Wrestling at the 1936 Summer Olympics

Dates 2 – 9 August 1936
Medal Events 14

The 1936 wrestling tournament was held at the Deutschlandhalle, which also hosted boxing and weightlifting. It was built in 1935 primarily for the 1936 Olympics and could hold just under 9,000 spectators. It was heavily damaged by bombing in World War II but was rebuilt after the War and still serves as a multi-purpose arena for sports and entertainment events.

There was no change in the program in 1936 from 1932, with seven events in Greco-Roman and freestyle. For the first time, both freestyle and Greco-Roman were conducted using the negative (bad) points system. A win by fall earned 0 points, while winning by unanimous decision gained the wrestler 1 point. A loss by majority decision (2-1) cost 2 points, and a loss by unanimous decision or fall cost 3 points. Wrestlers were eliminated when they accumulated 5 points, so effectively the event was a double elimination tournament.

Sweden led the medal list with 9 medals and 4 golds, while Germany won 7 medals, but no gold medals. Hungary also won 3 gold medals. In freestyle the top nations were the United States, with 6 medals, while Hungary was the only nation to win 2 freestyle golds. In Greco-Roman, Sweden won 6 medals and 3 gold medals.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman (≤56 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 18 18
Featherweight, Greco-Roman (≤61 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 19 19
Lightweight, Greco-Roman (≤66 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 18 18
Welterweight, Greco-Roman (≤72 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 14 14
Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤79 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 16 16
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤87 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 13 13
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>87 kilograms), Men Olympic 6 – 9 August 1936 12 12
Bantamweight, Freestyle (≤56 kilograms), Men Olympic 2 – 5 August 1936 14 14
Featherweight, Freestyle (≤61 kilograms), Men Olympic 2 – 4 August 1936 15 15
Lightweight, Freestyle (≤66 kilograms), Men Olympic 2 – 4 August 1936 17 17
Welterweight, Freestyle (≤72 kilograms), Men Olympic 2 – 4 August 1936 16 16
Middleweight, Freestyle (≤79 kilograms), Men Olympic 2 – 4 August 1936 15 15
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤87 kilograms), Men Olympic 3 – 4 August 1936 12 12
Heavyweight, Freestyle (>87 kilograms), Men Olympic 3 – 4 August 1936 11 11
200 (200/0) 29 (29/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman, Men Márton LőrinczHUN Egon SvenssonSWE Jakob BrendelGER
Featherweight, Greco-Roman, Men Yaşar ErkanTUR Aarne ReiniFIN Einar KarlssonSWE
Lightweight, Greco-Roman, Men Lauri KoskelaFIN Jozef HerdaTCH Voldemar VäliEST
Welterweight, Greco-Roman, Men Rudolf SvedbergSWE Fritz SchäferGER Eino VirtanenFIN
Middleweight, Greco-Roman, Men Ivar JohanssonSWE Ludwig SchweickertGER József PalotásHUN
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Axel CadierSWE Edvīns BietagsLAT August NeoEST
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Kristjan PalusaluEST John NymanSWE Kurt HornfischerGER
Bantamweight, Freestyle, Men Ödön ZomboriHUN Ross FloodUSA Johannes HerbertGER
Featherweight, Freestyle, Men Kustaa PihlajamäkiFIN Frank MillardUSA Gösta JönssonSWE
Lightweight, Freestyle, Men Károly KárpátiHUN Wolfgang EhrlGER Hermanni PihlajamäkiFIN
Welterweight, Freestyle, Men Frank LewisUSA Thure AnderssonSWE Joe SchleimerCAN
Middleweight, Freestyle, Men Émile PoilvéFRA Dick VolivaUSA Ahmet KireççiTUR
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Knut FridellSWE August NeoEST Erich SiebertGER
Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Kristjan PalusaluEST Josef KlapuchTCH Hjalmar NyströmFIN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Sweden SWE 4 3 2 9
Hungary HUN 3 0 1 4
Finland FIN 2 1 3 6
Estonia EST 2 1 2 5
United States USA 1 3 0 4
Türkiye TUR 1 0 1 2
France FRA 1 0 0 1
Germany GER 0 3 4 7
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 2 0 2
Latvia LAT 0 1 0 1
Canada CAN 0 0 1 1