Wrestling at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Greco-Roman heavyweight

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wrestling at the
1912 Summer Olympics
Greco-Roman
Featherweight   men
Lightweight   men
Middleweight   men
Light heavy   men
Heavyweight   men

The Greco-Roman heavyweight competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics was part of the wrestling programme.

The competition used a form of double-elimination tournament. Rather than using the brackets that are now standard for double-elimination contests (and which assure that each match is between two competitors with the same number of losses), each wrestler drew a number. Each man would face off against the wrestler with the next number, provided he had not already faced that wrestler and that the wrestler was not from the same nation as him (unless this was necessary to avoid byes).

When only three wrestlers remain (the medalists), the double-elimination halts and a special final round is used to determine the order of the medals.

Contents

[edit] Medalists

Gold Finland Yrjö Saarela
Finland (FIN)
Silver Finland Johan Olin
Finland (FIN)
Bronze Denmark Søren Marinus Jensen
Denmark (DEN)

[edit] Results

[edit] First round

17 wrestlers began the competition.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
0 Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Sweden David Karlsson (SWE) 1
0 Finland Kalle Viljaama (FIN) Germany Jean Hauptmanns (GER) 1
0 Finland Johan Olin (FIN) France Raoul Paoli (FRA) 1
0 Sweden Frans Lindstrand (SWE) Belgium Laurent Gerstmans (BEL) 1
0 Netherlands Barend Bonneveld (NED) Finland Emil Backenius (FIN) 1
0 Germany Jakob Neser (GER) Russia Nikolajs Farnest (RUS) 1
0 Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Great Britain Edward Barrett (GBR) 1
0 Finland Adolf Lindfors (FIN) Sweden Alrik Sandberg (SWE) 1
0 Finland Gustaf Pelander (FIN) Bye

[edit] Second round

17 wrestlers started the second round, 9 with no losses and 8 with one. Pelander, who had had a bye in the first round, wrestled twice in the second.

6 wrestlers were eliminated, the most possible given that 3 of the 9 matches were between two undefeated wrestlers. 2 survived potential elimination by eliminating another wrestler. 3 received their first loss, while 6 remained undefeated.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
0 Finland Gustaf Pelander (FIN) Sweden David Karlsson (SWE) 2
0 Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Germany Jean Hauptmanns (GER) 2
0 Finland Kalle Viljaama (FIN) France Raoul Paoli (FRA) 2
0 Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Sweden Frans Lindstrand (SWE) 1
1 Finland Emil Backenius (FIN) Belgium Laurent Gerstmans (BEL) 2
0 Germany Jakob Neser (GER) Netherlands Barend Bonneveld (NED) 1
1 Great Britain Edward Barrett (GBR) Russia Nikolajs Farnest (RUS) 2
0 Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Finland Adolf Lindfors (FIN) 1
0 Finland Gustaf Pelander (FIN) Sweden Alrik Sandberg (SWE) 2

[edit] Third round

11 wrestlers started the third round, 6 with no losses and 5 with one.

3 wrestlers were eliminated, the most possible given that 2 of the 5 matches were between two undefeated wrestlers. 2 survived potential elimination, 1 by eliminating another wrestler and 1 via a bye. 2 received their first loss, while 4 remained undefeated.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
0 Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Sweden Frans Lindstrand (SWE) 2
0 Finland Kalle Viljaama (FIN) Netherlands Barend Bonneveld (NED) 2
0 Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Germany Jakob Neser (GER) 1
1 Finland Emil Backenius (FIN) Great Britain Edward Barrett (GBR) 2
0 Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Finland Gustaf Pelander (FIN) 1
1 Finland Adolf Lindfors (FIN) Bye

[edit] Fourth round

8 wrestlers started the fourth round, 4 with no losses and 4 with one.

The matches in this round were all symmetrical in terms of number of losses by the wrestlers involved. Two involved a pair of wrestlers with one loss each, with the other two being contested by the four undefeated wrestlers. This led to two men being eliminated, two surviving potential elimination, two receiving their first loss, and two remaining undefeated.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
1 Germany Jakob Neser (GER) Finland Adolf Lindfors (FIN) 2
0 Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) 1
0 Finland Kalle Viljaama (FIN) Finland Johan Olin (FIN) 1
1 Finland Emil Backenius (FIN) Finland Gustaf Pelander (FIN) 2

[edit] Fifth round

6 wrestlers started the fourth round, 2 with no losses and 4 with one.

In what could have been the last elimination round, the two undefeated wrestlers each faced off against a man with one loss. Olin's survival of his potential elimination by defeating Saarela was the first instance of a man with one loss defeating an undefeated wrestler in the event; it was followed closely by Neser's defeat of Viljaama. Each of those four men advanced to the sixth round along with Jensen, who had won the only certain loser-out match of the round against Backenius.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
1 Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) 1
1 Germany Jakob Neser (GER) Finland Kalle Viljaama (FIN) 1
1 Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Finland Emil Backenius (FIN) 2

[edit] Sixth round

5 wrestlers started the fourth round, all with one loss.

With only five men left, and all having a loss, the sixth round would have consisted of two matches that were both sure to be loser-out. Viljaama, however, withdrew after having suffered his first loss. This left only one match in the sixth round, and Olin and Jensen had the byes. Neser faced Saarela; the German was unable to survive elimination a second time in a row and fell to the Finn.

Losses Winner Loser Losses
1 Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Germany Jakob Neser (GER) 2
1 Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Bye
1 Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Bye

[edit] Final round

With three wrestlers remaining, all of the previous results were ignored for the final round.

Match Winner Loser
A To C Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) To B
B To C Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Denmark Søren Jensen (DEN) Bronze
C Gold Finland Yrjö Saarela (FIN) Finland Johan Olin (FIN) Silver

[edit] References

  • Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). in Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.).: The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. 
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich. Retrieved on 5 August 2007. (Polish)