# Wrestling at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle light heavyweight

The men's freestyle light heavyweight competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki took place from 20 July to 23 July at Messuhalli. Nations were limited to one competitor. Light heavyweight was the second-heaviest category, including wrestlers weighing 79 to 87 kilograms (174.2 to 191.8 lb).

## Competition format

This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, removing the slight modification introduced in 1936 and used until 1948 (which had a reduced penalty for a loss by 2–1 decision). Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout (with one wrestler having a bye if there were an odd number). The loser received 3 points. The winner received 1 point if the win was by decision and 0 points if the win was by fall. At the end of each round, any wrestler with at least 5 points was eliminated. This elimination continued until the medal rounds, which began when 3 wrestlers remained. These 3 wrestlers each faced each other in a round-robin medal round (with earlier results counting, if any had wrestled another before); record within the medal round determined medals, with bad points breaking ties.

## Results
### Round 1
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Kevin Coote | Australia |
| Henry Wittenberg | United States | Fall | Rodolfo Padron | Venezuela |
| Willy Lardon | Switzerland | Fall | Bob Steckle | Canada |
| Jan Theron | South Africa | Decision, 2–1 | Shrirang Jadhav | India |
| August Englas | Soviet Union | Decision, 3–0 | Adil Atan | Turkey |
| Max Leichter | Germany | Decision, 3–0 | Paavo Sepponen | Finland |
| Abbas Zandi | Iran | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Willy Lardon | Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Henry Wittenberg | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | August Englas | Soviet Union | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | Max Leichter | Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Shrirang Jadhav | India | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Rodolfo Padron | Venezuela | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Paavo Sepponen | Finland | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 0 | 3 | 3 |

### Round 2

Lardon withdrew after his bout.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Abbas Zandi | Iran | Decision, 3–0 | Kevin Coote | Australia |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Fall | Rodolfo Padron | Venezuela |
| Henry Wittenberg | United States | Fall | Willy Lardon | Switzerland |
| Jan Theron | South Africa | Decision, 3–0 | Bob Steckle | Canada |
| August Englas | Soviet Union | Fall | Shrirang Jadhav | India |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Fall | Max Leichter | Germany |
| Paavo Sepponen | Finland | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Henry Wittenberg | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | August Englas | Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Paavo Sepponen | Finland | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Max Leichter | Germany | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 9 | Willy Lardon | Switzerland | 0 | 3 | 3* |
| 10 | Kevin Coote | Australia | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | Shrirang Jadhav | India | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | Rodolfo Padron | Venezuela | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | Bob Steckle | Canada | 3 | 3 | 6 |

### Round 3
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Abbas Zandi | Iran | Decision, 3–0 | Paavo Sepponen | Finland |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 3–0 | Henry Wittenberg | United States |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Fall | Jan Theron | South Africa |
| August Englas | Soviet Union | Fall | Max Leichter | Germany |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | August Englas | Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Henry Wittenberg | United States | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Jan Theron | South Africa | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | Paavo Sepponen | Finland | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Max Leichter | Germany | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Round 4
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 2–1 | Abbas Zandi | Iran |
| Henry Wittenberg | United States | Decision, 3–0 | August Englas | Soviet Union |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | Bye | N/A | N/A |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | August Englas | Soviet Union | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Henry Wittenberg | United States | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | Abbas Zandi | Iran | 2 | 3 | 5 |

### Round 5
#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Henry Wittenberg | United States | Fall | Adil Atan | Turkey |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 2–1 | August Englas | Soviet Union |

#### Points

| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | Start | Earned | Total |
| 1 | Viking Palm | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 1 | Henry Wittenberg | United States | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Adil Atan | Turkey | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | August Englas | Soviet Union | 4 | 3 | 7 |

### Medal rounds

Palm's victory over Wittenberg in round 3 and Wittenberg's victory over Atan in round 5 counted for the medal round. The only bout left for the round therefore was Palm against Atan, with Wittenberg a spectator—who had to hope for an Atan victory to create a three-way tie at 1–1 which Wittenberg would win on bad points to take gold. Palm was able to defeat Atan in a split decision, however, and the Swede thereby won the gold medal, having beaten both of the other medalists.

#### Bouts

| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | Decision, 2–1 | Adil Atan | Turkey |

#### Points

| Wrestler | Nation | Wins | Losses | Start | Earned | Total |
| Viking Palm | Sweden | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Henry Wittenberg | United States | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Adil Atan | Turkey | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 |