The men's Greco-Roman middleweight 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 17 wrestlers from 17 nations. Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing .

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. 855.

Results

Round 1

The first round produced 4 winners by fall (0 points), 1 bye (0 points), 4 winners by decision (1 point), and 8 losers (3 points).

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Ivar Johansson Fall Émile Frantz László Papp Decision František Hála Jean Saenen Decision Émile Poilvé Franjo Palković Fall Simon Balkema Enrico Bonassin Fall Alfred Larsen Albert Kusnets Decision Hermann Simon Johannes Jacobsen Fall Nurettin Baytorun Otto Frei Decision Antonio Walzer Väinö Kokkinen 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 6 1 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3 10 3

Round 2

Jacobsen (second win by fall) and Kokkinen (bye, win by fall) stayed at 0 points. Four men finished the second round at 2–0 with one win by fall and one by decision for 1 point apiece. Five more were 1–1 with either 3 or 4 points depending on how the win was achieved. Walzer had 3 points after a loss and a bye. Five wrestlers were 0–2 and were eliminated.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Väinö Kokkinen Fall Ivar Johansson František Hála Fall Émile Frantz László Papp Fall Émile Poilvé Jean Saenen Fall Simon Balkema Enrico Bonassin Decision Franjo Palković Albert Kusnets Fall Alfred Larsen Nurettin Baytorun Decision Hermann Simon Johannes Jacobsen Fall Otto Frei Antonio Walzer Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 3 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 3 1 0 1 7 3 0 3 7 0 3 3 7 0 3 3 7 3 0 3 11 3 1 4 11 1 3 4 13 3 3 6 13 3 3 6 13 3 3 6 13 3 3 6 13 3 3 6

Round 3

All 6 bouts in round 3 were won by fall, so the winners remained at the same point totals: Jacobsen and Kokkinen at 0, Kusnets and Papp at 1, Hála at 3, and Baytorun at 4. Two of the losers—Bonassin and Saenen—reached only 4 points and continued in competition. The other 4 losers were eliminated.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Väinö Kokkinen Fall Antonio Walzer František Hála Fall Ivar Johansson László Papp Fall Jean Saenen Albert Kusnets Fall Franjo Palković Johannes Jacobsen Fall Enrico Bonassin Nurettin Baytorun Fall Otto Frei

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 Total 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 1 5 3 0 0 3 6 3 1 0 4 6 0 1 3 4 6 1 0 3 4 9 0 3 3 6 9 0 3 3 6 9 3 0 3 6 12 1 3 3 7

Round 4

Jacobsen had his first loss, but only went to 3 points and continued in competition. The other three losers were eliminated. Kokkinen was the only man left with 0 points. Each of the 5 remaining wrestlers had a different point total, 0 through 4.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Väinö Kokkinen Fall František Hála László Papp Fall Enrico Bonassin Jean Saenen Fall Nurettin Baytorun Albert Kusnets Decision Johannes Jacobsen

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 1 2 4 0 0 0 3 3 5 1 0 3 0 4 6 3 0 0 3 6 7 3 1 0 3 6 8 0 1 3 3 7

Round 5

With Jacobsen on a bye, and Kokkinen (at 0 points) and Papp (at 1 point) facing each other in a no-elimination-possible match, the only man that would be eliminated in round 5 was the loser of the Kusnets vs. Saenen bout. Kusnets won, so Saenen was eliminated.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Väinö Kokkinen Fall László Papp Albert Kusnets Fall Jean Saenen Johannes Jacobsen Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 3 0 0 0 3 0 3 4 1 0 0 0 3 4 5 1 0 3 0 3 7

Round 6

In contrast to the previous round which eliminated only 1 of 5 wrestlers, round 6 eliminated 3 of the remaining 4. Kokkinen beat Jacobsen to eliminate the latter man, who finished in 4th place. The Papp vs. Kusnets match ended in mutual elimination because Papp won by decision; both men finished with 5 points, but Papp had the head-to-head tie-breaker because of this win and received the silver medal. Kokkinen, who never received a point in the tournament (a bye and 4 wins by fall), won the gold medal as the last man remaining.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Väinö Kokkinen Fall Johannes Jacobsen László Papp Decision Albert Kusnets

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 5 1 0 0 1 0 3 5 4 0 0 0 3 0 3 6

References