Alexander Vasilyevich Medved

Alexander Wassiljewitsch Medved (white)

Aleksandr Medved ( Russian Александр Васильевич Медведь , Belarusian Аляксандр Мядзведзь / Alyaksandr Mjadsweds * 16th September 1937 in Bila Tserkva , Ukrainian SSR ) is a former Soviet wrestler and Belarusian sports official .

Career

Medved was born the son of a forester and joined the Red Army in 1957 . Under coach Georgiev he made rapid progress, especially since he brought the best physical conditions for a good heavyweight wrestler. He reached third place at the Second People's Partakiad of the USSR in 1959. In 1961 he took 1st place in the super heavyweight division at the All Union Championship and was then sent to the World Championship in Yokohama . There he lost to the German Olympic champion Wilfried Dietrich in the final . But then began a winning streak that lasted until 1972 with three Olympic victories. In 15 difficult international championships (OS, WM, EM) he was defeated only twice, once against Dietrich and in 1965 against Ahmet Ayık , Turkey , against whom he was the only wrestler unable to win in three fights.

After the Olympic Games in 1972, Medved ended his wrestling career. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow he was a referee. He pronounced the Olympic oath of the judges at the opening ceremony. In September 2003 he was one of the first to be inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame for his services to wrestling .

Medwed was also very successful professionally. After studying at the Minsk Sports University , he became a sports teacher at the Minsk Radio Technical Institute. Today he is chairman of the inter-institutional faculty for physical development at the Belarusian Institute for Information, Research and Radio-Electronics and vice-chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = freestyle, SS = super heavyweight, up to 1961 from 87 kg body weight, from 1962 to 1968 from 97 kg body weight, from 1969 from 100 kg body weight, S = heavyweight, from 1962 to 1968 up to 97 kg body weight, from 1969 up to 100 kg body weight)

• 1961, 3rd place , World Cup in Yokohama , F, SS, with victories over János Reznák , Hungary , Samarai, Australia , draw against Hamit Kaplan , Turkey and defeat against Wilfried Dietrich , Germany ;
• 1962, 1st place , World Cup in Toledo / USA, F, S, with victories over Buck, Great Britain , Otsuka, Japan , Said Mustafow , Bulgaria , İsmet Atlı , Turkey and a draw against Gholamreza Takhti , Iran ;
• 1963, 1st place , World Championships in Sofia , F, S, with victories over Hamit Kaplan, Kobelt, Switzerland, Winer, USA, Lennart Persson , Sweden and Walko Kostow , Bulgaria;
• 1964, gold medal , OS in Tokyo , F, S, with victories over Peter Jutzeler, Switzerland, Francisc Balla , Romania , Mustafow, Eriksson and a draw against Ahmet Ayık , Turkey ;
• 1965, 2nd place , World Cup in Manchester , F, S, with victories over Mane, India , Jutzeler, Mustafow and one defeat against Ayik;
• 1966, 1st place , EM in Karlsruhe , F, SS, with victories against Bachmann, Switzerland, Bohumil Kubát , Czechoslovakia , Arne Robertsson , Sweden, Giyasettin Yilmaz, Turkey and a draw against Lyutwi Dschiber Achmedow , Bulgaria;
• 1966, 1st place , World Championship in Toledo / USA, F, S, with victories over Jesse Lewis, USA, Viljoen, South Africa , Gholamreza Takhti, Jutzeler and a draw against Ayik;
• 1967, 1st place , World Championship in New Delhi , F, SS, with victories over Osman Duraliew , Bulgaria, Yilmaz, Turkey and a draw against Larry Kristoff , USA;
• 1968, 1st place , EM in Skopje , F, SS, with victories over Omar Topuz, Turkey, Osman Duraliew, Uytterhaeghe, Belgium and Roland Bock , Germany;
• 1968, gold medal , OS in Mexico City , F, SS, with victories over Yorihide Isogai, Japan, Yilmaz, Larry Kristoff, Osman Duraliew and Wilfried Dietrich;
• 1969, 1st place , World Championships in Mar del Plata , F, SS, with victories over Erdeneochir, Mongolia , Eriksson, Osman Duraliew and Anvari, Iran;
• 1970, 1st place , World Championships in Edmonton, F, SS, with victories over Peter Germer , GDR , Semeredi, Yugoslavia , Mane, Merv Holden, USA and Osman Duraliew;
• 1971, 1st place , World Championship in Sofia , F, SS, with victories over Makowiecki, Poland , Marothy, Hungary , Gharbi, Tunisia , Filabi, Iran, Yildirim, Turkey and a draw against Osman Duraliew;
• 1972, 1st place , EM in Katowice , F, SS, with victories over Ștefan Stîngu , Romania, Yilmaz, Dlugosz, Poland, Wiertelak, GDR and Osman Duraliew;
• 1972, gold medal , OS in Munich , F, SS, with victories over Filabi, Chris Taylor , USA, Yilmaz, Wilfried Dietrich, Stingu and Osman Duraliew.

National successes

Medved won all the titles to be awarded in the former Soviet Union several times, although it was often more difficult to win these championships than an Olympic gold medal because of the strong domestic competition. He also won many international tournaments at home and abroad.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Baumgartner and Smith among charter FILA 2003 Hall of Fame class ( Memento from December 28, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) ( English )

Web links

• Medved, Alexander (URS). In: International Wrestling Database. University of Leipzig, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 (English). 
• Alexander Medwed in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• People from Minsk - Aleksandr Medved. In: privet-minsk.de. January 21, 2008(interview with Alexander Medwed).