Wrestling at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman lightweight
The men's Greco-Roman lightweight was one of thirteen wrestling events held as part of the wrestling at the 1928 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held from August 2 to 5, and featured 20 wrestlers from 20 nations.
Competition format
This Greco-Roman wrestling competition introduced an elimination system based on the accumulation of points. Each round featured all wrestlers pairing off and wrestling one bout. 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.Results
Round 1
The first round produced 5 winners by fall, 1 bye, 4 winners by decision, and 9 losers. Parisel and Metzner-Fritz withdrew after their bouts.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Lajos Keresztes | Fall | Adolphe Dumont | ||
| Walter Massop | Decision | Miroslav Metzner-Fritz | ||
| Einar Borges | Decision | Ernst Mumenthaler | ||
| Frits Janssens | Fall | Paul Parisel | ||
| Vladimír Vávra | Fall | Ede Sperling | ||
| Osvald Käpp | Fall | Piero Postini | ||
| Harald Pettersson | Decision | Vasilios Pavlidis | ||
| Tayyar Yalaz | Decision | Ryszard Błażyca | ||
| Edvard Westerlund | Fall | Alberto Barbieri | ||
| Karl Pedersen | Bye | N/A | N/A |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 |
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 3 | ||
| 18 | 3* | ||
| 18 | 3* |
Round 2
Vávra and Westerlund were the only 2 out of the 6 men who started with 0 points to finish with 0 points, Westerlund with a bye and Vávra with a second win by fall. Five men were 2–0 with a win by decision and a win by fall for 1 point apiece. Pedersen, with a first-round bye, lost in the second round for 3 points. Also at 3 points were Błażyca and Sperling, who won by fall in round 2 after losing in round 1. Borges and Pettersson each received their first loss after winning by decision in round 1, for 4 points apiece. Five of the 7 wrestlers who had lost in round 1 lost again in round 2 and were eliminated.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Lajos Keresztes | Decision | Karl Pedersen | ||
| Walter Massop | Fall | Adolphe Dumont | ||
| Frits Janssens | Decision | Einar Borges | ||
| Vladimír Vávra | Fall | Ernst Mumenthaler | ||
| Ede Sperling | Fall | Piero Postini | ||
| Osvald Käpp | Decision | Harald Pettersson | ||
| Tayyar Yalaz | Fall | Vasilios Pavlidis | ||
| Ryszard Błażyca | Fall | Alberto Barbieri | ||
| Edvard Westerlund | Bye | N/A | N/A |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | Total |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 8 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
Round 3
All 6 bouts in round 3 were won by fall, so all of the winners stayed at the same point score: Vávra and Westerlund at 0, Keresztes and Yalaz at 1, and Błażyca and Sperling at 3. Of the 6 losers, 3 had only had 1 point coming into the round and thus remained in competition with 4 points. Käpp, however, withdrew. The other 3 were eliminated.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Edvard Westerlund | Fall | Karl Pedersen | ||
| Lajos Keresztes | Fall | Walter Massop | ||
| Vladimír Vávra | Fall | Einar Borges | ||
| Ede Sperling | Fall | Frits Janssens | ||
| Tayyar Yalaz | Fall | Osvald Käpp | ||
| Ryszard Błażyca | Fall | Harald Pettersson |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4* | ||
| 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Round 4
Vávra and Westerlund, who started the round with 0 points, each lost to finish the round with 3 points and in 3rd place. Yalaz, who defeated Vávra, took over the lead at 1 point which he had gained in the first round before reeling off 3 wins by fall. Keresztes picked up a 2nd point in his defeat of Westerlund. Sperling won by fall to stay at 3 points and eliminate Błażyca; Massop did the same to stay at 4 and eliminate Janssens.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Lajos Keresztes | Decision | Edvard Westerlund | ||
| Walter Massop | Fall | Frits Janssens | ||
| Tayyar Yalaz | Fall | Vladimír Vávra | ||
| Ede Sperling | Fall | Ryszard Błażyca |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Round 5
The leader lost again, this time Yalaz falling to Sperling. Keresztes took the lead with 2 points. Sperling followed with 3. Yalaz remained in competition at 4 points, as did Westerlund who picked up his 4th in a win by decision. Vávra, after leading with 0 points through round 3, had a second consecutive loss in round 5 and was eliminated. Massop also took his second loss and was eliminated.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Edvard Westerlund | Decision | Walter Massop | ||
| Lajos Keresztes | Fall | Vladimír Vávra | ||
| Ede Sperling | Fall | Tayyar Yalaz |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Total |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
Round 6
Keresztes maintained his lead, defeating Yalaz and eliminating the latter. Sperling won over Westerlund to stay in competition as well, with Westerlund eliminated. Because Westerlund and Yalaz both finished with 7 points, they would need to wrestle each other for the bronze while Sperling and Keresztes contested the gold medal.; Bouts
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Ede Sperling | Decision | Edvard Westerlund | ||
| Lajos Keresztes | Fall | Tayyar Yalaz |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Total |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Round 7
Keresztes defeated Sperling for the gold medal. Westerlund prevailed over Yalaz for the bronze.; Bronze medal bout
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Edvard Westerlund | Decision | Tayyar Yalaz |
; Gold medal bout
| Winner | Nation | Victory Type | Loser | Nation |
| Lajos Keresztes | Decision | Ede Sperling |
; Points
| Rank | Wrestler | Nation | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Total |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 |