The men's Greco-Roman middleweight competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki took place from 24 July to 27 July at Messuhalli. Nations were limited to one competitor. Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing .
Competition format 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, removing the slight modification introduced in 1936 and used until 1948 (which had a reduced penalty for a loss by 2–1 decision). 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. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gustav Gocke Decision, 2–1 Ercole Gallegati Axel Grönberg Decision, 3–0 Kalervo Rauhala Ali Özdemir Decision, 2–1 Adel Ibrahim Moustafa Gyula Németi Decision, 3–0 Lars Bilet Nikolay Belov Fall Jerzy Gryt Émile Courtois Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Ercole Gallegati Fall Émile Courtois Axel Grönberg Decision, 3–0 Gustav Gocke Kalervo Rauhala Decision, 3–0 Adel Ibrahim Moustafa Ali Özdemir Decision, 3–0 Lars Bilet Gyula Németi Fall Jerzy Gryt Nikolay Belov Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 5 0 3 3 5 3 0 3 7 1 3 4 7 3 1 4 9 3 3 6 9 3 3 6 9 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Nikolay Belov Walkover Émile Courtois Axel Grönberg Decision, 3–0 Ercole Gallegati Kalervo Rauhala Fall Gustav Gocke Gyula Németi Decision, 3–0 Ali Özdemir
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 2 3 2 1 3 4 4 0 4 5 2 3 5 6 3 3 6 6 3 3 6 8 4 3 7
Round 4
The tie for third-place was broken by head-to-head results, with Rauhala advancing to the medal rounds due to his win over Németi in this round.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Axel Grönberg Decision, 3–0 Nikolay Belov Kalervo Rauhala Decision, 3–0 Gyula Németi
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 3 3 2 3 1 4 3 4 1 5 4 2 3 5
Medal rounds
Grönberg's victorys over Rauhala (in round 1) and Belov (in round 2) counted for the medal round, giving him the gold medal. Rauhala and Belov faced off for the silver medal, which Rahuala won.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Kalervo Rauhala Decision, 3–0 Nikolay Belov
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses Start Earned Total 2 0 4 0 4 1 1 5 1 6 0 2 3 3 6
References
General