| | Event type

Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤100 kilograms), 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. 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	Competitor(s)	NOC	RE	Bad Points
1	Ivan Yarygin	URS	–	–	Gold
2	Russ Hellickson	USA	–	–	Silver
3	Dimo Kostov	BUL	–	–	Bronze
4	Petr Drozda	TCH	–	–
5	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	–	–
6	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	–	–
7	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	–	–
8	Daniel Verník	ARG	–	–
AC	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	Eliminated r3/6	8,0
AC	Steve Daniar	CAN	Eliminated r3/6	8,5
AC	Harald Büttner	GDR	Eliminated r2/6	6,5
AC	Enache Panait	ROU	Eliminated r2/6	7,0
AC	Keith Peache	GBR	Eliminated r2/6	7,5
AC	Robert N'Diaye	SEN	Eliminated r2/6	8,0
AC	Tore Hem	NOR	Withdrew r2/6	4,0

Round One (27 July 1976 — 20:14)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Daniel Verník	ARG	0,0
=1	Dimo Kostov	BUL	0,0
=1	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	0,0
=1	Petr Drozda	TCH	0,0
=1	Russ Hellickson	USA	0,0
6	Ivan Yarygin	URS	0,5
=7	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	1,0
=7	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	1,0
=9	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	3,0
=9	Enache Panait	ROU	3,0
11	Harald Büttner	GDR	3,5
=12	Steve Daniar	CAN	4,0
=12	Keith Peache	GBR	4,0
=12	Tore Hem	NOR	4,0	withdrew
=12	Robert N'Diaye	SEN	4,0

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

Round Two (28 July 1976 — 20:06)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Dimo Kostov	BUL	0,0
=1	Petr Drozda	TCH	0,0
=1	Russ Hellickson	USA	0,0
4	Ivan Yarygin	URS	0,5
5	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	2,0
6	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	3,0
=7	Daniel Verník	ARG	4,0
=7	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	4,0
9	Steve Daniar	CAN	4,5
10	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	5,0
11	Harald Büttner	GDR	6,5	eliminated
12	Enache Panait	ROU	7,0	eliminated
13	Keith Peache	GBR	7,5	eliminated
14	Robert N'Diaye	SEN	8,0	eliminated

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

Round Three (29 July 1976 — 19:51)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
=1	Petr Drozda	TCH	0,0
=1	Russ Hellickson	USA	0,0
3	Ivan Yarygin	URS	1,0
4	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	2,0
5	Dimo Kostov	BUL	3,5
6	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	5,0
7	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG	7,0	eliminated
=8	Daniel Verník	ARG	8,0	eliminated
=8	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI	8,0	eliminated
10	Steve Daniar	CAN	8,5	eliminated

Match #1	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	fall (2:58)	Hans-Peter Stratz	FRG
Match #2	Russ Hellickson	USA	fall (8:26)	Reza Sokhtesaraie	IRI
Match #3	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	walkover
Match #4	Ivan Yarygin	URS	decision (16-5)	Dimo Kostov	BUL
Match #5	Petr Drozda	TCH	fall (2:19)	Daniel Verník	ARG

Round Four (30 July 1976 — 20:28)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Russ Hellickson	USA	0,5
2	Ivan Yarygin	URS	1,0
3	Petr Drozda	TCH	4,0
4	Dimo Kostov	BUL	4,5
5	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL	5,5
6	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN	8,0	eliminated

Match #1	Dimo Kostov	BUL	decision (9-6)	Kazuo Shimizu	JPN
Match #2	Russ Hellickson	USA	decision (14-5)	Khorloogiin Bayanmönkh	MGL
Match #3	Ivan Yarygin	URS	fall (5:30)	Petr Drozda	TCH

Round Five (31 July 1976 — 11:57)

Pos	Competitor(s)	NOC	Bad Points
1	Ivan Yarygin	URS	2,0
2	Russ Hellickson	USA	3,5
3	Dimo Kostov	BUL	4,5
4	Petr Drozda	TCH	8,0	eliminated

Match #1	Ivan Yarygin	URS	decision (19-13)	Russ Hellickson	USA
Match #2	Dimo Kostov	BUL	fall (3:53)	Petr Drozda	TCH

Final Round (31 July 1976 — 16:50)

Match #1	Russ Hellickson	USA	decision (12-6)	Dimo Kostov	BUL