Light-Heavyweight, Freestyle (≤87 kilograms), Men

American Henry Wittenberg was the defending gold medalist and was back, and had not been beaten since the 1948 Olympics, although he had wrestled mostly in the United States. His biggest challenger was expected to be Sweden’s Viking Palm, runner-up at the 1949 Europeans and 1951 World Championships. The gold medal was effectively decided in round three when Palm and Wittenberg met, with Palm winning by unanimous decision. Both went on to the final round, joined by Turkey’s Adil Atan. In the final match Palm won a split decision over Atan, which secured him the gold medal, with Wittenberg taking silver, having defeated Atan by fall, and Atan the bronze medal. Palm would compete at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics in this event, but failed to medal. Atan would return to the Olympics at Melbourne in 1956, competing in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, but also failed to mount the podium. For Wittenberg, who was also a two-time champion at the Maccabiah Games, this was the end of his wrestling career.