Battle of Honey Springs

Men's freestyle 55 kilograms competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, was held on August 19 at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium.

This freestyle wrestling competition consisted of a single-elimination tournament, with a repechage used to determine the winners of two bronze medals. The two finalists faced off for gold and silver medals. Each wrestler who lost to one of the two finalists moved into the repechage, culminating in a pair of bronze medal matches featuring the semifinal losers each facing the remaining repechage opponent from their half of the bracket.

Each bout consisted of up to three rounds, lasting two minutes apiece. The wrestler who scored more points in each round was the winner of that rounds; the bout finished when one wrestler had won two rounds (and thus the match).

Gold medal-winner Henry Cejudo would later leave the sport of wrestling to become a successful mixed martial artist in the UFC, simultaneously holding the world flyweight and bantamweight titles.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+08:00)

Date Time Event
19 August 2008 09:30 Qualification rounds
16:00 Repechage
17:00 Finals

Results

Legend

Final

Final
 Henry Cejudo (USA) 2 3  
 Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN) 2 0  

Top half

Qualifications 1/8 finals Quarterfinals Semifinals
 Yang Kyong-il (PRK) 1 1 1
 Namig Sevdimov (AZE) 1 3 2
 Namig Sevdimov (AZE) 1 1 2
 Kim Hyo-sub (KOR) 2 0 0
 Kim Hyo-sub (KOR) 3 3  
 Francisco Sánchez (ESP) 1 1  
 Namig Sevdimov (AZE) 5 2 3
 Henry Cejudo (USA) 3 3 4
 Henry Cejudo (USA) 0 3 4
 Radoslav Velikov (BUL) 1 2 3
 Henry Cejudo (USA) 1 3 3
 Besarion Gochashvili (GEO) 3 2 0
 Petru Toarcă (ROU) 0 0  
 Besarion Gochashvili (GEO) 3 3  

Bottom half

Qualifications 1/8 finals Quarterfinals Semifinals
 Abbas Dabbaghi (IRI) 1 1 5
 Fredy Serrano (COL) 0 1 1
 Abbas Dabbaghi (IRI) 0 0  
 Besik Kudukhov (RUS) 6 1  
 Bayaraagiin Naranbaatar (MGL) 0 0  
 Besik Kudukhov (RUS) 1 1  
 Besik Kudukhov (RUS) 0 0  
 Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN) 3 5F  
 Sezar Akgül (TUR) 0 0  
 Adama Diatta (SEN) 0 0    Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN) 5 3  
 Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN) 1 4F    Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN) 2 0 2
 Maikel Pérez (CUB) 0 0    Dilshod Mansurov (UZB) 1 1 1
 Rizvan Gadzhiev (BLR) 7 6    Rizvan Gadzhiev (BLR) 1 0 0
 Dilshod Mansurov (UZB) 1 1    Dilshod Mansurov (UZB) 0 1 1
 Zhassulan Mukhtarbekuly (KAZ) 0 0  

Repechage

Repechage round 1Repechage round 2Bronze medals
 Radoslav Velikov (BUL)12  Radoslav Velikov (BUL)031
 Besarion Gochashvili (GEO)01  Namig Sevdimov (AZE)210
 Adama Diatta (SEN)010 Sezar Akgül (TUR)00  Dilshod Mansurov (UZB)00 
 Sezar Akgül (TUR)101 Dilshod Mansurov (UZB)44  Besik Kudukhov (RUS)12 

Final standing

Rank Athlete
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Henry Cejudo (USA)
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Tomohiro Matsunaga (JPN)
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Radoslav Velikov (BUL)
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Besik Kudukhov (RUS)
5  Namig Sevdimov (AZE)
5  Dilshod Mansurov (UZB)
7  Rizvan Gadzhiev (BLR)
8  Besarion Gochashvili (GEO)
9  Kim Hyo-sub (KOR)
10  Abbas Dabbaghi (IRI)
11  Sezar Akgül (TUR)
12  Yang Kyong-il (PRK)
13  Francisco Sánchez (ESP)
14  Fredy Serrano (COL)
15  Adama Diatta (SEN)
16  Bayaraagiin Naranbaatar (MGL)
16  Zhassulan Mukhtarbekuly (KAZ)
18  Petru Toarcă (ROU)
19  Maikel Pérez (CUB)

References