Featherweight, Freestyle (≤61 kg), Men

No international freestyle events had been contested since the 1924 Olympics, so it was difficult to choose a favorite, but two previous Olympic champions were entered in this class. Finland’s Kustaa Pihlajamäki had won the bantamweight freestyle in Paris, while Estonian Eduard Pütsep had won in 1924 in bantamweight Greco-Roman.

With nine entrants, only one match took place in round one, and Pütsep was in it, but he lost to Britain’s Harold Angus and was out of the tournament. Pihlajamäki won his first match but was then defeated by American Allie Morrison in the semi-finals. In the final, Morrison defeated Swiss wrestler Hans Minder for the gold medal. Minder would lose to Pihlajamäki in the silver-medal tournament, but won the bronze medal basically by default, on a walkover. Pihlajamäki competed at Los Angeles as a lightweight but did not make the podium, but in Berlin he would return to the featherweight class and win his second Olympic gold medal.