Bernd Drechsel

Bernd Drechsel medal table
Wrestler
GDR
European Championship
bronze	1975 Ludwigshafen am Rhein	Bantam

Bernd Drechsel (born October 28, 1953 in Karl-Marx-Stadt ; † January 21, 2017 ) was a German wrestler . He was third in the European Championship in 1975 in Greco-Roman wrestling in the bantamweight .

Career

Bernd Drechsel grew up in Thalheim in Saxony and played soccer as a child . Since he was small and very light, he soon switched to wrestling , which suited him very well with its weight classification. In Thalheim, Wolfgang Bohne became his first trainer, from whom he, who wrestled exclusively in the Greco-Roman style, learned a lot. Soon Bernd was so good that he was delegated to the wrestling center at SC Motor Zella-Mehlis . At the age of 18 he was first GDR champion in light flyweight (paper weight) in 1971 and was already used in Sofia at the world championships, where he took 4th place.

In the following years he started regularly at the international championships, from 1974 in the bantamweight division. He always achieved placements among the ten best wrestlers. He celebrated his greatest success at the European Championship in 1975 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein . There he managed to win the bronze medal with four victories. Bernd was also at the Olympic Games, namely in 1972 in Munich . In paper weight he lost there after two wins against Ferenc Seres from Hungary and Gheorghe Berceanu from Romania and came in 7th place.

Bernd was not sent to the Olympic Games in 1976 and 1980. He completed his studies at the German University for Physical Culture in Leipzig and then worked as a trainer in Zella-Mehlis and Albrechts .

Bernd Drechsel was still active for a long time, even if he no longer took part in championships. After German reunification, although he was almost 40 years old, he was still slim and wiry, still wrestling for TSV Berchtesgaden in the German Bundesliga.

Bernd Drechsel was an honorary member of the Thalheim wrestling club from May 2004 .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Pa = paper weight, Fl = fly weight, Ba = bantam weight, at that time up to 48 kg, 52 kg or 57 kg body weight)

• 1971, 3rd place , "Klippan" tournament, GR, Pa, behind Gheorghe Berceanu , Romania a . Günther Maas , FRG ;

• 1971, 2nd place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Berlin , GR, Pa, behind Latak, Hungary a . before Mlejnek, Czechoslovakia ;

• 1971, 4th place , World Cup in Sofia , GR, Pa, with victories over Sotiris Ventas, Greece a . Jesús Feo, Spain a . Losses against Hizir Sari, Turkey a . Stefan Angelow , Bulgaria ;

• 1972, 1st place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Zella-Mehlis , GR, Pa, ahead of Gheorghe Stoiciu , Romania, Svensson, Sweden a . Demyanov, USSR ;

• 1972, 7th place , OS in Munich , GR, Pa, with victories over Hizir Sari u. Wayne Holmes, USA a . Defeats against Ferenc Seres , Hungary a. Gheorghe Berceanu;

• 1974, 7th place , EM in Madrid , GR, Ba, with a victory over Antonio Cruciata, Italy a . Defeats against János Szönyi, Hungary a. Krasimir Stefanow , Bulgaria;

• 1974, 9th place , World Championship in Katowice , GR, Ba, with victories over Josef Krysta , Czechoslovakia a . Marin Dumitru, Romania a. Defeats against Brian Gust, USA a. Hans-Jürgen Veil , FRG;

• 1975, 2nd place , tournament in Västerås , GR, Ba, behind Ivan Frgić , Yugoslavia a . before Stanislaw Barej, Poland ;

• 1975, 3rd place , EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , GR, Ba, with victories over Danny Verstraeten, Belgium , Ion Dulica, Romania, Ali Ladhkar, Morocco a . Lars Malmkvist , Sweden a. Defeats against Ivan Frgić u. Farchat Mustafin , USSR;

• 1975, 9th place , World Cup in Minsk , GR, Ba, with a victory over Hans-Jürgen Veil u. Defeats against Ivan Frgić u. Józef Lipień , Poland;

• 1976, 9th place , EM in Leningrad , GR, Ba, with a victory over Luis Manoel Grilo, Portugal a . Defeats against Mihai Boțilă , Romania a. Farchat Mustafin;

• 1977, 8th place , EM in Bursa , GR, Ba, with a victory over Jose Maria Lopez, Spain a . Defeats against Jozsef Doencsesz , Hungary a. Farchat Mustafin;

• 1978, 8th place , EM in Oslo , GR, Fl, with a victory over Thalmann, Switzerland a . Defeats against Witold Maldachowski, Poland a. Rolf Krauss , FRG;

• 1979, 7th place , EM in Bucharest , GR, Fl, after defeats against Witold Maldachowski u. Krum Borisow, Bulgaria

GDR championships

• 1971, 1st place, GR, Pa, ahead of Schäfer, SC Motor Zella-Mehlis u. Kaprol, ASK Forward Rostock
• 1972, 1st place, GR, Pa, before Kaprol u. Deffke, ASK Forward Rostock
• 1973, 1st place, GR, Fl, ahead of Heinz Schmidt , SG Dynamo Luckenwalde u. Kaprol
• 1974, 1st place, GR, Ba, ahead of Geier, SC Leipzig a . Jäckel, SC Motor Jena
• 1976, 2nd place, GR, Ba, behind Petzold, ASK forward Frankfurt a . in front of Norbert Zander, SG Dynamo Luckenwalde
• 1977, 1st place, GR, Ba, ahead of Petzold a. Kruse, ASK Forward Frankfurt
• 1978, 1st place, GR, Ba, before Finger u. Carpenter, bde. SG Dynamo Luckenwalde
• 1979, 1st place, GR, Fl, before Kruse u. Klopf, SC Motor Zella-Mehlis

swell

• Div. Issues of the specialist magazines "Athletik" from 1971 to 1975 and "The Ringer" from 1975 to 1980
• Documentation of Intern. FILA Wrestling Championships, 1976
• A hundred years of wrestling in Germany. Der Ringer publishing house, Niedernberg, 1991
• Website www.sport-komplett.de

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A big little one leaves the mat of life
2. ^ The RV Thalheim mourns Bernd Drechsel (January 22nd, 2017) - Ringerverein Thalheim e. V. - the mat foxes online. Accessed January 30, 2019 .