1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

distinguished themselves in this event. Amongst the competitors fromabroad, Wäre, who has already been mentioned, and Ö Radvány,from Hungary, were the most prominent. This latter wrestler wasthe victim of an unceasing run of bad luck, which was the only thingthat prevented him from fighting his way through to the final. Inaddition to these, there were many other quite good men in this class,such as T. Kolehmainen and V. Wikström, Finland; O. Kaplur, Russia;H. Lofthus, Norway; F. O. Hansen, Denmark, and Jan Balej, Bohemia.MIDDLE WEIGHT A.CL. JOHANSSONSwedenMAX KLEINRussiaA. ASIKAINEN FinlandThe Middle Weight A class was the only one in which Swedenmanaged to secure a gold medal, but this was all the more remarkableas, before the Games began, it was considered that the Swedeswould be worst represented just in this section. The first man herewas that honest, open-hearted wrestler, Cl. Johansson, and the factthat no one stood up to him in the final, the other men retiring fromthe bout, must not be taken as detracting in any way from themerit of his victory, as, during the course of the competition, he hadproved himself quite the equal of any of his opponents. The secondand third men were Max Klein, Russia and A. Asikainen, Finland.The struggle between these two showed what the prospect of winningan Olympic gold medal can do, and a wrestling contest lasting noless than 11 hours, and carried on under a burning sun, with a shortpause for refreshments every half hour, must be considered as a proofof unconquerable energy, so that one cannot censure either of theopponents. The struggle taught us, however, that some alterationmust be made in the rules, in order to provide against a repetition ofsuch lengthy contests which are altogether too wearying for the public.The Finnish representatives, K. Åberg, A. Jokinen and E. Westerlund;the Swedish wrestler, D. Fältström, and Jan Sint, Holland, allshowed that it was not without reason they had been chosen to representtheir various nations in this contest for Olympic honours.MIDDLE WEIGHT B.A. AHLGREN SwedenJ. BÖLING FinlandBÉLA VARGAHungaryRegrettably enough, the competition for Middle Weights B had theresult that no gold medal was awarded, for the two men left in forthe final, J. Böling, Finland and A. Ahlgren, Sweden, proved to besuch masters of technique, and possessed such abnormal bodily strengththat, after the contest had been carried on for no less than ninehours, and after the fruitless application of the special regulations madefor such cases, the match had to be declared a draw. As, howeverthe rules of the Olympic Competition stated that it was necessary for763