The men's Greco-Roman lightweight 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. Lightweight was the fourth-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
Jauch withdrew during his match. Tuhý withdrew after his victory.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Giacomo Gesino Decision, 3–0 Frans Rombaut Károly Ferencz Decision, 3–0 Aage Eriksen Georgios Petmezas Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Ahmed Osman Charif Damage Fall Luis Rosado Abraham Kurland Retired Alfred Jauch Ahmet Şenol Decision, 2–1 Albert Falaux Gustav Freij Fall Ray Myland Václav Tuhý Decision, 3–0 Eero Virtanen Johannes Munnikes Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Charif Damage 0 0 0 1 Gustav Freij 0 0 0 1 Abraham Kurland 0 0 0 1 Johannes Munnikes 0 0 0 5 Károly Ferencz 0 1 1 5 Giacomo Gesino 0 1 1 5 Georgios Petmezas 0 1 1 5 Ahmet Şenol 0 1 1 9 Albert Falaux 0 2 2 10 Aage Eriksen 0 3 3 10 Ray Myland 0 3 3 10 Mohamed Ahmed Osman 0 3 3 10 Frans Rombaut 0 3 3 10 Luis Rosado 0 3 3 10 Eero Virtanen 0 3 3 16 Václav Tuhý 0 1 1* 17 Alfred Jauch 0 3 3*
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Johannes Munnikes Fall Frans Rombaut Aage Eriksen Decision, 2–1 Giacomo Gesino Károly Ferencz Decision, 2–1 Mohamed Ahmed Osman Georgios Petmezas Fall Luis Rosado Charif Damage Decision, 3–0 Abraham Kurland Gustav Freij Fall Albert Falaux Ahmet Şenol Fall Ray Myland Eero Virtanen Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Gustav Freij 0 0 0 1 Johannes Munnikes 0 0 0 3 Charif Damage 0 1 1 3 Georgios Petmezas 1 0 1 3 Ahmet Şenol 1 0 1 6 Károly Ferencz 1 1 2 7 Giacomo Gesino 1 2 3 7 Abraham Kurland 0 3 3 7 Eero Virtanen 3 0 3 10 Aage Eriksen 3 1 4 11 Albert Falaux 2 3 5 11 Mohamed Ahmed Osman 3 2 5 13 Ray Myland 3 3 6 13 Frans Rombaut 3 3 6 13 Luis Rosado 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Eero Virtanen Decision, 3–0 Johannes Munnikes Károly Ferencz Decision, 2–1 Giacomo Gesino Aage Eriksen Declared Georgios Petmezas Charif Damage Decision, 3–0 Ahmet Şenol Gustav Freij Decision, 2–1 Abraham Kurland
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Gustav Freij 0 1 1 2 Charif Damage 1 1 2 3 Károly Ferencz 2 1 3 3 Johannes Munnikes 0 3 3 5 Aage Eriksen 4 0 4 5 Georgios Petmezas 1 3 4 5 Ahmet Şenol 1 3 4 5 Eero Virtanen 3 1 4 9 Giacomo Gesino 3 2 5 9 Abraham Kurland 3 2 5
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Aage Eriksen Retired Eero Virtanen Károly Ferencz Fall Johannes Munnikes Charif Damage Decision, 3–0 Georgios Petmezas Gustav Freij Fall Ahmet Şenol
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Gustav Freij 1 0 1 2 Charif Damage 2 1 3 2 Károly Ferencz 3 0 3 4 Aage Eriksen 4 0 4 5 Johannes Munnikes 3 3 6 6 Georgios Petmezas 4 3 7 6 Ahmet Şenol 4 3 7 6 Eero Virtanen 4 3 7
Round 5
Eriksen was eliminated despite winning, as the victory by decision gave him his fifth point. Freij was the only remaining wrestler with fewer than five, winning gold. Eriksen took silver. Ferencz and Damage each had six points, and had not previously faced each other, so a bronze medal match was staged.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Gustav Freij Decision, 3–0 Károly Ferencz Aage Eriksen Decision, 3–0 Charif Damage
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Gustav Freij 1 1 2 Aage Eriksen 4 1 5 3 Charif Damage 3 3 6 3 Károly Ferencz 3 3 6
Bronze medal match
Ferencz took the bronze medal in a split decision.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Károly Ferencz Decision, 2–1 Charif Damage
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Károly Ferencz 6 1 7 4 Charif Damage 6 2 8
References
General