Atanas Komchev

Atanas Komtschew ( Bulgarian Атанас Комшев ; born October 23, 1959 in Devetintsi ; † November 12, 1994 ) was a Bulgarian wrestler.

Career

Atanas Komtschew grew up in his native Dewetinzi. He started wrestling when he was ten . As a teenager he was one of the best Bulgarian wrestlers in his age group. At the age of 18 he joined the Bulgarian People's Army and joined the central sports club of the CSKA Sofia Army . He has worked with many coaches over the years. But he owes most of it to Stefan Angelow, who led him to the top of the world at the beginning of his career. Atanas weighed just over 90 kg as an adult and started in the light heavyweight class. He wrestled exclusively in the Greco-Roman style. As a member of the army, he was able to devote himself fully to wrestling.

In 1978 he won the first Bulgarian light heavyweight championship and in 1979 he was used internationally for the first time at the Balkan Games and took second place. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , it was not yet used. There Stojan Ivanov wrestled for Bulgaria .

At the European Championships in Gothenburg in 1981 , however, he was there again and also cut a good figure there, even if fifth place was not enough for a medal. He was defeated by the Swedish superstar Frank Andersson and the Finn Manni. But he proved that he can be expected in the future.

At the European Championships in 1982 in his native Varna , he won his first international light heavyweight medal behind Igor Kanygin from the USSR and Frank Andersson, both wrestlers with whom he would still have many hot fights. At the world championship of the same year in Katowice he was second winner behind Andersson, but before Kanygin.

In 1983 Atanas Komchev finished second at both the European Championships in Budapest and the World Championships in Kiev . Both times he lost in the final against Igor Kanygin, which he has not yet got past. At the European Championships in Jönköping in 1984 he then managed to win over Kanygin for the first time. Winning the European Championship was the reward. Because of the boycott of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 by the socialist states, the start at these games was unfortunately blocked. It's a shame that politics back then was carried out on the backs of athletes.

In 1985 he was only used at the World Championships in Kolbotn / Norway. He took third place. Surprisingly, a new man won there, the American Michael Houck .

In 1986 he won the title again at the European Championships in Athens . On the way there he also defeated the German junior wrestler Roger Gries from Mömbris-Königshofen. In the final the Austrian Franz Pitschmann Komtschew delivered a courageous fight and was only just defeated on points. At the world championship of the same year in Budapest Atanas Komchev surprisingly lost in the final to the newcomer Andrzej Malina from Poland .

At the European Championships in 1987 in Tampere Atanas had no chance in the final against the Soviet athlete Vladimir Popov , against whom he also lost at the World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand .

In the 1988 Olympic year, he decided not to take part in the European Championship in order to be able to prepare specifically for the Olympic Games in Seoul . A measure that was worthwhile, because he defeated all opponents in Seoul, including Popov, and became Olympic champion .

After the Olympic gold medal in 1988 he was like many other wrestlers before him, he won no more international medals. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 , when he moved up to the heavyweight division, he only came in 11th place.

Overall, however, his career was very successful with eleven medal wins at the major international championships. Outshone by the Olympic victory in 1988.

The results of all international championships in which Atanas Komchev participated can be seen in the following section.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Hs = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight, back then up to 90 kg or 100 kg body weight)

• 1979, 2nd place , Balkan Games in Yambol , GR, Hs, behind Ilie Matei , Romania and in front of Jozef Tertelj , Yugoslavia ;
• 1979, 4th place , Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Haparanda , GR, Hs, behind Valeri Iwanow, USSR, Christer Gulldén , Sweden and Grzegorz Wilczewski, Poland ;
• 1981, 5th place , EM in Göteborg , GR, Hs, with victories over Bogisław Dąbrowski, Poland and Uwe Sachs , Germany and defeats to Frank Andersson , Sweden and Keijo Manni , Finland ;
• 1982, 3rd place , EM in Varna , GR, Hs, behind Igor Kanygin , USSR and Frank Andersson and in front of Matei, Pozidis, Greece and Kopas, Yugoslavia;
• 1982, 2nd place , World Championships in Katowice , GR, Hs, behind Andersson and in front of Kanygin, Matei, Jindřich Durčak, CSSR and Dąbrowski;
• 1983, 2nd place , EM in Budapest , GR, Hs, behind Kanygin and in front of Matei, Norbert Növényi , Hungary , Uwe Neupert , GDR and Bernhard Ban, Yugoslavia;
• 1983, 2nd place , World Championships in Kiev , GR, Hs, behind Kanygin and in front of Növényi, Pozidis, Matei and Durčak;
• 1984, 1st place , EM in Jönköping , GR, Hs, with victories over Uwe Sachs, Durčak, Jean-Francois Court, Belgium , Toni Hannula , Finland, Matei and Kanygin;
• 1985, 3rd place , World Championships in Kolbotn / Norway, GR, Hs, behind Michael Houck , USA and Kanygin and in front of Matei, Bogdan Merkiel, Poland and Andersson;
• 1985, 1st place, World Super Championship (unofficial), in Tokyo , GR, Hs, ahead of Steve Fraser , USA and Toru Higashide, Japan ;
• 1986, 1st place , EM in Athens , GR, Hs, ahead of Franz Pitschmann , Austria , Matei, Chawas Mulajew, USSR, Giorgios Pikilidis , Greece and Lajos Szegvári, Hungary;
• 1986, 2nd place , World Championships in Budapest, GR, Hs, behind Andrzej Malina , Poland and in front of Durčak, Yasutoshi Moriyama, Japan, Szegvári and Ban;
• 1987, 2nd place , EM in Tampere , GR, Hs, behind Vladimir Popow , USSR a. before Harri Koskela , Finland, Olaf Koschnitzke , GDR, Court and Matei;
• 1987, 3rd place , World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand , GR, Hs, behind Popow, Sándor Major , Hungary and in front of Koskela, Matei and Moriyama;
• 1987, 2nd place , FILA-Grand-Prix in Budapest , GR, Hs, behind Popow and in front of Guillermo Cruz, Cuba;
• 1988, 4th place , FILA-Grand-Prix in Budapest, GR, Hs, behind Péter Farkas and Sándor Major, both Hungary and Popow;
• 1988, gold medal , OS in Seoul , GR, Hs, ahead of Koskela, Popow, Christer Gulldén , Sweden, Andreas Steinbach , FRG, Pitschmann and Koschnitzke;
• 1989, 10th place , World Cup in Martigny / Switzerland , GR, Hs, winner: Maik Bullmann , GDR ahead of Mike Foy , USA and Roger Gries , FRG;
• 1991, 4th place , World Championships in Rome , GR, S, behind Héctor Milián , Cuba , Jörgen Olsson , Sweden and Sjarhej Dzjamjaschkewitsch , USSR and in front of Major and Miloš Govedarica, Yugoslavia;
• 1992, 4th place , EM in Copenhagen , GR, S, behind Andrzej Wroński , Poland, Ibragim Tschawtschalow, GUS and Steinbach and in front of Ion Ieremciuc , Romania and Helger Hallik, Estonia ;
• 1992, 11th place , Olympic Games in Barcelona , GR, S, winner: Milian ahead of Dennis Koslowski , USA, Dzjamjaschkewitsch, Wroński and Steinbach

Bulgarian championships

Atanas Komchev won ten times the Bulgarian championship in light heavy or heavyweight.

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

• Profile of Atanas Komchev at the Institute for Applied Training Science

Individual proof

1. ↑ Brief information in the Berliner Zeitung