The men's Greco-Roman heavyweight was one of thirteen wrestling events held as part of the wrestling at the 1928 Summer Olympics programme.1928 Summer Olympics - Official Report The competition was held from August 2 to 5, and featured 15 wrestlers from 15 nations. Heavyweight was the heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing over .

Competition format

This Greco-Roman wrestling competition introduced an elimination system based on the accumulation of points. Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points. The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated.Official Report, p. 859.

Results

Round 1

The first round produced 4 winners by fall (0 points), 1 bye (0 points), 3 winners by decision (1 point), and 7 losers (3 points).

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Josef Urban Fall Gustave Colpaert Aleardo Donati Fall Simon de Lanfranchi Georg Gehring Fall Emil Larsen Mehmet Çoban Decision Jorge Briola Eugen Wiesberger Sr. Decision Alberts Zvejnieks Rajmund Badó Fall Ibrahim Sobh Rudolf Svensson Decision Hjalmar Nyström Jacob Simonis Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 6 1 6 1 6 1 9 3 9 3 9 3 9 3 9 3 9 3 9 3

Round 2

All 7 bouts were won by fall, with none of the winners gaining any points. Donati, Gehring, and Urban stayed at 0; Çoban, Svensson (with a bye), and Weisberger stayed at 1; Nyström and Zvejnieks stayed at 3. Also with 3 points were Badó and Simonis, after their first loss each. The other 5 round 2 losers had also lost in round 1; they were eliminated.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Josef Urban Fall Jacob Simonis Aleardo Donati Fall Gustave Colpaert Georg Gehring Fall Simon de Lanfranchi Mehmet Çoban Fall Emil Larsen Alberts Zvejnieks Fall Jorge Briola Eugen Wiesberger Sr. Fall Ibrahim Sobh Hjalmar Nyström Fall Rajmund Badó Rudolf Svensson Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 4 1 0 1 4 1 0 1 7 0 3 3 7 3 0 3 7 0 3 3 7 3 0 3 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6 11 3 3 6

Round 3

The Urban–Donati and Gehring–Çoban bouts each featured 2 wrestlers with fewer than 2 points and therefore no elimination possible for either wrestler in the bout. The Nyström–Wiesberger bout also ended in no eliminations, as Nyström won by decision to leave both wrestlers at 4 points. Zvejnieks and Simonis were eliminated. Urban was the only man left with 0 points; Gehring and Svensson also remained below 2 points and thus safe from elimination in the next round.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Rudolf Svensson Fall Jacob Simonis Josef Urban Fall Aleardo Donati Georg Gehring Decision Mehmet Çoban Rajmund Badó Fall Alberts Zvejnieks Hjalmar Nyström Decision Eugen Wiesberger Sr.

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 Total 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 4 0 3 0 3 4 0 0 3 3 6 1 0 3 4 6 3 0 1 4 6 1 0 3 4 9 0 3 3 6 9 3 0 3 6

Round 4

All 4 bouts this round were won by fall; Nyström and Wiesberger needed to win that way to continue, as they started (and ended) with 4 points. Svensson and Gehring each stayed at 1 point, now in the lead as Urban took his first loss and moved to 3 points. The other three losers, Badó, Çoban, and Donati, were eliminated.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Rudolf Svensson Fall Josef Urban Georg Gehring Fall Aleardo Donati Hjalmar Nyström Fall Mehmet Çoban Eugen Wiesberger Sr. Fall Rajmund Badó

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 Total 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 3 3 4 3 0 1 0 4 4 1 0 3 0 4 6 0 3 0 3 6 7 0 0 3 3 6 8 1 0 3 3 7

Round 5

The two leaders faced off (neither could be eliminated, however), with Svensson prevailing (ultimately securing himself the gold medal). Urban, who had 0 points after 3 rounds, now had 6 points after two consecutive losses and was eliminated in 5th place. Wiesberger was also eliminated in his victory over Urban, as he needed a win by fall to continue but won by decision instead. Nyström had a bye.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Rudolf Svensson Fall Georg Gehring Eugen Wiesberger Sr. Decision Josef Urban Hjalmar Nyström Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 3 4 2 3 0 1 0 0 4 4 1 0 3 0 1 5 5 0 0 0 3 3 6

Round 6

The only bout possible was Nyström against Gehring, as Svensson had already faced each of the other wrestlers. Svensson thus ended up with his second bye of the tournament and the gold medal.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Hjalmar Nyström Decision Georg Gehring Rudolf Svensson Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 1 0 3 3 7

References