Super-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤120 kg), Men

Uzbeki Artur Taymazov had won a silver medal in this class in 2000 and then won the gold medal in 2004. He had won the 2006 World Championships and was favored to win his second consecutive gold in Beijing. In the semi-finals he faced David Musuľbes, who had won the 2000 gold medal representing Russia. Musuľbes had not been chosen for the 2004 Olympic team so left the Russian squad and began competing for Slovakia, as he did in Beijing. The match between the last two gold medalists was very close, but Taymazov prevailed, winning the first two periods 1-0. In the final Taymazov faced Russian Bakhtiyar Akhmedov, also shutting him in and winning in two straight periods. Taymazov would return in 2012 and win his third consecutive gold medal in this class. Musuľbes held on and won a bronze medal in Beijing, along with Kazakh Marid Mutalimov.

That was how the event and the results seemed to have ended. In 2015, however, the IOC began re-testing samples from the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, using newer, more advanced testing techniques, in an effort to find those who had used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but in whom it could not be detected at the time of those Olympics. This was one of the many events affected.

In April 2017, Artur Taymazov (UZB) was revealed to have a positive test for turinabol (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone) and stanozolol, and was disqualified, tentatively losing his gold medal. However, he appealed the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but that appeal was rejected in March 2018, with the updated results as shown.