Featherweight (≤60 kilograms), Men

The 1946 and 1947 World Championships were won by Arvid Andersson (SWE) and Robert Higgins (USA). Andersson, also the world record holder in the class, was present in London but would struggle and place only 13th, while Higgins failed to make the American team in 1948. The USA was led in this class by Emerick Ishikawa, who had placed third at the 1947 Worlds, also trailing Korea’s Nam Su-Il, who was also competing in London. The lead in the press was taken by Iran’s Jafar Salmasi, with an Olympic record of 100.0 kg. Egypt’s Mahmoud Fayad was only in fifth after the press, lifting 92.5 kg, but he broke the world record in both the snatch and clean & jerk to win the gold medal, and also set a total world record. The silver medal went to Trinidad’s Rodney Wilkes, who earned the first Olympic medal for that Caribbean nation. Salmasi won the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal ever won by Iran. Nam and Ishikawa both lifted 307.5 kg, with Nam placing fourth, and Ishikawa sixth, based on bodyweight.