[3] This freestyle wrestling competition continued to use the "bad points" elimination system introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics for Greco-Roman and at the 1932 Summer Olympics for freestyle wrestling, with a slight modification.

This came into practice in the case of Lindblom here, who lost both the first two rounds by split decision, accumulating 2 points per loss for a total of 4—less than the 5 required for elimination.

The other five men who finished the round at 0–2 had at least one loss by fall or unanimous decision, however, and were eliminated.

Krebs was the only man to finish the round with 0 points, after a bye and a win by fall.

His opponent, Kireççi, also finished the round at 4 points with the win by decision adding 1 to his starting 3.

[4] Krebs managed to finish in fourth place despite winning only one bout, finally being eliminated by Poilvé.

The Frenchman, however, won the match by fall, finishing a sterling performance of six wins with only one requiring a decision by the judges.