Béla Varga

Béla Varga [ ˈbeːlɒ ˈvɒrɡɒ ] (born July 2, 1889 in Kiskunfélegyháza , † April 3, 1969 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian wrestler .

Career

Béla Varga was an outstanding Hungarian wrestler from just before and just after the First World War . He belonged to the Budapest clubs Atléta Kör (BAK) and Magyar Atletikai Club (MAC) . Varga began wrestling in 1907 and started in the Greco-Roman style customary at the time.

His international career began as early as 1910 when he started in the heavyweight division at the World Championships in Vienna and immediately won the title. This world championship was held in only two weight classes, up to 75 kg body weight and over 75 kg body weight and, like most other international championships of those years, had an unofficial character. Only wrestlers from Austria and Hungary started .

In 1912, a European championship was held in Budapest . Varga started it in the light heavyweight (up to 82.5 kg body weight) and won the title again. In the final battle he defeated Karl Paulini from Breslau . In the same year he also represented Hungary at the Olympic Games in Stockholm . He ranked excellent there and won the bronze medal out of 29 participants. He had to admit defeat against Anders Ahlgren from Sweden and Ivar Böhling from Finland . In 1913 he again won the title of European light heavyweight champion in Budapest. His toughest opponent was the Dane Harald Christensen , whom he was able to defeat.

After the First World War, Varga was also involved in three other international championships, including the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris . But he couldn't win any more medals. In the meantime a new generation of wrestlers had grown up, against whom Varga no longer had a chance. Carl Westergren and Rudolf Svensson from Sweden, Edil Rosenqvist and Onni Pellinen from Finland and Robert Rupp from Germany were the protagonists of this generation.

The results of the international championships in which Béla Varga participated can be seen in the following section.

International championships

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Hs = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight, at that time usually up to 82.5 kg or over 82.5 kg body weight)

• 1910, 1st place , World Championships in Vienna , GR, S (+ 75 kg body weight), ahead of Josef Rossum, Austria , Ludwig Kossuth, Austria, Karl Schönbauer, Austria and Ernő Schwarz, Hungary ;
• 1912, 1st place , EM in Budapest , GR, Hs, ahead of Karl Paulini , Germany , Sándor Újlaki, Hungary, Fejér, Hungary and Guczul, Hungary;
• 1912, bronze medal , OS in Stockholm , Gr, Hs, behind Anders Ahlgren , Sweden and Ivar Böhling , Finland and in front of Fritz Lange, Germany and Harald Christensen , Denmark ;
• 1913, 1st place , EM in Budapest, GR, Hs, ahead of Harald Christensen, József Maróthy, Hungary, František Kopřiva, Bohemia and Unno Pelander, Finland;
• 1922, 6th place , World Championship in Stockholm, GR, S, behind Edil Rosenqvist , Finland, Rudolf Svensson , Sweden, Svend Nielsen, Denmark, Gustaf Lindquist, Sweden and Arthur Kukk, Estonia ;
• 1924, 5th place , OS in Paris , GR, Hs, behind Carl Westergren , Sweden, Svensson, Onni Pellinen , Finland and Emil Wecksten, Finland;
• 1925, 7th place , EM in Milan , GR, Hs, behind Carl Westergren, Robert Rupp , Germany, László Papp , Hungary, Aldo Cattai, Italy, Hans Pöhlmann, Germany and Renato Campagnoli, Italy

Hungarian championships

Béla Varga was Hungarian light heavyweight champion in 1921, 1923 and 1924.

swell

• DOCUMENTATION of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976
• International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig

Web links

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