The men's freestyle lightweight competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki took place from 20 July to 23 July at Messuhalli. Nations were limited to one competitor. Lightweight was the fourth-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing .

Competition format 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, removing the slight modification introduced in 1936 and used until 1948 (which had a reduced penalty for a loss by 2–1 decision). 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. 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. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.

Results

Round 1

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Tevfik Yüce Decision, 3–0 Ray Myland Tofigh Jahanbakht Decision, 3–0 József Gál Heini Nettesheim Fall O Tae-geun Osvaldo Blasi Fall Arístides Pérez Dick Garrard Decision, 3–0 Jack Vard Tommy Evans Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Badr Takeo Shimotori Decision, 3–0 Bjørn Larsson Jan Cools Decision, 3–0 Mario Tovar Garibaldo Nizzola Decision, 3–0 Erik Østrand Olle Anderberg Fall Armenak Yaltyryan Risto Talosela Fall Paul Besson Blondie Pienaar Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 6 0 1 1 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 O Tae-geun 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3 13 0 3 3

Round 2

Nizzola withdrew after his bout.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Tevfik Yüce Decision, 3–0 Blondie Pienaar Tofigh Jahanbakht Fall Ray Myland József Gál Decision, 3–0 O Tae-geun Heini Nettesheim Fall Arístides Pérez Dick Garrard Decision, 3–0 Osvaldo Blasi Tommy Evans Fall Jack Vard Takeo Shimotori Decision, 3–0 Mohamed Badr Jan Cools Fall Bjørn Larsson Erik Østrand Decision, 3–0 Mario Tovar Olle Anderberg Decision, 3–0 Garibaldo Nizzola Armenak Yaltyryan Fall Risto Talosela Paul Besson Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 6 1 1 2 6 1 1 2 6 1 1 2 9 3 0 3 9 0 3 3 9 0 3 3 9 0 3 3 9 3 0 3 14 3 1 4 14 3 1 4 16 1 3 4* 17 3 3 6 17 3 3 6 17 3 3 6 17 O Tae-geun 3 3 6 17 3 3 6 17 3 3 6 17 3 3 6

Round 3

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Blondie Pienaar Decision, 3–0 Paul Besson Tofigh Jahanbakht Decision, 2–1 Tevfik Yüce József Gál Decision, 2–1 Heini Nettesheim Tommy Evans Decision, 3–0 Osvaldo Blasi Takeo Shimotori Decision, 3–0 Dick Garrard Olle Anderberg Fall Jan Cools Armenak Yaltyryan Decision, 3–0 Erik Østrand Risto Talosela Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 1 0 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 4 0 3 3 4 2 1 3 4 3 0 3 7 1 3 4 7 3 1 4 7 3 1 4 10 4 1 5 10 2 3 5 10 2 3 5 13 3 3 6 13 3 3 6 15 4 3 7

Round 4

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Risto Talosela Decision, 3–0 Blondie Pienaar Tofigh Jahanbakht Decision, 2–1 Heini Nettesheim Tommy Evans Fall Jan Cools Olle Anderberg Fall Takeo Shimotori Armenak Yaltyryan Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 3 2 1 3 4 3 1 4 4 4 0 4 6 3 3 6 6 3 3 6 8 4 3 7 8 4 3 7

Round 5

Yaltyryan finished 4th over Talosela due to their head-to-head match in round 2.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Tofigh Jahanbakht Decision, 3–0 Armenak Yaltyryan Tommy Evans Fall Risto Talosela Olle Anderberg Bye N/A N/A

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Start Earned Total 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 3 3 1 4 4 4 3 7 5 4 3 7

Medal rounds

None of the three medalists had faced other, so each wrestled both of the others. Anderberg won both of his matches, taking gold. Evans, having lost to Anderberg, beat Jahanbakht to take silver. Jahanbakht finished with the bronze at 0–2 against the other medalists.

Bouts

Winner Nation Victory Type Loser Nation Olle Anderberg Decision, 3–0 Tofigh Jahanbakht Olle Anderberg Decision, 2–1 Tommy Evans Tommy Evans Decision, 3–0 Tofigh Jahanbakht

Points

Rank Wrestler Nation Wins Losses Start Earned Total 2 0 1 2 3 1 1 2 4 6 0 2 4 6 10

References

General