Featherweight, Greco-Roman (≤62 kg), Men

There were a number of contenders with no definite favorite. Soviet Boris Kramarenko had won the 1978 World Championships, while Hungarian Istvan Tóth won that title in 1979. Poland’s Kazimierz Lipień was the defending gold medalist and had won the 1978 European title. Greece’s Stelios Mygiakis had won the 1979 Europeans but was somewhat of an afterthought. Lipień was not a factor, losing in round one to Mygiakis, and to Bulgarian Panayot Kirov in round three, which eliminated him. Kramarenko, Mygiakis, and Tóth were the three finalists, with Tóth’s victory over Kramarenko in round four, and Mygiakis’s defeat of Kramarenko in round five both carried over to the final results. Mygiakis then met Tóth with the gold medal on the line, which went to Mygiakis when Tóth was disqualified for passivity at 8:27 of the match. As David Wallechinsky pointed out in The Complete Book of the Olympics, this made “Mygiakis the first ‘Greco’ ever to win a Greco-Roman gold medal in the Olympics.”