Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤82 kg), Men

Péter Farkas was the favorite, having won the 1990-91 World Championships and the 1991 European title, although Germany’s Thomas Zander won the 1992 Europeans earlier in the year. They were drawn in the same group, however, which Farkas won as Zander only finished fourth in Group B, and eighth overall. In the final Farkas met Poland’s Piotr Stępień, whose only previous international medal was a silver in the 1989 Europeans. As expected it was an easy gold medal victory for Farkas, 6-1. The bronze was won by Unified Team wrestler Daulet Turlykhanov, who had won a silver medal in 1988 as a welterweight.

In The Complete Book of the Olympics David Wallechinsky described the travails that came to Farkas, and his brother, in the next few years, “Péter Farkas became a popular heart-throb singer in Hungary. In 2004 he and his brother Karoly, were arrested after police discovered more than 3,000 marijuana plants growing in their mother’s basement in Budapest. Péter and Karoly escaped from police custody in November 2008 shortly before being sentenced to five years in prison. Karoly pretended to be ill and the two left the court room during the break between the announcement of the verdict and sentencing, and did not return. Karoly was captured almost immediately, but Péter was not rearrested until a year later in Andorra. Their sentences were subsequently extended to seven years.” Zander turned out a bit better and won a silver medal in this class at Atlanta in 1996.