| | Event type

Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤79 kg), Men

Date	24 – 27 July 1952
Status	Olympic
Location	Messuhalli I, Helsinki
Participants	11 from 11 countries
Format	Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss of any type = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler. When only three wrestlers remained, if they had not yet met one another, they wrestled further rounds. Medal placements were determined by the match record among the medalists, with bad points as a tie breaker. A wrestler in the medal rounds could continue with 5 or more bad points.

Swede Axel Grönberg came in as the defending gold medalist, the 1950 World Champion, and the clear favorite. He had little difficulty defending his title, winning all five of his matches by unanimous decisions. In the medalist round he defeated Finland’s Kalervo Rauhala and Soviet Nikolay Belov, who won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. One other favorite entering the event was Turkey’s Ali Özdemir, runner-up to Grönberg at the 1950 Worlds, but Özdemir was eliminated after a loss in round three and placed fifth.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Medalists Match Record / Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	209	Axel Grönberg	SWE	2-0	–	Gold
2	252	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	1-1	–	Silver
3	151	Nikolay Belov	URS	0-2	–	Bronze
4	334	Gyula Németi	HUN	–	–
5	301	Ali Özdemir	TUR	–	–
6	87	Ercole Gallegati	ITA	–	–
AC	20	Émile Courtois	BEL	eliminated r3/5	6
AC	236	Gustav Gocke	GER	eliminated r3/5	7
AC	32	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	eliminated r2/5	5
AC	161	Lars Bilet	NOR	eliminated r2/5	6
AC	167	Jerzy Gryt	POL	eliminated r2/5	6
DNS	5	León Genuth	ARG	–	–
DNS	19	Augustus Everaerts	BEL	–	–
DNS	31	Abduh Hussain	EGY	–	–
DNS	268	Juho Kinnunen	FIN	–	–
DNS	319	György Gurics	HUN	–	–
DNS	318	József Kendi	HUN	–	–
DNS	57	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	–	–
DNS	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	–	–
DNS	86	Antonio Cerroni	ITA	–	–
DNS	225	H. R. Carlsson	SWE	–	–
DNS	224	K.-A. R. Jansson	SWE	–	–
DNS	291	Haydar Zafer	TUR	–	–
DNS	150	Givi K'art'ozia	URS	–	–

Round One

Date	24 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
=1	20	Émile Courtois	BEL	0
=1	151	Nikolay Belov	URS	0
=3	236	Gustav Gocke	GER	1
=3	334	Gyula Németi	HUN	1
=3	209	Axel Grönberg	SWE	1
=3	301	Ali Özdemir	TUR	1
=7	32	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	3
=7	87	Ercole Gallegati	ITA	3
=7	252	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	3
=7	161	Lars Bilet	NOR	3
=7	167	Jerzy Gryt	POL	3

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	24 Jul	Gustav Gocke	GER	Decision (2-1)	Ercole Gallegati	ITA
Match #2	24 Jul	Axel Grönberg	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN
Match #3	24 Jul	Ali Özdemir	TUR	Decision (2-1)	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY
Match #4	24 Jul	Gyula Németi	HUN	Decision (3-0)	Lars Bilet	NOR
Match #5	24 Jul	Nikolay Belov	URS	Fall (2:17)	Jerzy Gryt	POL
Match #6	24 Jul	Émile Courtois	BEL

Round Two

Date	25 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	151	Nikolay Belov	URS	0	–
2	334	Gyula Németi	HUN	1	–
=3	209	Axel Grönberg	SWE	2	–
=3	301	Ali Özdemir	TUR	2	–
=5	87	Ercole Gallegati	ITA	3	–
=5	20	Émile Courtois	BEL	3	–
=7	252	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	4	–
=7	236	Gustav Gocke	GER	4	–
=9	32	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	6	eliminated
=9	161	Lars Bilet	NOR	6	eliminated
=9	167	Jerzy Gryt	POL	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	25 Jul	Ercole Gallegati	ITA	Fall (6:56)	Émile Courtois	BEL
Match #2	25 Jul	Axel Grönberg	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Gustav Gocke	GER
Match #3	25 Jul	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	Decision (3-0)	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY
Match #4	25 Jul	Ali Özdemir	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Lars Bilet	NOR
Match #5	25 Jul	Gyula Németi	HUN	Fall (8:26)	Jerzy Gryt	POL
Match #6	25 Jul	Nikolay Belov	URS

Round Three

Date	26 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	151	Nikolay Belov	URS	0	–
2	334	Gyula Németi	HUN	2	–
3	209	Axel Grönberg	SWE	3	–
4	252	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	4	–
5	301	Ali Özdemir	TUR	5	eliminated
=6	87	Ercole Gallegati	ITA	6	eliminated
=6	20	Émile Courtois	BEL	6	eliminated
8	236	Gustav Gocke	GER	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Jul	Nikolay Belov	URS	Default (injury)	Émile Courtois	BEL
Match #2	26 Jul	Axel Grönberg	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Ercole Gallegati	ITA
Match #3	26 Jul	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	Fall (11:06)	Gustav Gocke	GER
Match #4	26 Jul	Gyula Németi	HUN	Decision (3-0)	Ali Özdemir	TUR

Round Four

Date	27 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	151	Nikolay Belov	URS	3	–
2	209	Axel Grönberg	SWE	4	–
=3	252	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	5	eliminated
=3	334	Gyula Németi	HUN	5	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Axel Grönberg	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Nikolay Belov	URS
Match #2	27 Jul	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	Decision (3-0)	Gyula Németi	HUN

Final Round

Date	27 July 1952

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Kalervo Rauhala	FIN	Decision (3-0)	Nikolay Belov	URS
Match #2	27 Jul	Axel Grönberg	SWE