The men's Greco-Roman heavyweight competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London took place from 3 to 6 August at the Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Nations were limited to one competitor. Heavyweight was the heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing over .
This Greco-Roman wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, with the slight modification introduced in 1936. 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 three points if the loss was by fall or unanimous decision and two points if the decision was 2–1 (this was the modification from prior years, where all losses were three points). The winner received one point if the win was by decision and zero points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least five points was eliminated.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Josef Růžička Fall József Tarányi Taisto Kangasniemi Fall Ernesto Noya Tor Nilsson Fall Len Pidduck Ahmet Kireççi Fall Moritz Inderbitzin Guido Fantoni Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Guido Fantoni 0 0 0 1 Taisto Kangasniemi 0 0 0 1 Ahmet Kireççi 0 0 0 1 Tor Nilsson 0 0 0 1 Josef Růžička 0 0 0 6 Moritz Inderbitzin 0 3 3 6 Ernesto Noya 0 3 3 6 Len Pidduck 0 3 3 6 József Tarányi 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Guido Fantoni Decision, 2–1 Taisto Kangasniemi József Tarányi Fall Ernesto Noya Moritz Inderbitzin Decision, 3–0 Len Pidduck Ahmet Kireççi Fall Tor Nilsson N/A N/A Retired Josef Růžička
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Ahmet Kireççi 0 0 0 2 Guido Fantoni 0 1 1 3 Taisto Kangasniemi 0 2 2 4 Tor Nilsson 0 3 3 4 József Tarányi 3 0 3 6 Moritz Inderbitzin 3 1 4 7 Ernesto Noya 3 3 6 7 Len Pidduck 3 3 6 9 Josef Růžička 0 3 3*
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Guido Fantoni Fall József Tarányi Ahmet Kireççi Decision, 3–0 Taisto Kangasniemi Tor Nilsson Fall Moritz Inderbitzin
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Guido Fantoni 1 0 1 1 Ahmet Kireççi 0 1 1 3 Tor Nilsson 3 0 3 4 Taisto Kangasniemi 2 3 5 5 József Tarányi 3 3 6 6 Moritz Inderbitzin 4 3 7
Round 4
After three rounds, the three medalists were decided and they wrestled to determine who received which medal. Kireççi had beaten Nilsson previously (in round 2), so the two would not wrestle each other again. The draw resulted in Fantoni facing Nilsson in round 4 and Kireççi in round 5. Nilsson would have taken bronze with a loss, but guaranteed himself at least silver by winning by fall.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Tor Nilsson Fall Guido Fantoni Ahmet Kireççi Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Ahmet Kireççi 1 0 1 2 Tor Nilsson 3 0 3 3 Guido Fantoni 1 3 4
Round 5
Kirecci won the final match to take the gold medal; Fantoni's loss put him in third place.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Ahmet Kireççi Decision, 3–0 Guido Fantoni Tor Nilsson Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Ahmet Kireççi 1 1 2 Tor Nilsson 3 0 3 Guido Fantoni 4 3 7
References
General