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| Event type

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

Date24 – 27 July 1952
StatusOlympic
LocationMessuhalli I, Helsinki
Participants10 from 10 countries
FormatWin 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.

Johannes Kotkas was European Champion in 1938 and 1939, representing his native Estonia, and won the title again in 1947 for the Soviet Union. He would have been favored in 1948 at London but the Soviet Union did not enter the Olympics. Kotkas was also a top hammer thrower and had won the Soviet title in that event in 1943, was on the hammer podium at the Soviet nationals in 1945-47, and also won a bronze medal in shot put at the 1943 Soviet Nationals. In 1951 Kotkas had also won a silver medal in sambo at the Nationals in that judo-style type of wrestling, practiced almost exclusively in the former Soviet Union and its republics. He came into Helsinki as an overwhelming favorite in the heavyweight division, especially when Sweden’s Bertil Antonsson, the 1950 heavyweight Greco-Roman World Champion, elected to compete only in freestyle in 1952, in which he was the defending champion.

Kotkas won the Helsinki gold medal in dominant fashion. He had two byes, but won all four of his matches by falls, throwing Czechoslovak Josef Růžička in 4:32 in the final match to win gold. Kotkas returned to the 1953 World Championship, and met Antonsson in the final match, with Antonsson defeating him for the gold medal at that event.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCMMR/REBad Points
1Johannes KotkasURS2-0Gold
2Josef RůžičkaTCH1-1Silver
3Tauno KovanenFIN0-2Bronze
4Willi WaltnerGER
5Alexandru ȘuliROU
=6Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
=6Bengt FahlkvistSWE
ACGuido FantoniITAEliminated r3/67
ACJózsef KovácsHUNEliminated r2/65
ACAdolfo RamírezARGEliminated r2/66

Round One (24 July 1952)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
=1Willi WaltnerGER0
=1Antonios GeorgoulisGRE0
=1Bengt FahlkvistSWE0
=1Josef RůžičkaTCH0
=1Johannes KotkasURS0
6Tauno KovanenFIN1
=7Adolfo RamírezARG3
=7József KovácsHUN3
DNSAuguste BaarendseBEL3withdrew
=7Guido FantoniITA3
DNSKen RichmondGBR3withdrew
=7Alexandru ȘuliROU3

Match #1 Willi WaltnerGER bye
Match #2 Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
fall (12:43)
Adolfo RamírezARG
Match #3 Tauno KovanenFIN
decision (3-0)
Alexandru ȘuliROU
Match #4 Josef RůžičkaTCH
fall (5:30)
József KovácsHUN
Match #5 Johannes KotkasURS bye
Match #6 Bengt FahlkvistSWE
fall (4:00)
Guido FantoniITA

Round Two (25 July 1952)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Johannes KotkasURS0
2Willi WaltnerGER1
3Tauno KovanenFIN2
=4Josef RůžičkaTCH3
=4Antonios GeorgoulisGRE3
=4Bengt FahlkvistSWE3
=7Guido FantoniITA4
=7Alexandru ȘuliROU4
=9József KovácsHUN6eliminated
=9Adolfo RamírezARG6eliminated

Match #1 Willi WaltnerGER
decision (3-0)
Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
Match #2 Tauno KovanenFIN
decision (3-0)
Adolfo RamírezARG
Match #3 Alexandru ȘuliROU
decision (2-1)
József KovácsHUN
Match #4 Guido FantoniITA
decision (2-1)
Josef RůžičkaTCH
Match #5 Johannes KotkasURS
fall (2:40)
Bengt FahlkvistSWE

Round Three (26 July 1952)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Johannes KotkasURS0
=2Josef RůžičkaTCH3
=2Tauno KovanenFIN3
4Willi WaltnerGER4
5Alexandru ȘuliROU5eliminated
=6Antonios GeorgoulisGRE6eliminated
=6Bengt FahlkvistSWE6eliminated
8Guido FantoniITA7eliminated

Match #1 Tauno KovanenFIN
decision (3-0)
Willi WaltnerGER
Match #2 Alexandru ȘuliROU
decision (3-0)
Antonios GeorgoulisGRE
Match #3 Josef RůžičkaTCH
fall (10:09)
Bengt FahlkvistSWE
Match #4 Johannes KotkasURS
fall (3:41)
Guido FantoniITA

Round Four (27 July 1952)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Johannes KotkasURS0
2Josef RůžičkaTCH3
3Tauno KovanenFIN6
4Willi WaltnerGER7eliminated

Match #1 Josef RůžičkaTCH
fall (0:30)
Willi WaltnerGER
Match #2 Johannes KotkasURS
fall (2:43)
Tauno KovanenFIN

Round Five (27 July 1952)

PosCompetitor(s)NOCBad Points
1Johannes KotkasURS0
2Josef RůžičkaTCH3
3Tauno KovanenFIN9eliminated

Match #1 Josef RůžičkaTCH
fall (4:43)
Tauno KovanenFIN
Match #2 Johannes KotkasURS bye

Final Round (27 July 1952)

Match #1 Johannes KotkasURS
fall (4:32)
Josef RůžičkaTCH
Match #2 Tauno KovanenFIN bye