| | Event type

Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤87 kg), Men

Date	24 – 27 July 1952
Status	Olympic
Location	Messuhalli I, Helsinki
Participants	10 from 10 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.

No wrestler was considered a heavy favorite with the event being quite open. The medalist round came down to Finland’s Kelpo Gröndahl, Soviet Georgian Shalva Chikhladze, and Sweden’s Karl-Erik Nilsson. Gröndahl defeated both wrestlers to win the gold medal, with the final match a dull affair against Chikhladze which came down to a split decision verdict for Gröndahl. He would later win the silver medal at the 1953 World Championships.

This was the end of Chikhladze’s career, who competed in Helsinki at 40-years-old. He had been Georgian half-heavyweight champion in 1932 and won the 1934 South Caucasus half-heavyweight title, but missed the best years of his career due to the war and the Soviets not entering international competition until the late 1940s.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Medalists Match Record / Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	2-0	–	Gold
2	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	1-1	–	Silver
3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	0-2	–	Bronze
4	336	Gyula Kovács	HUN	–	–
5	290	İsmet Atlı	TUR	–	–
=6	88	Umberto Silvestri	ITA	–	–
=6	115	Michel Skaff	LBN	–	–
AC	191	Ovidiu Forai	ROU	eliminated r2/6	5
AC	237	Max Leichter	GER	eliminated r2/6	6
AC	118	Jos Schummer	LUX	eliminated r2/6	6
DNS	261	Eino Löppönen	FIN	–	–
DNS	321	Norbert Növényi, Sr.	HUN	–	–
DNS	335	János Sólyom	HUN	–	–
DNS	59	Ahad Vafadar	IRI	–	–
DNS	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	–	–
DNS	192	C. Atanasiu	ROU	–	–
DNS	211	L. Y. G. Carlsson	SWE	–	–
DNS	213	K.-J. S. Wong	SWE	–	–
DNS	279	R. Šarman	TCH	–	–
DNS	291	Haydar Zafer	TUR	–	–
DNS	152	Valentin Nikolayev	URS	–	–

Round One

Date	24 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
=1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	0
=1	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	0
=3	88	Umberto Silvestri	ITA	1
=3	115	Michel Skaff	LBN	1
=3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	1
=6	191	Ovidiu Forai	ROU	3
=6	290	İsmet Atlı	TUR	3
=6	237	Max Leichter	GER	3
=6	336	Gyula Kovács	HUN	3
=6	118	Jos Schummer	LUX	3

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	24 Jul	Michel Skaff	LBN	Decision (2-1)	Ovidiu Forai	ROU
Match #2	24 Jul	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Gyula Kovács	HUN
Match #3	24 Jul	Umberto Silvestri	ITA	Decision (2-1)	İsmet Atlı	TUR
Match #4	24 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	Fall (3:30)	Jos Schummer	LUX
Match #5	24 Jul	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	Fall (9:22)	Max Leichter	GER

Round Two

Date	25 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	1	–
=1	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	1	–
3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	2	–
=4	290	İsmet Atlı	TUR	3	–
=4	336	Gyula Kovács	HUN	3	–
=6	88	Umberto Silvestri	ITA	4	–
=6	115	Michel Skaff	LBN	4	–
=8	191	Ovidiu Forai	ROU	6	eliminated
=8	237	Max Leichter	GER	6	eliminated
=8	118	Jos Schummer	LUX	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	25 Jul	Gyula Kovács	HUN	Fall (10:40)	Michel Skaff	LBN
Match #2	25 Jul	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Ovidiu Forai	ROU
Match #3	25 Jul	İsmet Atlı	TUR	Fall (2:15)	Jos Schummer	LUX
Match #4	25 Jul	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	Decision (3-0)	Umberto Silvestri	ITA
Match #5	25 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	Decision (3-0)	Max Leichter	GER

Round Three

Date	26 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	1	–
=1	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	1	–
3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	2	–
4	336	Gyula Kovács	HUN	4	–
5	290	İsmet Atlı	TUR	6	eliminated
=6	88	Umberto Silvestri	ITA	7	eliminated
=6	115	Michel Skaff	LBN	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	26 Jul	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	Fall (4:40)	Michel Skaff	LBN
Match #2	26 Jul	Gyula Kovács	HUN	Decision (3-0)	İsmet Atlı	TUR
Match #3	26 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	Fall (2:18)	Umberto Silvestri	ITA
Match #4	26 Jul	Shalva Chikhladze	URS

Round Four

Date	27 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	2	–
2	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	4	–
3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	5	–
4	336	Gyula Kovács	HUN	5	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Gyula Kovács	HUN	Decision (3-0)	Shalva Chikhladze	URS
Match #2	27 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	Decision (2-1)	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE

Round Five

Date	27 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	253	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	2	–
2	153	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	4	–
3	226	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE	8	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Shalva Chikhladze	URS	Fall (2:39)	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE
Match #2	27 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN

Final Round

Date	27 July 1952

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	27 Jul	Kelpo Gröndahl	FIN	Decision (2-1)	Shalva Chikhladze	URS
Match #2	27 Jul	Karl-Erik Nilsson	SWE