Wrestling at the 1948 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: London, Great Britain
Venue(s): Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Kensington, London
Date Started: July 29, 1948
Date Finished: July 31, 1948
Format: Elimination by bad points. Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss by 2-1 decision = 2 points; loss by 3-0 decision = 3 points; loss by fall = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler.
Gold: | ![]() |
Silver: | ![]() |
Bronze: | ![]() |
The 1946 European Champion was Turk [Celal Atik] who defeated Swedenâs [Gösta Frändfors] in the final match. The two likewise dominated the class in London, as both survived through five rounds to meet in the final round with the gold medal on the line, Atik winning by fall in 4:03. The bronze medal decider was unusual as a tie-break match was required, with Swiss [Hermann Baumann] defeating Italyâs [Garibaldo Nizzola] by unanimous decision. Atik would move up in weight and win the 1949 European and 1951 World Championships as a welterweight, but he never again competed at the Olympics. Frändfors had actually competed at the 1936 Olympics, winning a bronze medal in featherweight freestyle. He was also a silver medalist at the 1937 Europeans in this class, and won the 1947 World Championships in featherweight Greco-Roman.
Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | RE | BP | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Celal Atik | Turkey | TUR | Gold | ||||
2 | Gösta Jönsson-Frändfors | 32 | Sweden | SWE | Silver | |||
3 | Hermann Baumann | 27 | Switzerland | SUI | Bronze | |||
4 | Garibaldo Nizzola | 20 | Italy | ITA | ||||
5 | Bill Koll | 24 | United States | USA | ||||
6T | Kim Seog-Yeong | South Korea | KOR | |||||
6T | Sulo Leppänen | 32 | Finland | FIN | ||||
AC | László Bakos | 28 | Hungary | HUN | Eliminated r3/6 | 5 | ||
AC | Ali Ghaffari | Iran | IRI | Eliminated r3/6 | 6 | |||
AC | Jan Cools | 29 | Belgium | BEL | Eliminated r3/6 | 7 | ||
AC | Morgan Plumb | Canada | CAN | Eliminated r3/6 | 7 | |||
AC | Mohamed Moussa | 26 | Egypt | EGY | Eliminated r3/6 | 7 | ||
AC | Tony Ries, Sr. | 34 | South Africa | RSA | Eliminated r3/6 | 7 | ||
AC | Israel Sánchez | 19 | Cuba | CUB | Eliminated r2/6 | 6 | ||
AC | Peter Luck | 22 | Great Britain | GBR | Eliminated r2/6 | 6 | ||
AC | Banta Singh | India | IND | Eliminated r2/6 | 6 | |||
AC | Abou Rejaile Bechara | Lebanon | LIB | Withdrew r2/6 | 3 | |||
AC | José Luis Pérez | Mexico | MEX | Withdrew r2/6 | 3 |