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

The men's freestyle light 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 light heavyweight
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueMessuhalli
Dates20–23 July
Competitors13 from 13 nations
Medalists
Viking Palm  Sweden
Henry Wittenberg  United States
Adil Atan  Turkey

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
Viking Palm SwedenDecision, 3–0Kevin Coote Australia
Henry Wittenberg United StatesFallRodolfo Padron Venezuela
Willy Lardon SwitzerlandFallBob Steckle Canada
Jan Theron South AfricaDecision, 2–1Shrirang Jadhav India
August Englas Soviet UnionDecision, 3–0Adil Atan Turkey
Max Leichter GermanyDecision, 3–0Paavo Sepponen Finland
Abbas Zandi IranByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Willy Lardon Switzerland000
1Henry Wittenberg United States000
1Abbas Zandi Iran000
4August Englas Soviet Union011
4Max Leichter Germany011
4Viking Palm Sweden011
4Jan Theron South Africa011
8Adil Atan Turkey033
8Kevin Coote Australia033
8Shrirang Jadhav India033
8Rodolfo Padron Venezuela033
8Paavo Sepponen Finland033
8Bob Steckle Canada033

Round 2

Lardon withdrew after his bout.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Abbas Zandi IranDecision, 3–0Kevin Coote Australia
Viking Palm SwedenFallRodolfo Padron Venezuela
Henry Wittenberg United StatesFallWilly Lardon Switzerland
Jan Theron South AfricaDecision, 3–0Bob Steckle Canada
August Englas Soviet UnionFallShrirang Jadhav India
Adil Atan TurkeyFallMax Leichter Germany
Paavo Sepponen FinlandByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Henry Wittenberg United States000
2August Englas Soviet Union101
2Viking Palm Sweden101
2Abbas Zandi Iran011
5Jan Theron South Africa112
6Adil Atan Turkey303
6Paavo Sepponen Finland303
8Max Leichter Germany134
9Willy Lardon Switzerland033*
10Kevin Coote Australia336
10Shrirang Jadhav India336
10Rodolfo Padron Venezuela336
10Bob Steckle Canada336

Round 3

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Abbas Zandi IranDecision, 3–0Paavo Sepponen Finland
Viking Palm SwedenDecision, 3–0Henry Wittenberg United States
Adil Atan TurkeyFallJan Theron South Africa
August Englas Soviet UnionFallMax Leichter Germany
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1August Englas Soviet Union101
2Viking Palm Sweden112
2Abbas Zandi Iran112
4Adil Atan Turkey303
4Henry Wittenberg United States033
6Jan Theron South Africa235
7Paavo Sepponen Finland336
8Max Leichter Germany437

Round 4

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Viking Palm SwedenDecision, 2–1Abbas Zandi Iran
Henry Wittenberg United StatesDecision, 3–0August Englas Soviet Union
Adil Atan TurkeyByeN/AN/A
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Adil Atan Turkey303
1Viking Palm Sweden213
3August Englas Soviet Union134
4Henry Wittenberg United States314
5Abbas Zandi Iran235

Round 5

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Henry Wittenberg United StatesFallAdil Atan Turkey
Viking Palm SwedenDecision, 2–1August Englas Soviet Union
Points
RankWrestlerNationStartEarnedTotal
1Viking Palm Sweden314
1Henry Wittenberg United States404
3Adil Atan Turkey336
4August Englas Soviet Union437

Medal rounds

Palm's victory over Wittenberg in round 3 and Wittenberg's victory over Atan in round 5 counted for the medal round. The only bout left for the round therefore was Palm against Atan, with Wittenberg a spectator—who had to hope for an Atan victory to create a three-way tie at 1–1 which Wittenberg would win on bad points to take gold. Palm was able to defeat Atan in a split decision, however, and the Swede thereby won the gold medal, having beaten both of the other medalists.

Bouts
WinnerNationVictory TypeLoserNation
Viking Palm SwedenDecision, 2–1Adil Atan Turkey
Points
RankWrestlerNationWinsLossesStartEarnedTotal
Viking Palm Sweden20415
Henry Wittenberg United States11404
Adil Atan Turkey02639

References

  1. "Wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's freestyle light heavyweight". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  2. Official Report, p. 362.
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