The men's freestyle light heavyweight 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. Light heavyweight was the second-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
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Fernand Payette Fall Robert Landesmann Spyros Defteraios Fall Mohamed Ragab El-Zaim Bengt Fahlkvist Decision, 3–0 Oscar Verona Pat Morton Decision, 3–0 Mansour Mir Ghavami Muharrem Candaş Decision, 3–0 Karel Istaz Johnny Sullivan Decision, 3–0 József Tarányi Henry Wittenberg Decision, 3–0 Pekka Mellavuo Fritz Stöckli Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Spyros Defteraios 0 0 0 1 Fernand Payette 0 0 0 1 Fritz Stöckli 0 0 0 4 Muharrem Candaş 0 1 1 4 Bengt Fahlkvist 0 1 1 4 Pat Morton 0 1 1 4 Johnny Sullivan 0 1 1 4 Henry Wittenberg 0 1 1 9 Mohamed Ragab El-Zaim 0 3 3 9 Karel Istaz 0 3 3 9 Robert Landesmann 0 3 3 9 Pekka Mellavuo 0 3 3 9 Mansour Mir Ghavami 0 3 3 9 József Tarányi 0 3 3 9 Oscar Verona 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Fritz Stöckli Fall Robert Landesmann Fernand Payette Fall Spyros Defteraios Oscar Verona Fall Mohamed Ragab El-Zaim Bengt Fahlkvist Decision, 3–0 Pat Morton József Tarányi Decision, 3–0 Mansour Mir Ghavami Henry Wittenberg Fall Johnny Sullivan Muharrem Candaş Decision, 3–0 Pekka Mellavuo Karel Istaz Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fernand Payette 0 0 0 1 Fritz Stöckli 0 0 0 3 Henry Wittenberg 1 0 1 4 Muharrem Candaş 1 1 2 4 Bengt Fahlkvist 1 1 2 6 Spyros Defteraios 0 3 3 6 Karel Istaz 3 0 3 6 Oscar Verona 3 0 3 9 Pat Morton 1 3 4 9 Johnny Sullivan 1 3 4 9 József Tarányi 3 1 4 12 Mohamed Ragab El-Zaim 3 3 6 12 Robert Landesmann 3 3 6 12 Pekka Mellavuo 3 3 6 12 Mansour Mir Ghavami 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Fritz Stöckli Fall Karel Istaz Fernand Payette Decision, 3–0 Oscar Verona Bengt Fahlkvist Fall Spyros Defteraios Pat Morton Decision, 2–1 Johnny Sullivan Henry Wittenberg Fall József Tarányi Muharrem Candaş Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fritz Stöckli 0 0 0 2 Fernand Payette 0 1 1 2 Henry Wittenberg 1 0 1 4 Muharrem Candaş 2 0 2 4 Bengt Fahlkvist 2 0 2 6 Pat Morton 4 1 5 7 Spyros Defteraios 3 3 6 7 Karel Istaz 3 3 6 7 Johnny Sullivan 4 2 6 7 Oscar Verona 3 3 6 11 József Tarányi 4 3 7
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Fritz Stöckli Decision, 2–1 Muharrem Candaş Bengt Fahlkvist Fall Fernand Payette Henry Wittenberg Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fritz Stöckli 0 1 1 1 Henry Wittenberg 1 0 1 3 Bengt Fahlkvist 2 0 2 4 Muharrem Candaş 2 2 4 4 Fernand Payette 1 3 4
Round 5
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Henry Wittenberg Fall Muharrem Candaş Fritz Stöckli Fall Fernand Payette Bengt Fahlkvist Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fritz Stöckli 1 0 1 1 Henry Wittenberg 1 0 1 3 Bengt Fahlkvist 2 0 2 4 Muharrem Candaş 4 3 7 4 Fernand Payette 4 3 7
Round 6
None of the three remaining wrestlers had faced each other. Wittenberg-Fahlkvist was the first match among them (round 6). A split decision resulted in neither wrestler receiving enough points to be eliminated.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Henry Wittenberg Decision, 2–1 Bengt Fahlkvist Fritz Stöckli Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fritz Stöckli 1 0 1 2 Henry Wittenberg 1 1 2 3 Bengt Fahlkvist 2 2 4
Round 7
Stöckli-Fahlkvist was the second match among the medalists (round 7). The result was again a split decision, but this time Fahlkvist had enough points to be eliminated. Stöckli and Wittenberg were left, each with two points, not having faced each other.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Fritz Stöckli Decision, 2–1 Bengt Fahlkvist Henry Wittenberg Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Fritz Stöckli 1 1 2 2 Henry Wittenberg 2 0 2 Bengt Fahlkvist 4 2 6
Round 8
With only two wrestlers left, tied on points, round 8 was a de facto gold medal match. Wittenberg won in a split decision. (While neither wrestler had enough points for elimination, there were of course no possible bouts left.)
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Henry Wittenberg Decision, 2–1 Fritz Stöckli
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Henry Wittenberg 2 1 3 Fritz Stöckli 2 2 4
References
General