Ștefan Rusu

Ștefan Rusu, 1980

Ștefan Rusu (born February 2, 1956 in Rădăuți , Suceava County ) is a former Romanian wrestler . He was 1980 Olympic champion in Moscow in the Greco-Roman style in the lightweight .

Career

Ștefan Rusu began wrestling as a teenager in Rădăuți . Even as a junior he was one of the best Romanian wrestlers in Greco-Roman. Lightweight style. At the age of 18 he was in Haparanda Junior European Champion in Greco-Roman. Style in the class up to 62 kg body weight ahead of Suren Nalbandjan from the Soviet Union , who was one of his toughest competitors in the future and Ivan Stajkow from Bulgaria . From 1975 Rusu started with the seniors. He won the Balkan lightweight championships this year , but then had to realize that even a super talent like him still has to pay the hard way. At the European Championships in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , he still finished an acceptable 6th place, but at the World Championships in Minsk he was eliminated after two defeats and only came in 12th place.

But just a year later, his talent prevailed. In the spring of 1976 in Leningrad he became vice European champion , a. a. with victories over Heinz-Helmut Wehling from Rostock and Lars-Erik Skiöld from Sweden and only beaten by Schamil Chissamutdinow from the USSR and in autumn 1976 silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Montreal . In Montreal he triumphed over Andrzej Supron , one of his most stubborn competitors in future years, and again over Wehling and Skiöld. In the fight for the gold medal he was again defeated by a Soviet athlete, Suren Nalbandjan , whom he had defeated at the 1974 European Junior Championships.

1977 Rusu was again runner-up European champion in Bursa , where Suren Nalbandjan was again stronger than him and took 5th place at the World Championships in Gothenburg . In Gothenburg he lost to Heinz-Helmut Wehling for the first time.

From 1978 to 1982 Ștefan Rusu's most successful years followed. In those years he was Olympic champion in Moscow , world champion in 1978 in Mexico City and 1982 in Katowice and European champion in 1978 in Oslo , 1979 in Bucharest , 1980 in Prievidza and 1981 in Gothenburg and also winner of the 1981 Universiade in Bucharest. In those years he only had a negative slip in 1979 with a 7th place at the world championship. During these years he celebrated victories over the entire world elite then wrestling in the lightweight world, such as Kazimierz Lipień and Andrzej Supron from Poland , Erich Klaus from Germany , Alexander Aliyev , Gennadi Jermilow , Anatoli Kravchenko , Mikhail Prokudin , Alexander Kudrjawzew and Suren Nalbandjan from the USSR , Iwan Stajkow , Iwan Atanasow u. Nikolai Dimow from Bulgaria , Lars-Erik Skiöld from Sweden , Markku Yli-Isotalo and Tapio Sipilä from Finland , Károly Gaal from Hungary . This list is certainly not complete.

From 1983 Ștefan Rusu, who had switched to the welterweight division in 1982, was still successful, although he often had to admit defeat to stronger wrestlers. He won his third Olympic medal with a bronze medal in Los Angeles in 1984 and was European champion again in Leipzig in 1985 and vice world champion in Kolbotn in Norway .

After the European Championships in Athens in 1986 , where he finished 5th, Ștefan Rusu ended his international career. He was without a doubt one of the most successful wrestlers of all time in Greco-Roman. Style.

Ștefan Rusu, who trained as a coach while he was still active, is now the coach of CSM Bucovina Rădăuți . His sons Cristian, Sergiu and Laurențiu are also very successful in wrestling in Romania. He was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in August 2016 for his services to wrestling .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = lightweight, We = welterweight, then up to 68 kg or 74 kg body weight)

