The men's Greco-Roman bantamweight competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London took place from 3 August to 6 August at the Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Nations were limited to one competitor. Bantamweight is the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing .
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 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.
Results
Round 1
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Reidar Merli Decision, 3–0 Kurt Elias Mahmoud Hassan Decision, 2–1 Kolle Lejserowitz Kurt Pettersén Fall Francesco Suppo Lajos Bencze Decision, 2–1 Taisto Lempinen Halil Kaya Fall Jésus Arenzana Nikolaos Biris Fall Ken Irvine Elvidio Flamini Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Nikolaos Biris 0 0 0 1 Elvidio Flamini 0 0 0 1 Halil Kaya 0 0 0 1 Kurt Pettersén 0 0 0 5 Lajos Bencze 0 1 1 5 Mahmoud Hassan 0 1 1 5 Reidar Merli 0 1 1 8 Kolle Lejserowitz 0 2 2 8 Taisto Lempinen 0 2 2 10 Jésus Arenzana 0 3 3 10 Kurt Elias 0 3 3 10 Ken Irvine 0 3 3 10 Francesco Suppo 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Kurt Elias Decision, 3–0 Elvidio Flamini Mahmoud Hassan Fall Francesco Suppo N/A N/A "both declared Losers"Official Report, p.498. Sports-reference identifies "passivity" as the cause. Kolle LejserowitzReidar Merli Kurt Pettersén Decision, 3–0 Lajos Bencze Taisto Lempinen Fall Jésus Arenzana Halil Kaya Fall Nikolaos Biris Ken Irvine Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Halil Kaya 0 0 0 2 Mahmoud Hassan 1 0 1 2 Kurt Pettersén 0 1 1 4 Taisto Lempinen 2 0 2 5 Nikolaos Biris 0 3 3 5 Elvidio Flamini 0 3 3 5 Ken Irvine 3 0 3 8 Lajos Bencze 1 3 4 8 Kurt Elias 3 1 4 8 Reidar Merli 1 3 4 11 Kolle Lejserowitz 2 3 5 12 Jésus Arenzana 3 3 6 12 Francesco Suppo 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Elvidio Flamini Fall Ken Irvine Mahmoud Hassan Fall Kurt Elias Reidar Merli Decision, 3–0 Kurt Pettersén Lajos Bencze Decision, 3–0 Halil Kaya Taisto Lempinen Fall Nikolaos Biris
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Mahmoud Hassan 1 0 1 2 Taisto Lempinen 2 0 2 3 Elvidio Flamini 3 0 3 3 Halil Kaya 0 3 3 5 Kurt Pettersén 1 3 4 6 Lajos Bencze 4 1 5 6 Reidar Merli 4 1 5 8 Nikolaos Biris 3 3 6 8 Ken Irvine 3 3 6 10 Kurt Elias 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Mahmoud Hassan Fall Elvidio Flamini Kurt Pettersén Fall Taisto Lempinen Halil Kaya Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Mahmoud Hassan 1 0 1 2 Halil Kaya 3 0 3 3 Kurt Pettersén 4 0 4 4 Taisto Lempinen 2 3 5 5 Elvidio Flamini 3 3 6
Round 5
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Mahmoud Hassan Decision, 3–0 Halil Kaya Kurt Pettersén Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Mahmoud Hassan 1 1 2 2 Kurt Pettersén 4 0 4 Halil Kaya 3 3 6
Round 6
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Kurt Pettersén Decision, 3–0 Mahmoud Hassan
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Kurt Pettersén 4 1 5 Mahmoud Hassan 2 3 5
References
General