| | Event type

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

Date	20 – 23 July 1952
Status	Olympic
Location	Messuhalli I, Helsinki / Messuhalli II, Helsinki
Participants	13 from 13 countries
Format	Win by fall = 0 points; win by decision = 1 point; loss of any type = 3 points. Three judges gave decisions, thus all decisions were either 2-1 or 3-0. Five bad points eliminated a wrestler. When only three wrestlers remained, if they had not yet met one another, they wrestled further rounds. Medal placements were determined by the match record among the medalists, with bad points as a tie breaker. A wrestler in the medal rounds could continue with 5 or more bad points.

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.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Medalists Match Record / Round Eliminated	Bad Points
1	212	Viking Palm	SWE	2-0	–	Gold
2	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	1-1	–	Silver
3	292	Adil Atan	TUR	0-2	–	Bronze
4	137	August Englas	URS	–	–
5	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	–	–
6	40	Jan Theron	RSA	–	–
AC	261	Paavo Sepponen	FIN	eliminated r3/6	6
AC	237	Max Leichter	GER	eliminated r3/6	7
AC	–	Willy Lardon	SUI	withdrew r3/6	3
AC	50	Shrirang Jadhav	IND	eliminated r2/6	5
AC	10	Kevin Coote	AUS	eliminated r2/6	6
AC	104	Bob Steckle	CAN	eliminated r2/6	6
AC	339	Rodolfo Padrón	VEN	eliminated r2/6	6
DNS	320	Andor Mángó	HUN	–	–
DNS	261	Eino Löppönen	FIN	–	–
DNS	321	Norbert Növényi, Sr.	HUN	–	–
DNS	57	Gholam Reza Takhti	IRI	–	–
DNS	59	Ahad Vafadar	IRI	–	–
DNS	39	Calie Reitz	RSA	–	–
DNS	211	L. Y. G. Carlsson	SWE	–	–
DNS	213	K.-J. S. Wong	SWE	–	–
DNS	136	S. Daushvili	URS	–	–
DNS	352	Dale Thomas	USA	–	–

Round One

Date	20 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points
=1	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	0
=1	–	Willy Lardon	SUI	0
=1	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	0
=4	237	Max Leichter	GER	1
=4	40	Jan Theron	RSA	1
=4	212	Viking Palm	SWE	1
=4	137	August Englas	URS	1
=8	50	Shrirang Jadhav	IND	3
=8	10	Kevin Coote	AUS	3
=8	104	Bob Steckle	CAN	3
=8	261	Paavo Sepponen	FIN	3
=8	292	Adil Atan	TUR	3
=8	339	Rodolfo Padrón	VEN	3

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	20 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Kevin Coote	AUS
Match #2	20 Jul	Henry Wittenberg	USA	Fall (1:28)	Rodolfo Padrón	VEN
Match #3	20 Jul	Willy Lardon	SUI	Fall (0:32)	Bob Steckle	CAN
Match #4	20 Jul	Jan Theron	RSA	Decision (2-1)	Shrirang Jadhav	IND
Match #5	20 Jul	August Englas	URS	Decision (3-0)	Adil Atan	TUR
Match #6	20 Jul	Max Leichter	GER	Decision (3-0)	Paavo Sepponen	FIN
Match #7	20 Jul	Abbas Zandi	IRI

Round Two

Date	21 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	0	–
=2	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	1	–
=2	212	Viking Palm	SWE	1	–
=2	137	August Englas	URS	1	–
5	40	Jan Theron	RSA	2	–
=6	261	Paavo Sepponen	FIN	3	–
=6	–	Willy Lardon	SUI	3	withdrew
=6	292	Adil Atan	TUR	3	–
9	237	Max Leichter	GER	4	–
=10	50	Shrirang Jadhav	IND	6	eliminated
=10	10	Kevin Coote	AUS	6	eliminated
=10	104	Bob Steckle	CAN	6	eliminated
=10	339	Rodolfo Padrón	VEN	6	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	21 Jul	Abbas Zandi	IRI	Decision (3-0)	Kevin Coote	AUS
Match #2	21 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Fall (2:28)	Rodolfo Padrón	VEN
Match #3	21 Jul	Henry Wittenberg	USA	Fall (0:53)	Willy Lardon	SUI
Match #4	21 Jul	Jan Theron	RSA	Decision (3-0)	Bob Steckle	CAN
Match #5	21 Jul	August Englas	URS	Fall (0:58)	Shrirang Jadhav	IND
Match #6	21 Jul	Adil Atan	TUR	Fall (0:42)	Max Leichter	GER
Match #7	21 Jul	Paavo Sepponen	FIN

Round Three

Date	22 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
1	137	August Englas	URS	1	–
=2	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	2	–
=2	212	Viking Palm	SWE	2	–
=4	292	Adil Atan	TUR	3	–
=4	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	3	–
6	40	Jan Theron	RSA	5	eliminated
7	261	Paavo Sepponen	FIN	6	eliminated
8	237	Max Leichter	GER	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	22 Jul	Abbas Zandi	IRI	Decision (3-0)	Paavo Sepponen	FIN
Match #2	22 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision (3-0)	Henry Wittenberg	USA
Match #3	22 Jul	Adil Atan	TUR	Fall (11:55)	Jan Theron	RSA
Match #4	22 Jul	August Englas	URS	Fall (3:47)	Max Leichter	GER

Round Four

Date	23 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	212	Viking Palm	SWE	3	–
=1	292	Adil Atan	TUR	3	–
=3	137	August Englas	URS	4	–
=3	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	4	–
5	58	Abbas Zandi	IRI	5	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	23 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision (2-1)	Abbas Zandi	IRI
Match #2	23 Jul	Henry Wittenberg	USA	Decision (3-0)	August Englas	URS
Match #3	23 Jul	Adil Atan	TUR

Round Five

Date	23 July 1952

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	Bad Points	Event Status
=1	212	Viking Palm	SWE	4	–
=1	353	Henry Wittenberg	USA	4	–
3	292	Adil Atan	TUR	6	–
4	137	August Englas	URS	7	eliminated

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	23 Jul	Henry Wittenberg	USA	Fall (9:14)	Adil Atan	TUR
Match #2	23 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision (2-1)	August Englas	URS

Final Round

Date	23 July 1952

Match	Date/Time	Competitor	NOC	Result	Competitor	NOC
Match #1	23 Jul	Viking Palm	SWE	Decision (2-1)	Adil Atan	TUR
Match #2	23 Jul	Henry Wittenberg	USA