Bantamweight (≤56 kilograms), Men

Iran’s Mahmoud Namdjou was a strong favorite, having won the World title in 1949-51, after placing fifth at the 1948 Olympics. None of the 1948 medalists returned and one other omission was that the United States had no entrant in this class. Namdjou trailed his countryman, Ali Mirzai, after the press, 95.0 to 90.0, but both would eventually be beaten by Soviet bantamweight Ivan Udodov, who had no international record. Namdjou held on to win the silver medal while Mirzai took a bronze, as Iran placed two athletes on the podium for the first time at the Olympics. This would not happen again until 2012, when Iran won gold and silver in super-heavyweight weightlifting. Udodov never competed at the Olympics again, but he won the 1953 World Championship as a bantamweight, then moved up in class and won World silvers in 1954-55.