Wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 27 July 1952
Medal Events 16

The 1952 wrestling tournament was held at the Messuhalli, or Exhibition Hall, which also hosted the basketball final, boxing, gymnastics, and weightlifting, in addition to wrestling, at the 1952 Olympics. Messuhalli was built in 1935 in the Töölö District of Helsinki and was later used for concerts, banquets, and sporting events. In 2014 it is the home arena of the Torpan Pojat and Helsinki Seagulls basketball teams.

There was no change in the program, with the eight classes in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, with all the weight classes the same. The tournaments were again conducted using a negative (bad) point system, but with a slight change. A win by fall again earned 0 points, while winning by any decision gained the wrestler 1 point. Any type of loss, by decision or fall, cost 3 points. Wrestlers were eliminated when they accumulated 5 points, so effectively the event was a double elimination tournament.

The Soviet Union competed in the Olympics for the first time in 1952 and became the top nation in wrestling, winning 10 medals and 5 golds, followed by Sweden, formerly the dominant nation at the last three Olympics, with 8 medals and 3 golds. They were followed by Iran, where wrestling is the national sport, with 5 medals. Iran had competed in wrestling in 1948 but did not win any medals. Iran won all its medals in freestyle, where it led the medal lists, although it won no events. The Soviet Union, Sweden, and Turkey each won 2 freestyle golds. The Soviets were easily the top nation in Greco-Roman with 7 medals and 4 golds.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Flyweight, Greco-Roman (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 17 17
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 17 17
Featherweight, Greco-Roman (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 17 17
Lightweight, Greco-Roman (≤67 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 19 19
Welterweight, Greco-Roman (≤73 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 18 18
Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤79 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 11 11
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤87 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 10 10
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>87 kilograms), Men Olympic 24 – 27 July 1952 10 10
Flyweight, Freestyle (≤52 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 16 16
Bantamweight, Freestyle (≤57 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 20 20
Featherweight, Freestyle (≤62 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 21 21
Lightweight, Freestyle (≤67 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 23 23
Welterweight, Freestyle (≤73 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 20 20
Middleweight, Freestyle (≤79 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 17 17
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤87 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 13 13
Heavyweight, Freestyle (>87 kilograms), Men Olympic 20 – 23 July 1952 13 13
244 (244/0) 37 (37/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Flyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Boris GurevichURS Ignazio FabraITA Leo HonkalaFIN
Bantamweight, Greco-Roman, Men Imre HódosHUN Zakaria ChihabLBN Artyom TeryanURS
Featherweight, Greco-Roman, Men Yakov PunkinURS Imre PolyákHUN Abdel Aal RashidEGY
Lightweight, Greco-Roman, Men Shazam SafinURS Gustav FreijSWE Mikuláš AthanasovTCH
Welterweight, Greco-Roman, Men Miklós SzilvásyHUN Gösta AnderssonSWE Khalil TahaLBN
Middleweight, Greco-Roman, Men Axel GrönbergSWE Kalervo RauhalaFIN Nikolay BelovURS
Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Kelpo GröndahlFIN Shalva ChikhladzeURS Karl-Erik NilssonSWE
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men Johannes KotkasURS Josef RůžičkaTCH Tauno KovanenFIN
Flyweight, Freestyle, Men Hasan GemiciTUR Yushu KitanoJPN Mahmoud MollaghasemiIRI
Bantamweight, Freestyle, Men Shohachi IshiiJPN Rəşid MəmmədbəyovURS Khashaba JadhavIND
Featherweight, Freestyle, Men Bayram ŞitTUR Nasser GivehchiIRI Joe HensonUSA
Lightweight, Freestyle, Men Olle AnderbergSWE Tommy EvansUSA Tofigh JahanbakhtIRI
Welterweight, Freestyle, Men Bill SmithUSA Per BerlinSWE Abdollah MojtabaviIRI
Middleweight, Freestyle, Men Davit Tsimak'uridzeURS Gholam Reza TakhtiIRI György GuricsHUN
Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Viking PalmSWE Henry WittenbergUSA Adil AtanTUR
Heavyweight, Freestyle, Men Arsen Mek'ok'ishviliURS Bertil AntonssonSWE Ken RichmondGBR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 6 2 2 10
Sweden SWE 3 4 1 8
Hungary HUN 2 1 1 4
Türkiye TUR 2 0 1 3
United States USA 1 2 1 4
Finland FIN 1 1 2 4
Japan JPN 1 1 0 2
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 0 2 3 5
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 1 1 2
Lebanon LBN 0 1 1 2
Italy ITA 0 1 0 1
Egypt EGY 0 0 1 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
India IND 0 0 1 1