve Daniar	CAN	eliminated r3/6	8.5
AC	88	Harald Büttner	GDR	eliminated r2/6	6.5
AC	283	Enache Panait	ROU	eliminated r2/6	7.0
AC	83	Keith Peache	GBR	eliminated r2/6	7.5
AC	291	Mohamed N'Diaye	SEN	eliminated r2/6	8.0
AC	228	Tore Hem	NOR	withdrew r2/6	4.0
DNS	138	Gyula Tóth	HUN	–	–
DNS	252	Edward Żmudziejewski	POL	–	–

Round One

Date	27 July 1976 — 20:14

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	3	Daniel Verník	ARG	0.0	–
=1	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	0.0	–
=1	110	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	0.0	–
=1	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	0.0	–
=1	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	0.0	–
6	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	0.5	–
=7	185	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	1.0	–
=7	212	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	1.0	–
=9	155	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	3.0	–
=9	283	Enache Panait	ROU	3.0	–
11	88	Harald Büttner	GDR	3.5	–
=12	36	Steve Daniar	CAN	4.0	–
=12	83	Keith Peache	GBR	4.0	–
=12	228	Tore Hem	NOR	4.0	withdrew
=12	291	Mohamed N'Diaye	SEN	4.0	–

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	Decision (8-6)	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI
Match #2	27 Jul	Russ Hellickson	USA	Fall (2:35)	Keith Peache	GBR
Match #3	27 Jul	Dimo Kostov	BUL	Fall (2:44)	Steve Daniar	CAN
Match #4	27 Jul	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	Decision (5-3)	Enache Panait	ROU
Match #5	27 Jul	Ivan Yarygin	URS	Decision (13-5)	Harald Büttner	GDR
Match #6	27 Jul	Petr Drozda	TCH	Fall (3:18)	Tore Hem	NOR
Match #7	27 Jul	Daniel Verník	ARG	Fall (0:17)	Mohamed N'Diaye	SEN
Match #8	27 Jul	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG

Round Two

Date	28 July 1976 — 20:06

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	0.0	–
=1	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	0.0	–
=1	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	0.0	–
4	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	0.5	–
5	212	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	2.0	–
6	110	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	3.0	–
=7	3	Daniel Verník	ARG	4.0	–
=7	155	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	4.0	–
9	36	Steve Daniar	CAN	4.5	–
10	185	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	5.0	–
11	88	Harald Büttner	GDR	6.5	eliminated
12	283	Enache Panait	ROU	7.0	eliminated
13	83	Keith Peache	GBR	7.5	eliminated
14	291	Mohamed N'Diaye	SEN	8.0	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	28 Jul	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	Decision (10-4)	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG
Match #2	28 Jul	Russ Hellickson	USA	Dq (6:52)	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN
Match #3	28 Jul	Steve Daniar	CAN	Decision (14-6)	Keith Peache	GBR
Match #4	28 Jul	Dimo Kostov	BUL	Fall (4:05)	Enache Panait	ROU
Match #5	28 Jul	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	Decision (9-5)	Harald Büttner	GDR
Match #6	28 Jul	Ivan Yarygin	URS	Fall (1:26)	Daniel Verník	ARG
Match #7	28 Jul	Petr Drozda	TCH	Fall (2:48)	Mohamed N'Diaye	SEN

Round Three

Date	29 July 1976 — 19:51

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	0.0	–
=1	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	0.0	–
3	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	1.0	–
4	212	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	2.0	–
5	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	3.5	–
6	185	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	5.0	–
7	110	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	7.0	eliminated
=8	3	Daniel Verník	ARG	8.0	eliminated
=8	155	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	8.0	eliminated
10	36	Steve Daniar	CAN	8.5	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	29 Jul	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	Fall (2:58)	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG
Match #2	29 Jul	Russ Hellickson	USA	Fall (8:26)	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI
Match #3	29 Jul	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL
Match #4	29 Jul	Ivan Yarygin	URS	Decision (16-5)	Dimo Kostov	BUL
Match #5	29 Jul	Petr Drozda	TCH	Fall (2:19)	Daniel Verník	ARG

Round Four

Date	30 July 1976 — 20:28

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	0.5	–
2	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	1.0	–
3	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	4.0	–
4	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	4.5	–
5	212	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	5.5	–
6	185	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	8.0	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	30 Jul	Dimo Kostov	BUL	Decision (9-6)	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN
Match #2	30 Jul	Russ Hellickson	USA	Decision (14-5)	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL
Match #3	30 Jul	Ivan Yarygin	URS	Fall (5:30)	Petr Drozda	TCH

Round Five

Date	31 July 1976 — 11:57

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	337	Ivan Yarygin	URS	2.0	–
2	345	Russ Hellickson	USA	3.5	–
3	23	Dimo Kostov	BUL	4.5	–
4	302	Petr Drozda	TCH	8.0	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Ivan Yarygin	URS	Decision (19-13)	Russ Hellickson	USA
Match #2	31 Jul	Dimo Kostov	BUL	Fall (3:53)	Petr Drozda	TCH

Final Round

Date	31 July 1976 — 16:50

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul 16:50	Russ Hellickson	USA	Decision (12-6)	Dimo Kostov	BUL