1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

the victor to have beaten his opponent, and as neither man wouldgive in to his adversary, there was nothing else to be done than todeclare both men winners of a second prize, a result which, after such finework, could not but be regretted. The third man was the well-knownHungarian wrestler, BélaVarga, who had been beaten in the semi-final byAhigren. Among the other competitors in this class may be mentioned:A. Rajaalaand K. Lindberg, Finland; F. Lange, Germany, and S.Pjetursson, Iceland.HEAVY WEIGHT.U. SAARELA FinlandJ. OLIN FinlandS. M. JENSEN DenmarkThe Heavy Weights had fewest representatives, but, in spite of thisfact, the competition was a most interesting one, there being suchmen on the list as S. M. Jensen and U. Saarela, victors at previousOlympic Games. No Swede managed to come to the fore in thisevent, G. Lindstrand, the Swedish champion, who, otherwise, mustbe considered a good man, being beaten at a comparatively early stageof the proceedings. The winner of the gold medal was Saarela, Finland,who beat his most redoubtable opponent, S. M. Jensen, Denmark,in the final. The result might easily have been quite different,had not the Dane found the heat too much for him, as, during thestruggle with the Finnish representative, he showed himself to be thebetter man of the two. Half-broiled by the sun, however, Jensen hadto retire from the contest after the lapse of a couple of hours, and,for the same reason, he took no further part in the competition, sothat the second prize went to J. Olin, Finland. J. Neser, Germany,proved a stumbling block to many aspirants, but he was defeated inthe last round by Saarela.REFLECTIONS.It can be seen by the above lists that Finland was pre-eminent inthe Wrestling Competitions of the Olympic Games. There is oneFinlander, at least, as a prize-winner in each class, and half the totalnumber of prizes fell to the share of that nation, a result that mustbe termed a most brilliant one, and one that will probably never besurpassed by any country in future Olympic meetings. Sweden was agood second, with four prizes; a very fine performance taking into considerationthe large number of first-class men among the competitors.Hungary did not succeed in gaining more than a third prize, but itshowed itself to be the nation that best appreciates wrestling as abranch of athletics. Its representatives competed with a perfect absenceof the brutality that is, unfortunately, sometimes displayed insuch contests, and they accepted the decisions of the judges with anequanimity displaying the spirit of the true sportsman. There weremany, apart from their own partizans, that would willingly have seenHungary placed higher on the list of prize-winners.It can easily be understood that many misunderstandings were sureto arise during the lengthy progress of the Olympic Competitions in764