Wrestling at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle flyweight

The men's freestyle flyweight competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London took place from 29 July to 31 July at the Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Nations were limited to one competitor.[1]

Men's freestyle flyweight
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
VenueEmpress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre
Dates29–31 July
Competitors11 from 11 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Lennart Viitala  Finland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Halit Balamir  Turkey
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Thure Johansson  Sweden
← 1904
1952 →

This freestyle 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 3 points if the loss was by fall or unanimous decision and 2 points if the decision was 2-1 (this was the modification from prior years, where all losses were 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.[2]

Results edit

Round 1 edit

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Thure Johansson   Sweden Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Abdel Hamid El-Ward   Egypt
Lennart Viitala   Finland Decision, 2–1 Halit Balamir   Turkey
Billy Jernigan   United States Decision, 3–0 Mansour Raisi   Iran
Roland Baudric   France Decision, 2–1 Adolphe Lamot   Belgium
Khashaba Jadhav   India Decision, 3–0 Bert Harris   Australia
Harry Parker   Great Britain Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Harry Parker   Great Britain 0 0 0
2 Roland Baudric   France 0 1 1
2 Khashaba Jadhav   India 0 1 1
2 Billy Jernigan   United States 0 1 1
2 Thure Johansson   Sweden 0 1 1
2 Lennart Viitala   Finland 0 1 1
7 Halit Balamir   Turkey 0 2 2
7 Adolphe Lamot   Belgium 0 2 2
9 Mohamed Abdel Hamid El-Ward   Egypt 0 3 3
9 Bert Harris   Australia 0 3 3
9 Mansour Raisi   Iran 0 3 3

Round 2 edit

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Thure Johansson   Sweden Fall Harry Parker   Great Britain
Halit Balamir   Turkey Decision, 3–0 Roland Baudric   France
Lennart Viitala   Finland Fall Adolphe Lamot   Belgium
Mansour Raisi   Iran Fall Bert Harris   Australia
Khashaba Jadhav   India Decision, 3–0 Billy Jernigan   United States
N/A N/A Over weight Mohamed Abdel Hamid El-Ward   Egypt
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Thure Johansson   Sweden 1 0 1
1 Lennart Viitala   Finland 1 0 1
3 Khashaba Jadhav   India 1 1 2
4 Halit Balamir   Turkey 2 1 3
4 Harry Parker   Great Britain 0 3 3
4 Mansour Raisi   Iran 3 0 3
7 Roland Baudric   France 1 3 4
7 Billy Jernigan   United States 1 3 4
9 Adolphe Lamot   Belgium 2 3 5
10 Mohamed Abdel Hamid El-Ward   Egypt 3 3 6
10 Bert Harris   Australia 3 3 6

Round 3 edit

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Roland Baudric   France Retired Harry Parker   Great Britain
Halit Balamir   Turkey Fall Thure Johansson   Sweden
Lennart Viitala   Finland Decision, 3–0 Billy Jernigan   United States
Mansour Raisi   Iran Fall Khashaba Jadhav   India
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Lennart Viitala   Finland 1 1 2
2 Halit Balamir   Turkey 3 0 3
2 Mansour Raisi   Iran 3 0 3
4 Roland Baudric   France 4 0 4
4 Thure Johansson   Sweden 1 3 4
6 Khashaba Jadhav   India 2 3 5
7 Harry Parker   Great Britain 3 3 6
8 Billy Jernigan   United States 4 3 7

Round 4 edit

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Thure Johansson   Sweden Fall Roland Baudric   France
Halit Balamir   Turkey Decision, 3–0 Mansour Raisi   Iran
Lennart Viitala   Finland Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
1 Lennart Viitala   Finland 2 0 2
2 Halit Balamir   Turkey 3 1 4
2 Thure Johansson   Sweden 4 0 4
4 Mansour Raisi   Iran 3 3 6
5 Roland Baudric   France 4 3 7

Round 5 edit

By the fifth round, three wrestlers were left. Viitala had already defeated Balamir, in round 1, and Balamir had previously defeated Johansson, in round 3. Thus, the only possible match left was Viitala against Johansson. Viitala won to secure the gold medal, with Balamir receiving silver (despite not reaching 5 points) due to the previous head-to-head result against Viitala.

Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation
Lennart Viitala   Finland Fall Thure Johansson   Sweden
Halit Balamir   Turkey Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total
  Lennart Viitala   Finland 2 0 2
  Halit Balamir   Turkey 4 0 4
  Thure Johansson   Sweden 4 3 7

References edit

  1. ^ "Wrestling at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's Flyweight, Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 496.