The men's freestyle 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. Heavyweight was the heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing over .
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 Josef Růžička Decision, 2–1 Dick Hutton Jim Armstrong Decision, 3–0 Fred Oberlander Gyula Bóbis Decision, 3–0 Willy Lardon Bertil Antonsson Decision, 3–0 Sadik Esen Abolghasem Sakhdari Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Abolghasem Sakhdari 0 0 0 2 Bertil Antonsson 0 1 1 2 Jim Armstrong 0 1 1 2 Gyula Bóbis 0 1 1 2 Josef Růžička 0 1 1 6 Dick Hutton 0 2 2 7 Fred Oberlander 0 3 3 7 Willy Lardon 0 3 3 7 Sadik Esen 0 3 3
Round 2
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Josef Růžička Decision, 2–1 Fred Oberlander Dick Hutton Decision, 2–1 Abolghasem Sakhdari Gyula Bóbis Fall Jim Armstrong Sadik Esen Decision, 3–0 Willy Lardon Bertil Antonsson Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Bertil Antonsson 1 0 1 1 Gyula Bóbis 1 0 1 3 Josef Růžička 1 1 2 3 Abolghasem Sakhdari 0 2 2 5 Dick Hutton 2 1 3 6 Jim Armstrong 1 3 4 6 Sadik Esen 3 1 4 8 Fred Oberlander 3 2 5 9 Willy Lardon 3 3 6
Round 3
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Bertil Antonsson Fall Abolghasem Sakhdari Jim Armstrong Retired Dick Hutton Gyula Bóbis Fall Josef Růžička Sadik Esen Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Bertil Antonsson 1 0 1 1 Gyula Bóbis 1 0 1 3 Jim Armstrong 4 0 4 3 Sadik Esen 4 0 4 5 Josef Růžička 2 3 5 5 Abolghasem Sakhdari 2 3 5 7 Dick Hutton 3 3 6
Round 4
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Jim Armstrong Fall Sadik Esen Gyula Bóbis Decision, 2–1 Bertil Antonsson
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 Gyula Bóbis 1 1 2 2 Bertil Antonsson 1 2 3 3 Jim Armstrong 4 0 4 4 Sadik Esen 4 3 7
Round 5
Bóbis had already defeated both Armstrong and Antonsson, so the only possible match remaining was between the two of them (guaranteeing Bóbis the gold medal and making round 5 in effect a silver/bronze bout). Antonsson won by fall, taking the silver.
Bouts
Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Bertil Antonsson Fall Jim Armstrong Gyula Bóbis Bye N/A N/A
Points
Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total Gyula Bóbis 1 0 2 Bertil Antonsson 3 0 3 Jim Armstrong 4 3 7
References
General