Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤100 kg), Men

Defending champion Nikolay Balboshin was the overwhelming favorite, having won the last five European Championships and the last three World Championships. He won his first match by fall, but then in round two he was injured against Romanian Vasile Andrei, and Balboshin had to withdraw from the competition. This left the class open to Bulgarian Georgi Raykov, runner-up to Balboshin at the 1978-79 Worlds and 1977-78 Europeans. Raykov and Andrei met in round four, with Raykov winning by decision, 7-4. Only one final match was necessary with Raykov winning the gold medal when Poland’s Roman Bierła was disqualified at 7:52 for passivity. Andrei won the bronze medal but in 1984 would improve to gold, although helped by the absence of most of the Eastern Bloc nations.