Middleweight, Freestyle (≤82 kg), Men

This class was wide-open because the top four ranked wrestlers were boycotted out of the Los Angeles Olympics. This gave American Mark Schultz the favorite’s role, one day after his brother, Dave, had won the welterweight gold medal. He was expected to be challenged by Turkey’s Reşit Karabacak, the 1982 European Champion. Unfortunately, because wrestling was not seeded in this era, they met in the first round of Group B. Schultz quickly pinned Karabacak, fracturing his left arm in the process. The Turks protested and it was upheld, with Schultz disqualified, but Karabacak was out of the competition. Schultz went on to win all his other matches, despite the officials noting that they were watching him closely, scrutinizing him for possible excessive brutality. In the final Schultz dominated Japanese Hideyuki Nakashima, winning by technical superiority, 13-0. Schultz would later win the 1985 and 1987 World Championships.