Wrestling at the 1904 Summer Olympics

Wrestling at the Games of the III Olympiad
Venue	Francis Olympic Field
Dates	14–15 October 1904
No. of events	7 (7 men, 0 women)
Competitors	43 from 5 nations
←  1896 1908  →

At the 1904 Summer Olympics, seven wrestling events were contested, all in the freestyle discipline. Then known as catch wrestling, it was the first time freestyle wrestling was featured at the Olympic Games, as the first Olympic wrestling contests in 1896 had been in the Greco-Roman style. Weight classes also made their first appearance. The sport continues to be in the Olympic program to the present day. ^[1] The event also doubled as that year's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Catch Wrestling Championships. ^{[2] [3]}

Wrestling

Medal summary

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light flyweight details	Robert Curry   United States	John Hein   United States	Gustav Thiefenthaler   Switzerland
Flyweight details	George Mehnert   United States	Gustave Bauer   United States	William Nelson   United States
Bantamweight details	Isidor Niflot   United States	August Wester   United States	Louis Strebler   United States
Featherweight details	Benjamin Bradshaw   United States	Theodore McLear   United States	Charles Clapper   United States
Lightweight details	Otto Roehm   United States	Rudolph Tesing   United States	Albert Zirkel   United States
Welterweight details	Charles Ericksen   Norway	William Beckmann   United States	Jerry Winholtz   United States
Heavyweight details	Bernhoff Hansen   Norway	Frank Kugler   Germany	Fred Warmbold   United States

Participating nations

Wrestling match during 1904 Summer Olympics.

A total of 44 wrestlers competed at the St. Louis Games:

•   United States  (38)
•   Germany  (2)
•   Norway  (2)
•   Canada  (1)
•   Switzerland  (1)

The nationalities of some medalists are disputed, as many American competitors were recent immigrants to the United States who had not yet been granted U.S. citizenship.

The International Olympic Committee formerly considered Norwegian-American wrestlers Charles Ericksen and Bernhoff Hansen to have competed for the United States. Each man won a gold medal. In 2012, Norwegian historians found documentation showing that Ericksen did not receive American citizenship until March 22, 1905, and that Hansen probably never received American citizenship. The historians have therefore petitioned the IOC to have the athletes registered as Norwegians, ^{[4] [5]} which was done.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	5	6	6	17
2	Norway	2	0	0	2
3	Germany	0	1	0	1
4	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
Totals (4 entries)		7	7	7	21

Notes

1. "Wrestling at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
2. "Wrestling at the 1904 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
3. Nash, John S. (2012-10-20). "Olympic History: Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling? Yep". Cageside Seats. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
4. "Her er beviset som endrer norsk idrettshistorie". NRK. August 14, 2012.
5. "USA-guld 1904 var Norges". Svenska Dagbladet. August 14, 2012.

References

• International Olympic Committee medal database