| | Event type

Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>87 kg), Men

Date	3 – 6 August 1948 — 10:00-13:30-18:00-23:30 (all days)
Status	Olympic
Location	Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Kensington, London
Participants	9 from 9 countries
Format	Elimination by bad points. Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss by 2-1 decision = 2 points; loss by 3-0 decision = 3 points; loss by fall = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler.

The heavy favorite should have been the Estonian Soviet Johannes Kotkas, who was the 1938-39 European Champion, representing Estonia, and won again in 1947 for the Soviet Union. Kotkas could not compete, however, as the Soviet Union did not enter the Olympics until 1952, and Estonia was no longer an independent nation, but he would return in 1952 and win the gold medal in this class at Helsinki. In Kotkas’ absence, the gold medal went to Turkey’s Ahmet Kireççi, who had won a bronze medal in middleweight freestyle at the 1936 Olympics. Kireççi won the gold with a final round unanimous decision over Italy’s Guido Fantoni, who took the bronze behind Sweden’s Tor Nilsson. Nilsson had lost to Kireççi by fall in 15:48 of the second round.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	–	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	–	–	Gold
2	–	Tor Nilsson	SWE	–	–	Silver
3	–	Guido Fantoni	ITA	–	–	Bronze
4	–	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	–	–
5	130	József Tarányi	HUN	–	–
6	–	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI	–	–
AC	–	Ernesto Noya	ARG	eliminated r2/5	6
AC	–	Len Pidduck	GBR	eliminated r2/5	6
AC	142	Josef Růžička	TCH	withdrew r2/5	0

Round One

Date	3 August 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	–	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	0	–
=1	–	Guido Fantoni	ITA	0	–
=1	–	Tor Nilsson	SWE	0	–
=1	142	Josef Růžička	TCH	0	withdrew
=1	–	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	0	–
=6	–	Ernesto Noya	ARG	3	–
=6	–	Len Pidduck	GBR	3	–
=6	130	József Tarányi	HUN	3	–
=6	–	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI	3	–

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	03 Aug	Josef Růžička	TCH	Fall (13:27)	József Tarányi	HUN
Match #2	03 Aug	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	Fall (4:59)	Ernesto Noya	ARG
Match #3	03 Aug	Tor Nilsson	SWE	Fall (4:41)	Len Pidduck	GBR
Match #4	03 Aug	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	Fall (13:51)	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI
Match #5	03 Aug	Guido Fantoni	ITA

Round Two

Date	4 August 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	–	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	0	–
2	–	Guido Fantoni	ITA	1	–
3	–	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	2	–
=4	130	József Tarányi	HUN	3	–
=4	–	Tor Nilsson	SWE	3	–
6	–	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI	4	–
=7	–	Ernesto Noya	ARG	6	eliminated
=7	–	Len Pidduck	GBR	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	04 Aug	Guido Fantoni	ITA	Decision (2-1)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #2	04 Aug	József Tarányi	HUN	Fall (4:49)	Ernesto Noya	ARG
Match #3	04 Aug	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI	Decision (3-0)	Len Pidduck	GBR
Match #4	04 Aug	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	Fall (15:48)	Tor Nilsson	SWE

Round Three

Date	5 August 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	–	Guido Fantoni	ITA	1	–
=1	–	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	1	–
3	–	Tor Nilsson	SWE	3	–
4	–	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN	5	eliminated
5	130	József Tarányi	HUN	6	eliminated
6	–	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	05 Aug	Guido Fantoni	ITA	Fall (6:06)	József Tarányi	HUN
Match #2	05 Aug	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Taisto Kangasniemi	FIN
Match #3	05 Aug	Tor Nilsson	SWE	Fall (2:54)	Moritz Inderbitzin	SUI

Round Four

Date	5 August 1948

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
1	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	1
2	Tor Nilsson	SWE	3
3	Guido Fantoni	ITA	4

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	05 Aug	Tor Nilsson	SWE	Fall (13:12)	Guido Fantoni	ITA
Match #2	05 Aug	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR

Final Round

Date	6 August 1948

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	06 Aug	Ahmet Kireççi	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Guido Fantoni	ITA
Match #2	06 Aug	Tor Nilsson	SWE