Artur Olech

Artur Olech (born June 22, 1940 in Lemberg , † August 12, 2010 in Breslau ) was a Polish boxer . He won a silver flyweight medal at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics .

Career

Artur Olech and his family moved from Lwow to Breslau after the end of the Second World War . There he played football as a teenager and did cycling . Together with his twin brother Zbigniew Olech he started boxing in 1955 . His first trainer was Richard Walugi. At a height of 1.60 meters, Artur Olech weighed around 51 kg and, as an adult, mostly started at flyweight (up to 51 kg body weight), now and then also in bantam weight (up to 54 kg body weight). Artur and Zbigniew Olech joined the militia at 18 and joined the police at 20. From then on they started for the police sports club Gwardia Warsaw . Artur Olech from 1966 still for WKS Gwardia Łódź .

Zbigniew Olech was more successful than Artur Olech in his junior and senior years. In the international boxing scene, however, Artur Olech was later much more successful than Zbigniew Olech. Artur Olech took part in the Polish championship for the first time in 1960 and failed in the flyweight division in the quarter-finals against the experienced Henryk Kukier . He reached the 5th place. 1961 Artur Olech came in the Polish championship to the semi-finals, in which he was defeated by his brother Zbigniew on points. 1961 Artur Olech won in Bucharest at the 2nd championship of the police forces of the Warsaw Pact states in the flyweight final over the Romanian Ambrus.

In 1962 Artur Olech won the Polish flyweight championship for the first time with a point victory in the final battle over Zdzislaw Drozdal. He repeated this success in 1963 with a final victory over Jozef Wiatrzyk. In the semi-finals of this championship he defeated his brother Zbigniew by breaking off in the 3rd round. In 1962 and 1963 he also won the Warsaw Pact Police Championship again. 1962 in the bantamweight with a point victory over Rainer Poser from the GDR and in 1963 in the flyweight with a point victory over Ferenc Dorogi from Hungary .

In 1964 Artur Olech had to admit defeat in the final of the Polish flyweight championship to his brother Zbigniew, who defeated him in the 3rd round by breaking off. Nevertheless, he and not Zbigniew was suggested by Feliks Stamm, the Polish national coach, as a starter at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this year . In Tokyo, Artur Olech confirmed this trust with excellent performances. There he defeated Stefan Panajotow from Bulgaria (3: 2), Tibor Papp from Hungary (5: 0) and Constantin Ciucă from Romania (5: 0) on points. In the semifinals he came to a fightless victory over the injured Soviet athlete Stanislaw Sorokin and was in the final against Fernando Atzori from Italy . Atzori won this final battle with 4-1 judges' votes on points. Artur Olech won the silver medal .

In 1965 and 1966, Artur Olech won his third and fourth Polish flyweight championship by defeating Hubert Skrzypczak . At the European Championships in 1965 and 1967 he was not used. In 1968 he was back in the Polish team at the Olympic Games in Mexico City . There he came in flyweight in the 1st round to a non-fighting victory over Heriberto Cintron from Puerto Rico , then won over Constantin Ciucă on points (3: 2 judges' votes), defeated Nikolai Novikow from the Soviet Union by breaking off in the 2nd round and struck in the semifinals Leo Rwabwogo from Uganda disputed with 3-2 judges' votes on points. He was in an Olympic final for the second time. That he met a Mexican boxer, Ricardo Delgado , of all things, was his bad luck, because supported by the fanatical Mexican audience, they surpassed themselves in the final battle and clearly defeated Arur Olech on points, who again only got the silver medal .

In 1969 Artur Olech was used at the European Bantamweight Championships in Bucharest . There he won two points over James Gilligan from Ireland and Dimitar Milew from Bulgaria , but both of them were very close with 3-2 judges' votes. In the semifinals he was then defeated by his old competitor Constantin Ciucă on points and won an EM bronze medal .

He then did not contest any other international championships. Artur Olech also played a number of international matches between 1961 and 1968. He also won victories over the Germans Otto Babiasch , Josef Rehberger and Hans Freistadt , while he lost to Kurt Milleck, Klaus John and Walter Cybinski.

In his career Artur Olech played a total of 315 fights and recorded 281 wins, boxed four draws and lost 30 fights.

