The Greco-Roman light heavyweight competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics

1912 Summer Olympics

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...

was part of the wrestling programme

Wrestling at the 1912 Summer Olympics

At the 1912 Summer Olympics, five wrestling events were contested. They were all for men in the Greco-Roman style. The Light Heavyweight match ended after a nine hour draw...

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The competition used a form of double-elimination tournament. Rather than using the brackets that are now standard for double-elimination contests (and which assure that each match is between two competitors with the same number of losses), each wrestler drew a number. Each man would face off against the wrestler with the next number, provided he had not already faced that wrestler and that the wrestler was not from the same nation as him (unless this was necessary to avoid byes).

When only three wrestlers remain (the medalists), the double-elimination halts and a special final round is used to determine the order of the medals.

The event was unusual in that no gold medal was awarded. The final match between Ahlgren and Böhling was declared a draw after more than 9 hours of wrestling. Since the rules of the contest were worded in such a way that the gold medalist had to have defeated his opponent, neither man could take the gold medal and both received silver.

First round

29 wrestlers began the competition.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0			1
0		Bye	—

Second round

29 wrestlers started the second round, 15 with no losses and 14 with one. Ahlgren, who had had a bye in the first round, wrestled twice in the second.

10 wrestlers were eliminated, the most possible given that 5 of the 15 matches were between two undefeated wrestlers. 4 survived potential elimination by eliminating another wrestler. 5 received their first loss, while 10 remained undefeated.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			2
0			2
0			2
0			2
0			2
0			1
1			2
0			1
0			2
1			2
0			1
1			2
0			1
1			2
0			1

Third round

Augusts Pikker withdrew after his first loss, in the second round. 18 wrestlers started the third round, 10 with no losses and 8 with one.

3 wrestlers were eliminated. 5 survived potential elimination, 2 by eliminating another wrestler and 3 by defeating a previously undefeated man. 6 received their first loss, while 4 remained undefeated.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			1
0			1
1			2
0			1
1			1
1			1
1			1
0			2
1			2

Fourth round

15 wrestlers started the fourth round, 4 with no losses and 11 with one.

5 wrestlers were eliminated. 6 survived potential elimination, 3 by eliminating another wrestler and 2 by defeating a previously undefeated man (the 6th had a bye). 2 received their first loss, while Ahlgren and Böhling remained undefeated.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			2
1			1
1			2
1			1
1			2
1			2
0			2
1		Bye	—

Fifth round

Oscar Wiklund withdrew after his first loss, in the fourth round. 9 wrestlers started the fifth round, 2 with no losses and 7 with one.

4 wrestlers were eliminated in 4 matches. 3 survived potential elimination, 2 by eliminating another wrestler and 1 via a bye. Both of the undefeated wrestlers remained undefeated.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			2
1			2
1			2
0			2
1		Bye	—

Sixth round

5 wrestlers started the sixth round, 2 with no losses and 3 with one.

Böhling's win over Lange meant that the sixth round would the last elimination round, and that Böhling and Ahlgren (who had a bye in the round) would move on. The only other match in the round, between Varga and Rajala, determined the third finalist, with Varga handing Rajala his second loss to eliminate the Finn and move on to the finals round.

Losses	Winner	Loser	Losses
0			2
1			2
0		Bye	—

Final round

With three wrestlers remaining, all of the previous results were ignored for the final round.

Ahlgren and Böhling took turns defeating Varga, giving the Hungarian wrestler the bronze medal. The two remaining wrestlers had both moved through the elimination rounds undefeated, having not faced each other yet. The final match resulted in neither man able to defeat the other despite nine hours of trying. The match was eventually called a draw, and since neither man could claim victory both were awarded silver medals.

Match		Winner	Loser
A	To C			To B
B	To C
C