Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman middleweight

The Greco-Roman middleweight was one of four Greco-Roman wrestling weight classes contested on the Wrestling at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Like all other wrestling events, it was open only to men. The middleweight was the second-lightest weight class, allowing wrestlers up to 73 kilograms (161 lb).^[1] Each nation could enter up to 12 wrestlers.^[2]

Men's middleweight Greco-Roman wrestling at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	? (R32 through semis) July 25 (final, bronze match)
Competitors	21 from 8 nations
Medalists
Frithiof Mårtensson  Sweden Mauritz Andersson  Sweden Anders Andersen  Denmark
1912 →

Competition format

The event was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze medal match between the semifinal losers. The final and bronze medal match were best two-of-three, while all other rounds were a single bout. Bouts were 15 minutes, unless one wrestler lost by fall (two shoulders on the ground at the same time). Other than falls, decisions were made by the judges or, if they did not agree, the referee.

Wrestlers could "take hold only from the head and not lower than the waist." The "hair, flesh, ears, private parts, or clothes may not be seized"; striking, scratching, twisting fingers, tripping, and grabbing legs were prohibited. Holds "obtained that the fear of breakage or dislocation of a limb shall cause the wrestler to give the fall" were outlawed, and particularly the double-nelson, arm up back with bar on, hammerlock, strangle, half-strangle, hang, and flying mare with palm uppermost.^[3]

Results

Standings

Place	Wrestler	Nation
1	Frithiof Mårtensson	Sweden
2	Mauritz Andersson	Sweden
3	Anders Andersen	Denmark
4	Jóhannes Jósefsson	Iceland[4][5][6]
5	Jaap Belmer	Netherlands
	Johannes Eriksen	Denmark
	Axel Frank	Sweden
	Axel Larsson	Denmark
9	Edgar Bacon	Great Britain
	Frederick Beck	Great Britain
	Gerald Bradshaw	Great Britain
	Grigory Dyomin	Russia
	Aäron Lelie	Netherlands
	Jacobus Lorenz	Netherlands
	Miklós Orosz	Hungary
	Jaroslav Týfa	Bohemia
17	Stanley Bacon	Great Britain
	Josef Bechynê	Bohemia
	Harry Challstorp	Sweden
	Gerrit Duijm	Netherlands
	Wilhelm Grundmann	Germany

Bracket

First Round

Second Round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Fall (5:04)

Mauritz Andersson (SWE)

Decision

Stanley Bacon (GBR)

Mauritz Andersson (SWE)

Decision

Frederick Beck (GBR)

Frederick Beck (GBR)

Fall (6:22)

Harry Challstorp (SWE)

Mauritz Andersson (SWE)

Johannes Eriksen (DEN)

Fall (9:30)

Johannes Eriksen (DEN)

Edgar Bacon (GBR)

Decision

Mauritz Andersson (SWE)

Jóhannes Jósepsson (DEN)[a][b]

Fall (12:10)

Jóhannes Jósepsson (DEN)[a]

Miklós Orosz (HUN)

Fall (2:30)

Jóhannes Jósepsson (DEN)[a]

Axel Frank (SWE)

Decision

Axel Frank (SWE)

Georgy Demin (RU1)

2–0 (decision/fall (6:25))

Mauritz Andersson (SWE)

Fall (8:54)

Frithiof Mårtensson (SWE)

Frithiof Mårtensson (SWE)

Fall (7:57)

Josef Bechyně (BOH)

Frithiof Mårtensson (SWE)

Gerald Bradshaw (GBR)

Decision

Frithiof Mårtensson (SWE)

Fall (18:59)

Axel Larsson (DEN)

Axel Larsson (DEN)

Decision

Gerrit Duijm (NED)

Axel Larsson (DEN)

Aäron Lelie (NED)

Fall (24:20)

Frithiof Mårtensson (SWE)

Anders Andersen (DEN) [b]

Decision

Anders Andersen (DEN)

Jacobus Lorenz (NED)

Fall (6:20)

Anders Andersen (DEN)

Fall (3:54)

Jaap Belmer (NED)

Jaap Belmer (NED)

Fall (6:00)

Wilhelm Grundmann (GER)

Jaap Belmer (NED)

Jaroslav Týfa (BOH)

References

1. "Wrestling at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Middleweight, Greco-Roman". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
2. Official Report, p. 40.
3. Official Report, pp. 621–23.
4. "Johannes JOSEFSSON". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
5. "History". Icelandic Olympic Committee. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
6. "Jóhannes Jósefsson". Olympedia. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2023.

Notes

1. Jósepsson is listed as Icelandic in the Official Report's detailed listing of wrestling results (Cook, p. 333) but Iceland was not one of the 22 National Olympic Committees present at the Games, and was controlled by Denmark at the time. The wrestler is later listed as Danish in the Official Report's list of competitors (Cook, p. 697).
2. Jósepsson broke his arm in his semifinal and was forced to withdraw from the bronze medal match; Andersen received third place.

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Greco-Roman Wrestling 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 29 May 2006.