Wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle heavyweight

The men's freestyle heavyweight competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki took place from 20 July to 23 July at Messuhalli. Nations were limited to one competitor.[1]

Men's freestyle heavyweight
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueMessuhalli
Dates20–23 July
Competitors13 from 13 nations
Medalists
Arsen Mekokishvili  Soviet Union
Bertil Antonsson  Sweden
Ken Richmond  Great Britain

Competition format

This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, removing the slight modification introduced in 1936 and used until 1948 (which had a reduced penalty for a loss by 2–1 decision). Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points. The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.[2][1]

Results

Round 1

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet UnionFallJózsef Kovács Hungary
Ken Richmond Great BritainFallAdolfo Ramírez Argentina
Bertil Antonsson SwedenFallJosef Růžička Czechoslovakia
Taisto Kangasniemi FinlandFallAhad Vafadar Iran
İrfan Atan TurkeyFallWilliam Kerslake United States
Natale Vecchi ItalyDecision, 3–0Auguste Baarendse Belgium
Willi Waltner GermanyByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Bertil Antonsson Sweden000
1İrfan Atan Turkey000
1Taisto Kangasniemi Finland000
1Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet Union000
1Ken Richmond Great Britain000
1Willi Waltner Germany000
7Natale Vecchi Italy011
8Auguste Baarendse Belgium033
8William Kerslake United States033
8József Kovács Hungary033
8Adolfo Ramírez Argentina033
8Josef Růžička Czechoslovakia033
8Ahad Vafadar Iran033

Round 2

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Willi Waltner Germany
Ken Richmond Great BritainDecision, 3–0József Kovács Hungary
Bertil Antonsson SwedenFallAdolfo Ramírez Argentina
Taisto Kangasniemi FinlandFallJosef Růžička Czechoslovakia
İrfan Atan TurkeyDecision, 2–1Ahad Vafadar Iran
William Kerslake United StatesFallAuguste Baarendse Belgium
Natale Vecchi ItalyByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Bertil Antonsson Sweden000
1Taisto Kangasniemi Finland000
3İrfan Atan Turkey011
3Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet Union011
3Ken Richmond Great Britain011
3Natale Vecchi Italy101
7William Kerslake United States303
7Willi Waltner Germany033
9Auguste Baarendse Belgium336
9József Kovács Hungary336
9Adolfo Ramírez Argentina336
9Josef Růžička Czechoslovakia336
9Ahad Vafadar Iran336

Round 3

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Willi Waltner GermanyDecision, 2–1Natale Vecchi Italy
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet UnionDecision, 2–1Ken Richmond Great Britain
Bertil Antonsson SwedenDecision, 2–1İrfan Atan Turkey
William Kerslake United StatesFallTaisto Kangasniemi Finland
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Bertil Antonsson Sweden011
2Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet Union112
3Taisto Kangasniemi Finland033
3William Kerslake United States303
5İrfan Atan Turkey134
5Ken Richmond Great Britain134
5Natale Vecchi Italy134
5Willi Waltner Germany314

Round 4

Kerslake took 5th place over Kangasniemi due to head-to-head results from round 3.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet UnionFallNatale Vecchi Italy
Ken Richmond Great BritainFallWilli Waltner Germany
Bertil Antonsson SwedenDecision, 2–1William Kerslake United States
İrfan Atan TurkeyDecision, 3–0Taisto Kangasniemi Finland
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Bertil Antonsson Sweden112
1Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet Union202
3Ken Richmond Great Britain404
4İrfan Atan Turkey415
5William Kerslake United States336
6Taisto Kangasniemi Finland336
7Natale Vecchi Italy437
7Willi Waltner Germany437

Medal rounds

Mekokishvili's victory over Richmond counted for the medal rounds. Mekokishvili then defeated Antonsson to win the gold medal at 2–0 against the other medalists. Antonsson then faced Richmond for the silver medal, with the Swede winning.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet UnionDecision, 2–1Bertil Antonsson Sweden
Bertil Antonsson SwedenFallKen Richmond Great Britain
Points
RankWrestlerNationWinsLossesStartEarnedTotal
Arsen Mekokishvili Soviet Union20213
Bertil Antonsson Sweden11235
Ken Richmond Great Britain02437

References

  1. "Wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's freestyle heavyweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  2. Official Report, p. 365.
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