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] Heavyweight was the heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing over 87 kilograms (191.8 lb).[2]

Men's freestyle heavyweight
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
VenueMessuhalli
Dates20–23 July
Competitors13 from 13 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Arsen Mekokishvili  Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Bertil Antonsson  Sweden
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ken Richmond  Great Britain
← 1948
1956 →

Competition format

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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

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Round 1

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Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union Fall József Kovács   Hungary
Ken Richmond   Great Britain Fall Adolfo Ramírez   Argentina
Bertil Antonsson   Sweden Fall Josef Růžička   Czechoslovakia
Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland Fall Ahad Vafadar   Iran
İrfan Atan   Turkey Fall William Kerslake   United States
Natale Vecchi   Italy Decision, 3–0 Auguste Baarendse   Belgium
Willi Waltner   Germany Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Bertil Antonsson   Sweden 0 0 0
1 İrfan Atan   Turkey 0 0 0
1 Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland 0 0 0
1 Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union 0 0 0
1 Ken Richmond   Great Britain 0 0 0
1 Willi Waltner   Germany 0 0 0
7 Natale Vecchi   Italy 0 1 1
8 Auguste Baarendse   Belgium 0 3 3
8 William Kerslake   United States 0 3 3
8 József Kovács   Hungary 0 3 3
8 Adolfo Ramírez   Argentina 0 3 3
8 Josef Růžička   Czechoslovakia 0 3 3
8 Ahad Vafadar   Iran 0 3 3

Round 2

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Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union Decision, 3–0 Willi Waltner   Germany
Ken Richmond   Great Britain Decision, 3–0 József Kovács   Hungary
Bertil Antonsson   Sweden Fall Adolfo Ramírez   Argentina
Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland Fall Josef Růžička   Czechoslovakia
İrfan Atan   Turkey Decision, 2–1 Ahad Vafadar   Iran
William Kerslake   United States Fall Auguste Baarendse   Belgium
Natale Vecchi   Italy Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Bertil Antonsson   Sweden 0 0 0
1 Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland 0 0 0
3 İrfan Atan   Turkey 0 1 1
3 Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union 0 1 1
3 Ken Richmond   Great Britain 0 1 1
3 Natale Vecchi   Italy 1 0 1
7 William Kerslake   United States 3 0 3
7 Willi Waltner   Germany 0 3 3
9 Auguste Baarendse   Belgium 3 3 6
9 József Kovács   Hungary 3 3 6
9 Adolfo Ramírez   Argentina 3 3 6
9 Josef Růžička   Czechoslovakia 3 3 6
9 Ahad Vafadar   Iran 3 3 6

Round 3

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Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Willi Waltner   Germany Decision, 2–1 Natale Vecchi   Italy
Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union Decision, 2–1 Ken Richmond   Great Britain
Bertil Antonsson   Sweden Decision, 2–1 İrfan Atan   Turkey
William Kerslake   United States Fall Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Bertil Antonsson   Sweden 0 1 1
2 Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union 1 1 2
3 Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland 0 3 3
3 William Kerslake   United States 3 0 3
5 İrfan Atan   Turkey 1 3 4
5 Ken Richmond   Great Britain 1 3 4
5 Natale Vecchi   Italy 1 3 4
5 Willi Waltner   Germany 3 1 4

Round 4

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

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union Fall Natale Vecchi   Italy
Ken Richmond   Great Britain Fall Willi Waltner   Germany
Bertil Antonsson   Sweden Decision, 2–1 William Kerslake   United States
İrfan Atan   Turkey Decision, 3–0 Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Bertil Antonsson   Sweden 1 1 2
1 Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union 2 0 2
3 Ken Richmond   Great Britain 4 0 4
4 İrfan Atan   Turkey 4 1 5
5 William Kerslake   United States 3 3 6
6 Taisto Kangasniemi   Finland 3 3 6
7 Natale Vecchi   Italy 4 3 7
7 Willi Waltner   Germany 4 3 7

Medal rounds

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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
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union Decision, 2–1 Bertil Antonsson   Sweden
Bertil Antonsson   Sweden Fall Ken Richmond   Great Britain
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses Start Earned Total
  Arsen Mekokishvili   Soviet Union 2 0 2 1 3
  Bertil Antonsson   Sweden 1 1 2 3 5
  Ken Richmond   Great Britain 0 2 4 3 7

References

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  1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b Official Report 1955, p. 365.

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