| Date | 31 July – 1 August 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia (Hall G) | |
| Participants | 21 from 21 countries | |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament with classification rounds for placements. | |
Since the retirement of John Smith, gold medalist in 1988-92, this class had become much more open, with no clear favorite entering the 1996 Olympics. The last three World Champions were in Atlanta – American Tom Brands (1993), Russian Magomed Azizov (1994), and Ukrainian Elbrus Tedieiev (1995). Azizov had also won the 1993 and 1995-96 European Championships. Brands and Azizov met in the semi-finals where Brands won easily 4-1. He then met Korean Jang Jae-Seong, who had defeated Tedieiev in the quarters, in the final, crushing him, 7-0, for the gold medal. Tedieiev did come back to win the bronze medal, defeating Japan’s Takahiro Wada, 3-1.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | CP | TP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Tom Brands | USA | – | – | Gold | ||
| 2 | 6 | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | – | – | Silver | ||
| 3 | 8 | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | – | – | Bronze | ||
| 4 | 1 | Takahiro Wada | JPN | – | – | |||
| 5 | 17 | Magomed Azizov | RUS | – | – | |||
| 6 | 19 | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | – | – | |||
| 7 | 15 | Marty Calder | CAN | – | – | |||
| 8 | 21 | Ramil Islamov | UZB | – | – | |||
| 9 | 9 | István Demeter | HUN | 9 | 16 | |||
| 10 | 5 | Arout Parsekian | CYP | 8 | 16 | |||
| 11 | 14 | Siarhei Smal | BLR | 6 | 14 | |||
| 12 | 2 | Șerban Mumjiev | ROU | 5 | 14 | |||
| 13 | 16 | Jürgen Scheibe | GER | 5 | 7 | |||
| 14 | 3 | Enrique Cubas | PER | 4 | 8 | |||
| 15 | 20 | Len Zaslavsky | AUS | 4 | 9 | |||
| 16 | 10 | Aníbal Nieves | PUR | 3 | 8 | |||
| 17 | 4 | Jan Krzesiak | POL | 2 | 8 | |||
| 18 | 7 | Tjaart du Plessis | RSA | 2 | 2 | |||
| 19 | 11 | Abbas Haj Kenari | IRI | 1 | 3 | |||
| =20 | 18 | Vath Chamroeun | CAM | 0 | 0 | |||
| =20 | 13 | Martin Müller | SUI | 0 | 0 |
| Date | 31 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Takahiro Wada | JPN | 11 | Șerban Mumjiev | ROU | |
| Match #2 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Enrique Cubas | PER | 7 | Jan Krzesiak | POL | |
| Match #3 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | 5 | Arout Parsekian | CYP | |
| Match #4 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | 5 | Tjaart du Plessis | RSA | |
| Match #5 | 31 Jul | Hall G | István Demeter | HUN | 3 | Aníbal Nieves | PUR | |
| Match #6 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Tom Brands | USA | 3 | Abbas Haj Kenari | IRI | |
| Match #7 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Siarhei Smal | BLR | 6 | Martin Müller | SUI | |
| Match #8 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Jürgen Scheibe | GER | 4 | Marty Calder | CAN | |
| Match #9 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Magomed Azizov | RUS | 10 | Vath Chamroeun | CAM | |
| Match #10 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | 10 | Len Zaslavsky | AUS | |
| Match #11 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Ramil Islamov | UZB |
| Date | 31 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Takahiro Wada | JPN | 3 | Ramil Islamov | UZB | |
| Match #2 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | 3 | Enrique Cubas | PER | |
| Match #3 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | 11 | István Demeter | HUN | |
| Match #4 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Tom Brands | USA | 5 | Siarhei Smal | BLR | |
| Match #5 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Magomed Azizov | RUS | 8 | Jürgen Scheibe | GER | |
| Match #6 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | 4 | Takahiro Wada | JPN | |
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | 3 | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | |
| Match #3 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Tom Brands | USA | ||||
| Match #4 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Magomed Azizov | RUS |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | 1 | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | |
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Tom Brands | USA | 4 | Magomed Azizov | RUS |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Tom Brands | USA | 7 | Jang Jae-Seong | KOR | |
| Match 3/4 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | 3 | Takahiro Wada | JPN | |
| Match 5/6 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Magomed Azizov | RUS | 0 | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | |
| Match 7/8 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Marty Calder | CAN | 9 | Ramil Islamov | UZB |
| Date | 31 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Șerban Mumjiev | ROU | 12 | Jan Krzesiak | POL | |
| Match #2 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Arout Parsekian | CYP | 3 | Tjaart du Plessis | RSA | |
| Match #3 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Aníbal Nieves | PUR | 8 | Abbas Haj Kenari | IRI | |
| Match #4 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Marty Calder | CAN | 6 | Martin Müller | SUI | |
| Match #5 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Len Zaslavsky | AUS | 9 | Vath Chamroeun | CAM |
| Date | 31 July 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Arout Parsekian | CYP | 7 | Șerban Mumjiev | ROU | |
| Match #2 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Marty Calder | CAN | 3 | Aníbal Nieves | PUR | |
| Match #3 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Ramil Islamov | UZB | 10 | Len Zaslavsky | AUS | |
| Match #4 | 31 Jul | Hall G | István Demeter | HUN | 11 | Enrique Cubas | PER | |
| Match #5 | 31 Jul | Hall G | Siarhei Smal | BLR | 8 | Jürgen Scheibe | GER |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Marty Calder | CAN | 10 | Arout Parsekian | CYP | |
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Ramil Islamov | UZB | 6 | István Demeter | HUN | |
| Match #3 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Takahiro Wada | JPN | 3 | Siarhei Smal | BLR | |
| Match #4 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | 5 | Ramil Islamov | UZB | |
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Takahiro Wada | JPN | 7 | Marty Calder | CAN |
| Date | 1 August 1996 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Location | Competitor | NOC | Result | Competitor | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Elbrus Tedieiev | UKR | 10 | Giovanni Schillaci | ITA | |
| Match #2 | 01 Aug | Hall G | Takahiro Wada | JPN | 10 | Magomed Azizov | RUS |