Middleweight (≤86 kilograms), Men

The two leading contenders were Detlef Ultsch (GDR), the 1979 World Champion, and Aleksandrs Jackēvičs from Latvia and the USSR. But Ultsch was defeated in his pool by Cuba’s Isaac Azcuy. In the pool finals Jackēvičs faced the Swiss Jürg Röthlisberger, who scored first with koka and avoided being thrown to hold on for the win. In the other pool, Azcuy was too much for Brazil’s Walter Carmona. Ultsch and Jackēvičs went thru the repêchages with no difficulty and won bronze medals. In the final, Röthlisberger was immediately drawn into controversy about the size of his jacket. He was asked to change it but the referee then ruled that the second jacket was also not acceptable, so he went back to the first jacket, which was now allowed. Azcuy started the match quickly with three kokas using sode-tsuri-komi-goshi. But Röthlisberger answered with harai-goshi for yuko and won the gold medal. It was his second consecutive medal, having won bronze at half-heavyweight in Montréal.