Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (>82½ kg), Men

Three wrestlers were considered the leading contenders: Hungarian Rajmund Badó was a bronze medalist in this class at Paris, and had won the 1927 European Championship and been runner-up in 1925; German Georg Gehring was the 1926 European Champion; and Sweden’s Rudolf Svensson was the 1925 European Champion and, at Paris in 1924, had won silver medals as a light-heavyweight in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Badó lost his second- and fourth-round matches and was eliminated early. Svensson and Gehring met in the fifth-round, with Svensson winning by fall, which gave him the gold medal. Gehring then wrestled Hjalmar Nyström for the silver medal, with the Finn winning by decision, Gehring taking the bronze medal.

All the medalists continued to compete for the next few years. At Los Angeles in 1932, Svensson dropped back to light-heavyweight and won a second Olympic gold. He also won the 1933 European Championship as a light-heavy, and won silver medals at the Europeans as a heavyweight in 1929 and 1934. Nyström also kept competing, winning an Olympic bronze medal in 1936 in heavyweight freestyle, and would win four European medals from 1930-35, but never made the top step of the podium. Gehring competed at both the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, with no medals, but he won another European title in 1929 and won bronze medals at that tournament in 1930-31.