The men's freestyle light heavyweight competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin took place from 3 August to 4 August at the Deutschlandhalle. Nations were limited to one competitor.Official Olympic Report, la84.org. Retrieved 26 August 2018. This weight class was limited to wrestlers weighing up to 87kg.Official Report, p. 716.
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 a slight modification. 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.Official Report, p. 716.
Schedule Date Event 3 August 1936 Round 1 4 August 1936 Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5
Results
Round 1
Of the winners, two won by fall and advanced with 0 points while four won by decision and moved to the second round with 1 point. All six losers received 3 points for defeats by fall or unanimous decision.Official Report, p. 734.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Knut Fridell Decision, 3–0 August Neo Ede Virág-Ébner Decision, 3–0 Matti Lahti Mustafa Avcioglu Decision, 3–0 Thomas Ward Ray Clemons Fall Paul Dätwyler Eddie Scarf Fall Maurice Beke Erich Siebert Decision, 3–0 Hubert Prokop
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Ray Clemons 0 0 0 1 Eddie Scarf 0 0 0 3 Mustafa Avcioglu 0 1 1 3 Knut Fridell 0 1 1 3 Erich Siebert 0 1 1 3 Ede Virág-Ébner 0 1 1 7 Maurice Beke 0 3 3 7 Paul Dätwyler 0 3 3 7 Matti Lahti 0 3 3 7 August Neo 0 3 3 7 Hubert Prokop 0 3 3 7 Thomas Ward 0 3 3
Round 2
Clemons and Siebert were the best wrestlers through the first two rounds, each with 1 point for a win by decision and a win by fall. Fridell was also 2–0, but both wins were by decision and he had 2 points. Scarf finished the round at 2 points as well, with a 1–1 record (win by fall, loss by split decision). Six other wrestlers had a 1–1 record and finished the round with 3 or 4 points. Three had lost both the first two rounds and were eliminated.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation August Neo Fall Ede Virág-Ébner Knut Fridell Decision, 3–0 Matti Lahti Ray Clemons Decision, 3–0 Thomas Ward Paul Dätwyler Fall Mustafa Avcioglu Erich Siebert Fall Maurice Beke Hubert Prokop Decision, 2–1 Eddie Scarf
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Ray Clemons 0 1 1 1 Erich Siebert 1 0 1 3 Knut Fridell 1 1 2 4 Eddie Scarf 0 2 2 5 Paul Dätwyler 3 0 3 5 August Neo 3 0 3 7 Mustafa Avcioglu 1 3 4 7 Hubert Prokop 3 1 4 7 Ede Virág-Ébner 1 3 4 10 Maurice Beke 3 3 6 10 Matti Lahti 3 3 6 10 Thomas Ward 3 3 6
Round 3
Clemons fell from first to fifth with a loss to Neo. Siebert picked up a second point but stayed in the lead along with Fridell. Dätwyler and Neo had 3 points apiece after the third round. The three losers other than Clemons were eliminated, as was Avcioglu, who withdrew.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation August Neo Fall Ray Clemons Knut Fridell Fall Ede Virág-Ébner Paul Dätwyler Fall Hubert Prokop Erich Siebert Decision, 3–0 Eddie Scarf N/A N/A Withdrew Mustafa Avcioglu
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Knut Fridell 2 0 2 1 Erich Siebert 1 1 2 3 Paul Dätwyler 3 0 3 3 August Neo 3 0 3 5 Ray Clemons 1 3 4 6 Eddie Scarf 2 3 5 7 Mustafa Avcioglu 4 3 7 7 Hubert Prokop 4 3 7 7 Ede Virág-Ébner 4 3 7
Round 4
Dätwyler and Clemons were eliminated with losses, leaving three wrestlers in competition. Fridell and Siebert each stayed at 2 points, winning by fall and having a bye, respectively. Neo received his fourth point in the win by decision.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation August Neo Decision, 3–0 Paul Dätwyler Knut Fridell Fall Ray Clemons Erich Siebert Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Knut Fridell 2 0 2 1 Erich Siebert 2 0 2 3 August Neo 3 1 4 4 Paul Dätwyler 3 3 6 5 Ray Clemons 4 3 7
Round 5
Fridell had previously defeated Neo, but Siebert had not faced either other wrestler. Fridell received the bye in this round, with Neo and Siebert wrestling. Had Siebert earned fewer than 3 points in the round, another bout would have been contested with Fridell and Siebert facing off. However, Neo defeated Siebert by unanimous decision. This put both wrestlers at 5 points—Neo adding 1 point to his starting 4 and Siebert adding 3 to his 2. Neo earned silver based on the head-to-head result in this round breaking the tie. Fridell won the gold medal.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation August Neo Decision, 3–0 Erich Siebert Knut Fridell Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Knut Fridell 2 0 2 August Neo 4 1 5 Erich Siebert 2 3 5
References