Middleweight, Greco-Roman (≤79 kilograms), Men

Soviet wrestler Nikolay Byelov was the 1947 European Champion, but the Soviet Union did not compete at the 1948 Olympics. The silver and bronze medalists at the 1947 Europeans were Turkey’s Muhlis Tayfur and Sweden’s Axel Grönberg. Although there were only 13 competitors in the class, Grönberg and Tayfur went to the sixth round before they met for the gold medal, with Grönberg winning by unanimous decision. Grönberg would soon dominate the class, winning the 1950 and 1953 World Championship, and repeating as Olympic champion at Helsinki in 1952. Italy’s Ercole Gallegati was eliminated after the fifth round, but won the bronze medal on the bad point system. Gallegati had won a bronze medal in welterweight Greco-Roman at the 1932 Olympics, and also competed in 1936, and he would return to the Olympics again in 1952, placing sixth.