The men's freestyle middleweight 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. Middleweight was the third-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing .
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.
Results
Round 1
Hariri retired after his bout.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Adil Candemir Fall Bruce Arthur Maurice Vachon Fall Keshav Roy Eddie Bowey Decision, 3–0 Eduardo Assam Paavo Sepponen Decision, 3–0 André Brunaud Paul Dätwyler Fall Anton Vogel Callie Reitz Decision, 2–1 Abbas Ahmad Erik Lindén Fall Jean-Baptiste Benoy Glen Brand Decision, 2–1 Abbas Hariri
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Adil Candemir 0 0 0 1 Paul Dätwyler 0 0 0 1 Erik Lindén 0 0 0 1 Maurice Vachon 0 0 0 5 Eddie Bowey 0 1 1 5 Glen Brand 0 1 1 5 Callie Reitz 0 1 1 5 Paavo Sepponen 0 1 1 9 Abbas Ahmad 0 2 2 10 Bruce Arthur 0 3 3 10 Eduardo Assam 0 3 3 10 Jean-Baptiste Benoy 0 3 3 10 André Brunaud 0 3 3 10 Keshav Roy 0 3 3 10 Anton Vogel 0 3 3 16 Abbas Hariri 0 2 2*
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Bruce Arthur Fall Keshav Roy Adil Candemir Decision, 2–1 Maurice Vachon Paavo Sepponen Fall Eduardo Assam André Brunaud Decision, 3–0 Eddie Bowey Callie Reitz Fall Anton Vogel Paul Dätwyler Decision, 2–1 Jean-Baptiste Benoy Erik Lindén Fall Abbas Ahmad Glen Brand Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Erik Lindén 0 0 0 2 Glen Brand 1 0 1 2 Adil Candemir 0 1 1 2 Paul Dätwyler 0 1 1 2 Callie Reitz 1 0 1 2 Paavo Sepponen 1 0 1 7 Maurice Vachon 0 2 2 8 Bruce Arthur 3 0 3 9 Eddie Bowey 1 3 4 9 André Brunaud 3 1 4 11 Abbas Ahmad 2 3 5 11 Jean-Baptiste Benoy 3 2 5 13 Eduardo Assam 3 3 6 13 Keshav Roy 3 3 6 13 Anton Vogel 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Glen Brand Fall Bruce Arthur Paavo Sepponen Decision, 3–0 Maurice Vachon André Brunaud Abandoned Paul Dätwyler Erik Lindén Decision, 3–0 Callie Reitz Adil Candemir Fall Eddie Bowey
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Glen Brand 1 0 1 1 Adil Candemir 1 0 1 3 Erik Lindén 1 1 2 3 Paavo Sepponen 1 1 2 5 André Brunaud 4 0 4 5 Callie Reitz 1 3 4 7 Maurice Vachon 2 3 5 8 Bruce Arthur 3 3 6 9 Eddie Bowey 4 3 7 10 Paul Dätwyler 0 3 3*
Round 4
Reitz defeated Sepponen but received one point result was by decision; because the point was Reitz's fifth, he was eliminated despite the victory. The bout ultimately served as the fourth-place tie-breaker between the two men as well, as both finished with five points.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Glen Brand Fall Adil Candemir Callie Reitz Decision, 3–0 Paavo Sepponen Erik Lindén Decision, 3–0 André Brunaud
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Glen Brand 1 0 1 2 Erik Lindén 2 1 3 3 Adil Candemir 1 3 4 4 Callie Reitz 4 1 5 5 Paavo Sepponen 2 3 5 6 André Brunaud 4 3 7
Round 5
Brand defeated Lindén to eliminate the latter. Because Brand and Candemir, the only two wrestlers remaining after that, had already faced each other, they did not compete again and Brand took the gold medal with 2 points to Candemir's 4.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Glen Brand Decision, 3–0 Erik Lindén Adil Candemir Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Glen Brand 1 1 2 Adil Candemir 4 0 4 Erik Lindén 3 3 6
References
General