After finishing his career Artur Olech moved to Karlowice near Wroclaw. There he worked as a sports teacher (officer level) for the police.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, Fl = flyweight, Ba = bantam weight, at that time up to 51 kg or 54 kg body weight)

• 1961, 1st place , 2nd Police Championship of the States of the Warsaw Pact in Bucharest , Fl, with a final victory over Ambrus, Romania ;
• 1962, 1st place , 3rd police championship of the states of the Warsaw Pact in Łódź , Ba, with final victory over Rainer Poser , GDR ;
• 1963, 1st place , 4th Police Championship of the States of the Warsaw Pact in East Berlin , Fl, with final victory over Ferenc Dorogi, Hungary ;
• 1964, silver medal , OS in Tokyo , Fl, with points victories over Stefan Panajotow , Bulgaria (3: 2), Tibor Papp, Hungary (5: 0) and Constantin Ciucă , Romania (5: 0), a victory over Stanislaw Sorokin without a fight , USSR and a point defeat against Fernando Atzori , Italy (1: 4);
• 1967, 1st place , 8th Police Championship of the States of the Warsaw Pact in Szombathely , Ba, with a final victory over Ferenc Cserge, Hungary;
• 1967, 5th Pl , pre-Olympic tournament in Mexico City , Ba, after a point defeat in the quarterfinals against Giuseppe Mura, Italy ;
• 1968, silver medal , OS in Mexico City , Fl, with a non-fighting victory over Heriberto Contron, Puerto Rico , a point victory (3: 2) over Constantin Ciucă, a demolition victory in the 2nd round over Nikolai Novikow , USSR, a point victory ( 3: 2) over Leo Rwabwogo , Uganda and a point defeat against Ricardo Delgado , Mexico (1: 4);
• 1969, 3rd place , EM in Bucharest , Ba, with points victories over James Gilligan, Ireland (3: 2) and Dimitar Milew, Bulgaria (3: 2) and a point defeat against Constantin Ciucă (0: 5)

Polish championships

• 1960, 5th place, Fl, after losing points in the quarterfinals against Henryk Kukier ,
• 1961, 3rd place, Fl, after losing points in the semifinals against Zbigniew Olech ,
• 1962, 1st place, Fl, after winning points in the final over Zdzislaw Drozdal,
• 1963, 1st place, Fl, after winning points in the final over Jozef Wiatrzyk,
• 1964, 2nd place, Fl, after an abandonment defeat in the 3rd round in the final against Zbigniew Olech,
• 1965, 1st place, Fl, after winning points in the final over Hubert Skrzypczak ,
• 1966, 1st place, Fl, after winning points in the final over Hubert Skrzypczak

International battles

• 1961 in Białystok , Poland against GDR , Fl, techn. KO defeat 2nd round against Kurt Milleck,
• 1962 in Grudziądz , Poland against Romania , Fl, point defeat against Dumitru Davidescu,
• 1962 in Kalisz , Poland against Hungary , Fl, points winner over Ferenc Dorogi,
• 1963 in Bucharest , Romania against Poland, Fl, point defeat against Constantin Ciucă ,
• 1963 in Poznań , Poland against GDR, Fl, points winner over Otto Babiasch ,
• 1963 in Schwerin , GDR against Poland, Fl, points winner over Otto Babiasch,
• 1963 in Wrocław, Poland against FRG , Fl, points winner over Josef Rehberger,
• 1963 in Łódź , Poland against USSR , Fl, points winner over Stanislaw Sorokin ,
• 1964 in Moscow , USSR against Poland, Fl, point defeat against Wiktor Bystrow ,
• 1965 in Łódź, Poland against England , Fl, points winner over Tony Humm,
• 1965 in Łódź, Poland against FRG, Fl, points winner over Hans Freistadt ,
• 1966 in Wrocław, Poland against CSSR , Ba, points winner over Viliam Mester,
• 1966 in Berlin (East), GDR against Poland, Fl, point defeat against Klaus John,
• 1966 in Dessau , GDR against Poland, Fl, point defeat against Walter Cybinski,
• 1966 in Warsaw, Poland against Bulgaria , Fl, point defeat against Stefan Panajotow ,
• 1966 in Rotterdam , Netherlands against Poland, Fl, techn. KO winner 2nd round over Gerrit Te Paske,
• 1967 in Algiers , Algeria against Poland, Fl, points winner over Filali,
• 1968 in Warsaw, Poland against Tunisia , Fl, points winner over Ben Salah

swell

• Box Sport magazine ,
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl",
• Website "www.sport-komplett.de",
• Website "www.pkol.pl",
• Website "www.boxrec.com",
• Website "www.karlowice.wroclaw.pl"

Web links

• Artur Olech in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Artur Olech (Polish)
• Story about the Olech brothers with some pictures