| | Event type

Welterweight, Freestyle (≤73 kg), Men

Date	29 – 31 July 1948 — 10:00-13:30-18:00-23:30 (all days)
Status	Olympic
Location	Empress Hall, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Kensington, London
Participants	16 from 16 countries
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.

Turkey’s Yaşar Doğu came in as 1946 European Champion and the 1947 European Champion in Greco-Roman, but he only competed in freestyle in London. He won four matches by falls and then defeated American Lee Merrill by unanimous decision. This advanced him to a final match against Australian Dick Garrard, which Doğu won by fall in 6:45 to clinch gold. Garrard won the silver with Merrill getting the bronze medal. Garrard was an Australian wrestling legend, having competed at the 1936 Olympics, and eventually winning three gold medals in the British Empire Games – in 1934, 1938, and 1950. He also competed at the 1952 Olympics, but this was his only Olympic medal. Doğu later won the 1949 European Championship in this class and was 1951 World Champion in the light-heavyweight class.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	–	–	Gold
2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	–	–	Silver
3	101	Lee Merrill	USA	–	–	Bronze
4	87	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	–	–
5	90	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	–	–
6	256	Frans Westergren	SWE	–	–
AC	83	Harry Peace	CAN	eliminated r3/7	6
AC	92	Abbas Zandi	IRI	eliminated r3/7	6
AC	94	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR	eliminated r3/7	6
AC	97	Willy Angst	SUI	eliminated r3/7	6
AC	85	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	eliminated r3/7	7
AC	91	Anant Bhargava	IND	eliminated r3/7	7
AC	89	Don Irvine	GBR	eliminated r2/7	5
AC	96	Eduardo Estrada	MEX	eliminated r2/7	5
AC	81	Louis Culot	BEL	eliminated r2/7	6
AC	86	Aleksanteri Keisala	FIN	eliminated r2/7	6
DNS	82	G. Van Camo	BEL	–	–
DNS	84	Kemal Munir	EGY	–	–
DNS	88	Eddie Caws	GBR	–	–
DNS	93	R. Rigamonti	ITA	–	–
DNS	95	Charif Damage	LBN	–	–
DNS	100	William Nelson	USA	–	–

Round One

Date	29 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
=1	92	Abbas Zandi	IRI	0
=1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	0
=3	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	1
=3	87	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	1
=3	90	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	1
=3	94	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR	1
=3	256	Frans Westergren	SWE	1
=3	101	Lee Merrill	USA	1
9	89	Don Irvine	GBR	2
=10	81	Louis Culot	BEL	3
=10	83	Harry Peace	CAN	3
=10	85	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	3
=10	86	Aleksanteri Keisala	FIN	3
=10	91	Anant Bhargava	IND	3
=10	96	Eduardo Estrada	MEX	3
=10	97	Willy Angst	SUI	3

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	29 Jul	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	Decision (3-0)	Aleksanteri Keisala	FIN
Match #2	29 Jul	Dick Garrard	AUS	Decision (3-0)	Willy Angst	SUI
Match #3	29 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Fall (2:58)	Anant Bhargava	IND
Match #4	29 Jul	Abbas Zandi	IRI	Fall (4:55)	Eduardo Estrada	MEX
Match #5	29 Jul	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	Decision (3-0)	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY
Match #6	29 Jul	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR	Decision (3-0)	Louis Culot	BEL
Match #7	29 Jul	Lee Merrill	USA	Decision (3-0)	Harry Peace	CAN
Match #8	29 Jul	Frans Westergren	SWE	Decision (2-1)	Don Irvine	GBR

Round Two

Date	30 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	0	–
=2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	2	–
=2	87	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	2	–
=2	101	Lee Merrill	USA	2	–
=5	83	Harry Peace	CAN	3	–
=5	90	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	3	–
=5	92	Abbas Zandi	IRI	3	–
=5	94	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR	3	–
=9	85	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	4	–
=9	91	Anant Bhargava	IND	4	–
=9	97	Willy Angst	SUI	4	–
=9	256	Frans Westergren	SWE	4	–
=13	89	Don Irvine	GBR	5	eliminated
=13	96	Eduardo Estrada	MEX	5	eliminated
=15	81	Louis Culot	BEL	6	eliminated
=15	86	Aleksanteri Keisala	FIN	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	30 Jul	Dick Garrard	AUS	Decision (2-1)	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN
Match #2	30 Jul	Willy Angst	SUI	Decision (3-0)	Aleksanteri Keisala	FIN
Match #3	30 Jul	Anant Bhargava	IND	Decision (2-1)	Eduardo Estrada	MEX
Match #4	30 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Fall (4:05)	Abbas Zandi	IRI
Match #5	30 Jul	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	Decision (2-1)	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR
Match #6	30 Jul	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	Decision (3-0)	Louis Culot	BEL
Match #7	30 Jul	Lee Merrill	USA	Decision (3-0)	Frans Westergren	SWE
Match #8	30 Jul	Harry Peace	CAN	Fall (14:31)	Don Irvine	GBR

Round Three

Date	30 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	0	–
2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	2	–
=3	87	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	3	–
=3	101	Lee Merrill	USA	3	–
5	90	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	4	–
6	256	Frans Westergren	SWE	5	eliminated
=7	83	Harry Peace	CAN	6	eliminated
=7	92	Abbas Zandi	IRI	6	eliminated
=7	94	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR	6	eliminated
=7	97	Willy Angst	SUI	6	eliminated
=11	85	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY	7	eliminated
=11	91	Anant Bhargava	IND	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	30 Jul	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	Decision (2-1)	Willy Angst	SUI
Match #2	30 Jul	Dick Garrard	AUS	Fall (2:20)	Anant Bhargava	IND
Match #3	30 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Fall (7:39)	Adel Ibrahim Moustafa	EGY
Match #4	30 Jul	Frans Westergren	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Harry Peace	CAN
Match #5	30 Jul	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	Decision (3-0)	Abbas Zandi	IRI
Match #6	30 Jul	Lee Merrill	USA	Decision (3-0)	Hwang Byeong-Gwan	KOR

Round Four

Date	31 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	0	–
2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	2	–
3	101	Lee Merrill	USA	3	–
4	87	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA	6	eliminated
5	90	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Fall (7:04)	Kálmán Sóvári	HUN
Match #2	31 Jul	Dick Garrard	AUS	Fall (7:01)	Jean-Baptiste Leclerc	FRA
Match #3	31 Jul	Lee Merrill	USA

Round Five

Date	31 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	0
=2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	4
=2	101	Lee Merrill	USA	4

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Lee Merrill	USA	Decision (2-1)	Dick Garrard	AUS
Match #2	31 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR

Round Six

Date	31 July 1948

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	98	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	1	–
2	80	Dick Garrard	AUS	4	–
3	101	Lee Merrill	USA	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Decision (3-0)	Lee Merrill	USA
Match #2	31 Jul	Dick Garrard	AUS

Final Round

Date	31 July 1948

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	31 Jul	Yaşar Doğu	TUR	Fall (6:45)	Dick Garrard	AUS