• 1974, 1st place , Junior European Championship in Haparanda , GR, up to 62 kg body weight, ahead of Suren Nalbandjan , USSR , Iwan Stajkow , Bulgaria , Mats Frieberg, Sweden a . Domenico Giuffrida, Italy ;
• 1975, 2nd place , Junior World Championships in Chaskowo , GR, Le, behind Suren Nalbandjan u. before Iwan Larew, Bulgaria, Miroslaw Zukowski, Poland , Tapio Sipilä , Finland a . Andreas Schelzig, GDR ;
• 1975, 1st place , Balkan Championship, GR, Le;
• 1975, 2nd place , tournament in Galați , GR, Le, behind Lothar Fleischmann, GDR a. before Heinz-Helmut Wehling , GDR, Manfred Schöndorfer , FRG a . Oleg Davidjan , USSR;
• 1975, 6th place , EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , GR, Le, with victories over Markku Yli-Isotalo , Finland and Hermann Wolter, GDR a. Losses against Lars-Erik Skiöld , Sweden a. Binjo Tschifudow , Bulgaria;
• 1975, 12th place , World Championship in Minsk , GR, Le, after defeats against Takeshi Kobayashi, Japan a . Ferenc Toma, Hungary ;
• 1976, 2nd place , EM in Leningrad , GR, Le, with victories over Ludwig Romanowski, Poland, Binjo Tschifudow, Heinz-Helmut Wehling, Sreten Damjanović , Yugoslavia a . Lars-Erik Skiöld u. a loss to Shamil Chissamutdinov , USSR;
• 1976, silver medal , OS in Montreal , GR, Le, with victories over Andrzej Supron , Poland, Kim Hae-Myung, South Korea , Takeshi Kobayashi, Heinz-Helmut Wehling, Lars-Erik Skiöld and others. a loss to Suren Nalbandjan;
• 1977, 1st place , Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Aschaffenburg , GR, Le, ahead of Bertram Hübner, FRG, Kenneth Karlsson, Sweden a. Ludwig Romanowski;
• 1977, 2nd place , EM in Bursa , GR, Le, with victories over Lionel Lacaze , France , Karl Kathan, Austria , Mileta Durovic, Yugoslavia, Heinz-Helmut Wehling u. Erol Mutlu , Turkey a . a loss to Suren Nalbandjan;
• 1977, 5th place , World Championships in Gothenburg , GR, Le, with victories over Michal Artaviviliju, Israel , Andrzej Supron, Henri von Dingenen, Switzerland a . Ioannis Mavraganis, Greece a . Defeats against Heinz-Helmut Wehling u. Nikolai Dimow , Bulgaria;
• 1978, 1st place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg, GR, Le, ahead of Kazimierz Lipień , Poland, Erich Klaus , FRG, Lionel Lacaze, Andreas Schelzig u. Michael Olsen, Denmark;
• 1978, 2nd place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Minsk , GR, Le, behind Suren Nalbandjan u. before Andrzej Supron;
• 1978, 1st place , EM in Oslo , GR, Le, with victories over Markuu Yli-Isotalo, Domenico Giuffrida, Gennadi Jermilow , USSR, Erol Mutlu, Andrzej Supron u. Károly Gaal , Hungary a. despite a loss to Nikolai Dimov;
• 1978, 1st place , World Cup in Mexico City , GR, Le, with victories over Henri Magistrini, Switzerland, Todd Minkel, USA , Ferenc Csaba, Yugoslavia, Alexander Alijew , USSR a. Andrzej Supron; in the fight between Rusu and Heinz-Helmut Wehling, both wrestlers were disqualified for being passive;
• 1979, 1st place , Proßer Prize of the FRG in Aschaffenburg, GR, Le, in front of Károly Gaal, Kazimierz Lipień, Erich Klaus, Lionel Lacaze u. Ivan Atanasow , Bulgaria;
• 1979, 1st place , "Nikola Petrow" tournament in Sofia , GR, Le, ahead of Vladimir Galkin , USSR, Petrow, Bulgaria, Minami, Japan, Grodzki, Poland and Nikolai Dimow;
• 1979, 1st place , EM in Bucharest , GR, Le, with victories over Alexander Alijew, Lars-Erik Skiöld, Károly Gaal, Heinz-Helmut Wehling, Iwan Stajkow and others. Andrzej Supron;
• 1979, 7th place , World Championships in San Diego , GR, Le, with victories over Ki Ju Bae, North Korea a . Takajasu Fujita, Japan et al. Defeats to Lionel Lacaze u. Andrzej Supron;
