Gholamreza Takhti was an Iranian freestyle wrestler and varzesh-e bastani practitioner. He was a gold medalist at the 1956 Summer Olympics, 1958 Asian Games, 1959 World Championships, and 1961 World Championships, as well as a three-time Pahlevan of Iran. Popularly nicknamed Jahân Pahlevân because of his chivalrous behavior and sportsmanship, he was the most popular athlete of Iran in the 20th century, although dozens of Iranian athletes have won more international medals than he did. Takhti is still a hero to many Iranians. He is listed in the UWW Hall of Fame.
Daniel Allen Hodge was an American amateur and professional wrestler, who also had a brief professional boxing career. He is in both the U.S. amateur wrestling Hall of Fame, for his three NCAA titles and Olympic silver medal, and the pro wrestling Hall of Fame, as a seven-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion. The Dan Hodge Trophy is the college wrestling equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Mustafa Dağıstanlı was a Turkish wrestler. He had his best achievements in freestyle wrestling, winning gold medals at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics and 1954, 1957, and 1959 world championships. In Greco-Roman wrestling he won a gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He is credited with 389 wins and 4 draws in 393 matches.
Hamit Kaplan was a Turkish World and Olympic champion sports wrestler of Circassian descent in the Heavyweight class. He won the gold, silver and bronze medal in men's freestyle wrestling at three consecutive Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
İsmet Atlı was a Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Light heavyweight class and a trainer. He won the gold medal in Men's Freestyle wrestling at the 1960 Olympics.
Fritz Karl Stöckli was a Swiss bobsledder and freestyle wrestler. As a wrestler he won silver medal in the light-heavyweight division at the 1946 European Championships and 1948 Summer Olympics; in 1946 he lost in the final to Bengt Fahlkvist, but avenged the loss in 1948.
Olle Henrik Martin Anderberg was a Swedish wrestler. He competed in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics in freestyle and Greco-Roman events and won a silver medal in the Greco-Roman featherweight in 1948 and a gold in the freestyle lightweight in 1952. Between 1942 and 1962 Anderberg won three world, two European and 27 national titles.
Karl-Erik Nilsson was a light-heavyweight (-87 kg) Greco-Roman wrestler from Sweden. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics and won one gold and two bronze medals. He won another bronze medal at the 1955 World Wrestling Championships. He died in December 2017.
Hans Bertil August Antonsson was a Swedish heavyweight wrestler. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1960 Summer Olympics in freestyle wrestling and won silver medals in 1948 and 1952. In 1956 he entered the Greco-Roman contest instead and finished fifth.
Bengt "Falan" Fahlqvist was a Swedish wrestler who competed at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the freestyle light-heavyweight division in 1948 and finished sixth as a Greco-Roman heavyweight in 1952. He won the European freestyle title in 1946 by beating Fritz Stöckli in the final, but lost to Stöckli in the Olympic semifinal in 1948.
Johan Cornelius "Snövit" Richthoff was a Swedish wrestler. He competed in the freestyle heavyweight division at the 1924, 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics and won gold medals in 1928 and 1932; he shared fourth place in 1924.
Johan Rudolf "Starke Rudolf" Svensson was a Swedish wrestler. He competed at the 1924, 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics in four freestyle and Greco-Roman events in total, and won a gold or silver medal in each of them.
Johannes Kotkas was a heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler from Estonia who won a gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He held the European title in 1938, 1939 and 1947 and placed second at the 1953 world championships.
Anders Larsson was a Swedish freestyle wrestler who won the gold medal in the light-heavyweight class at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Wilfried Dietrich was a German heavyweight wrestler. Between 1956 and 1972 he took part in five Olympics and six world championships, often entering both the freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling contests – a feat unmatched by any other wrestler. He won five Olympic and five world championship medals, becoming an Olympic (1960), World (1961) and European champion (1967). Between 1955 and 1962 he won all his freestyle bouts.
Sanasar Oganisyan is a former Soviet Armenian Freestyle wrestler and Olympic, World and European Champion. He became an Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1980.
Anatoly Mikhaylovich Albul was a Russian wrestler. He was born in Leningrad. He was Olympic bronze medalist in Freestyle wrestling in 1960, competing for the Soviet Union. He won a silver medal at the 1963 World Wrestling Championships.
Savkuz Dzaboyevich Dzarasov was a Russian heavyweight freestyle wrestler who won bronze medals at the 1959 World Championships and 1960 Olympics. Domestically he won the Soviet title in 1958 and 1959, placing second in 1952 and 1961 and third in 1960.
Husein Mehmedov was a Bulgarian wrestler of Turkish descent who competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics.
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.
