August Englas

August Englas (left) congratulates the Estonian wrestler Heiki Nabi

August Engla's medal table
Wrestler
Soviet Union
World Championship
gold	1953 Naples	Semi-difficult Greco
gold	1954 Tokyo	Semi-difficult freestyle
World Youth Festival
gold	1951 Berlin	Semi-difficult Greco
gold	1953 Bucharest	Semi-difficult freestyle

August Englas , Russian Аугуст Петрович Энглас / August Petrowitsch Englas , (born January 15, 1925 Hof Viksi in Pühajärve , today rural municipality Otepää , Valga district , Estonia ; † March 21, 2017 ) was an Estonian or Soviet wrestler and trainer.

Career

August Englas comes from Pühajärve in Estonia. As an eleven-year-old boy, he was so enthusiastic about Kristjan Palusalu's victories at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin that he decided to become a wrestler too. Since he already showed excellent performance in his youth, he moved to "Kalev" Tallinn and got excellent coaches in Edgar Puusepp and Boris Sülluste , who led him to the Estonian and Soviet top-class light heavyweight teams. In 1948 he became Estonian master for the first time and in 1949 Soviet master in free style. He was only able to show his skills at international championships in 1952, because the Soviet Union did not participate in such competitions until that year, with one exception in 1947. He was used by the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 in light heavyweight, free style, but lost after three victories to the experienced Olympic champion of 1948 Henry Wittenberg from the United States and the Viking Palm from Sweden and in the shape of his life finished fourth, which was disappointing for him. How much his skills were valued in the Soviet Union is shown by the fact that he was also used in the Greco-Roman style at the World Championships in Naples in 1953 . He justified this trust by winning the world title, which he also won in Tokyo in 1954 in free style. In the following years he was still several times Estonian champion, but could no longer prevail against his strong Soviet opponents. In 1959 he ended his active wrestling career.

He worked as a coach in Tallinn until he was 80 and was highly honored in Estonia. On his 75th birthday he had received a high honor from President Lennart Meri .

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class	Results
1951	1.	World Youth Festival in Berlin	GR	Semi-difficult	before Herbert Albrecht , GDR and Constantin Popescu , Romania
1952	4th	OS in Helsinki	F.	Semi-difficult	with victories over Shirang Jadav , India , Adil Atan , Turkey and Max Leichter , Germany and defeats against Henry Wittenberg , USA and Viking Palm , Sweden
1953	1.	World Youth Festival in Bucharest	F.	Semi-difficult	before József Kovács , Hungary and Estemadi, Iran
1953	1.	World Cup in Naples	GR	Semi-difficult	with victories over Kurt Rusterholz , Switzerland , Adelmo Bulgarelli , Italy and Kelpo Grondahl , Finland and despite a defeat against Karl-Erik Nilsson , Sweden
1954	1.	World Cup in Tokyo	F.	Semi-difficult	with victories over N. Itoh, Japan , Adil Atan, József Kovács, and Wiking Palm

Most important international battles

• 1951, USSR - Hungary, F, Hs, point winner over József Kovács,
• 1952, USSR - Finland, Gr, Hs, points winner over Kelpo Grondahl

Soviet championships

• 1949, 1st place, F, Hs, ahead of Wargaschak Matschkaljan, Dynamo Tiflis and Schota Dauschwili, Dynamo Tiflis
• 1950, 1st place, F, Hs, in front of Wargaschak Matschkaljan and Valentin Nikolajew, Rostov locomotive
• 1951, 1st place, GR, Hs, in front of Schalwa Tschikladse , Dynamo Tbilisi and Grigori Malinko, Dynamo Charkow
• 1951, 1st place, F, Hs, ahead of Wargaschak Matschkaljan and Bato Tedejew, Tbilisi
• 1952, 1st place, F, Hs, ahead of Boris Kulayev, Spartak Ordzhonikidze (Wladikawkas) and Otar Kandelaki, Dynamo Tbilisi
• 1953, 1st place, GR, Hs, ahead of Valentin Nikolajew and Maxim Strischak, Saratow
• 1954, 1st place, F, Hs, ahead of Boris Kulajew and B. Gorschkow, Tallinn

In addition, August Englas won the Estonian championship seven times in the free and Greco-Roman style between 1948 and 1959

Explanations

• F = free style, GR (Greco) = Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Semi-heavy, at that time weight class up to 87 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships 1896 to 1976, publisher: World Wrestling Association FILA, 1976

Web links

• August Englas in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• ETV, August Englas on his 80th birthday (Estonian)
• Elukiri: "August Englas, kuldne maadleja" (Estonian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Suri kahekordne maadluse maailmameister August Englas. In: sport.err.ee. March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017 (Estonian).