• 1980, 1st place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg, GR, Le, ahead of Kazimierz Lipień, Anatoli Kravchenko , USSR, Károly Gaal, Lionel Lacaze and others. Robert Haag, bRD;
• 1980, 1st place , EM in Prievidza , GR, Le, with victories over Andrzej Supron, Lars-Erik Skiöld, Iwan Atanasow, Tapio Sipilä u. Anatili Kravchenko;
• 1980, gold medal , OS in Moscow , GR, Le, with victories over Iwan Atanasow, Tapio Sipilä, Fernec Csaba, Reinhard Hartmann, Austria, Lars-Erik Skiöld u. Andrzej Supron; in the fight between Rusu and Suren Nalbandjan both wrestlers were disqualified for being passive;
• 1981, 5th place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg, GR, Le, behind Czeslaw Kowallik , Poland, Istvan Peter , Hungary, Manvel Aprikian, USSR u. Erich Klaus;
• 1981, 1st place , Universiade in Bucharest , GR, Le, ahead of Michail Prokudin , USSR a. Nikolai Dimow u. Bliss Scott, USA;
• 1981, 1st place , EM in Gothenburg , GR, Le, with victories over Czeslaw Kowallik, Gerry Svensson, Sweden, Károly Gaal, Anatoli Kravtschenko and others. Erich Klaus;
• 1981, 3rd place , World Championships in Oslo , GR, Le, with victories over Lionel Lacaze, Czeslaw Kowallik, Károly Gaal u. Iwan Stajkow a. a loss to Gennady Yermilov;
• 1982, 5th place , EM in Varna , GR, We, behind Andrzej Supron, Roger Tallroth , Sweden, Károly Kasap , Yugoslavia a. Alexander Kudrjawzew , USSR a. before Janko Schopow , Bulgaria;
• 1982, 1st place , World Championships in Katowice , GR, We, ahead of Andrzej Supron, Károly Kasap, Alexander Kudrjawzew, Stojan Wasiljew , Bulgaria a. Jan Roger Olsen, Norway;
• 1983, 1st place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg, GR, We, ahead of Roger Tallroth, Károly Kasap u. Karl-Heinz Helbing , FRG;
• 1983, 3rd place , EM in Budapest , GR, We, behind Ferenc Kocsis , Hungary a. Andrzej Supron et al. before Stojan Wasiljew u. Roschtschislaw Fojtik, CSSR;
• 1983, 4th place , World Cup in Kiev , GR, We, behind Mikhail Mamiaschwili , USSR, Andrzej Supron, Károly Kasap u. before Roger Tallroth u. Takahiro Mukai, Japan;
• 1984, 3rd place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Freiburg, GR, We, behind Michail Mamiaschwili u. Roger Tallroth et al. before Karl-Heinz Helbing, J. Jamon, CSSR a. P. Vamos, Hungary;
• 1984, 6th place , EM in Jönköping , GR, We, with victories over Philippe Vidal, France, Jan Pedersen, Denmark a. Andrzej Supron et al. Defeats against Roger Tallroth u. Jouko Salomäki , Finland;
• 1984, bronze medal , OS in Los Angeles , GR, We, with victories over Stübing, Canada , Mohamed Hamad, Egypt , Károly Kasap u. Kim Young-Nam, South Korea a. a loss to Jouko Salomäki;
• 1985, 1st place , EM in Leipzig , GR, We, ahead of Borislaw Welitschkow , Bulgaria, Michail Mamiaschwili, Jouko Salimäki, Jerzy Kopanski , Poland a. Roger Tallroth;
• 1985, 2nd place , World Cup in Kolbotn / Norway , GR, W, behind Michail Mamiaschwili u. before Jouko Salomäki, Andrzej Supron, Borislaw Welitschkow a. Karl-Heinz Helbing;
• 1986, 5th place , EM in Athens , GR, We, behind Michail Mamiaschwili, Roger Tallroth, Jouko Salomäki, Jerzy Kopanski u. Martial Mischler , France

Romanian championships

Between 1975 and 1987, Ștefan Rusu was Romanian champion twelve times in Greco-Roman. Lightweight or welterweight style

swell

• 1) Div. Issues of the specialist magazines "Athletik" from 1974 a. 1975 u. "The Ringer" from 1976 to 1987,
• 2) International Wrestling Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United World Wrestling to Induct 15 into 2016 Hall of Fame Class , accessed April 17, 2017 (English)

Web links

• Profile of Ștefan Rusu at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Ștefan Rusu in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )