Charles Pacôme

Charles Bénoni Louis Pacôme (born November 5, 1903 in Bergues , † October 1, 1978 in Wasquehal ) was a French wrestler . He became a lightweight free style Olympic champion in Los Angeles in 1932

Career

Charles Benoni Louis Pacôme was the son of Bénoni Pacôme, who was a successful wrestler. Charles Pacôme grew up near Roubaix and worked as a teenager wrestling, boxing and weightlifting. However, he soon concentrated on wrestling and joined the CLSRR Roubaix sports club . He wrestled mainly in the free style, in which he also achieved his greatest successes. He was a very strong athlete who weighed around 70 kg with a height of 1.63 meters.

In addition to sports, he was a very versatile personality. He graduated from law school and then worked as a lawyer. He also studied violin at the Lille Conservatory and won several prizes on this instrument.

His first notable success as a wrestler was winning the title of the North Region in free style in 1922 in the lightweight. Between 1924 and 1932 he also won several French championship titles. On the international wrestling mat, Charles Pacôme only appeared three times, but very successfully. In 1928 he won at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in free style at lightweight after three wins and a defeat against Osvald Käpp the Estonian silver medal . In 1931 he finished 3rd at the European Championships in Budapest in free style in welterweight and in 1932 in Los Angeles in free style in lightweight Olympic champion. On the way to this success he defeated Osvald Käpp, Eitaro Suzuki from Japan, Gustaf Klarén from Sweden and Károly Kárpáti from Hungary.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1928	silver	OS in Amsterdam	Light	after a defeat against Osvald Käpp , Estonia and victories over Tesdorf Jörgensen, Denmark, Eino Augusti Leino , Finland and Birger Nilsen , Norway
1931	3.	EM in Budapest	Welter	after victories over Hyacinthe Rosen , Belgium and Giusto Fidel, Italy and a defeat against Jean Földeák , Germany
1932	gold	OS in Los Angeles	Light	after victories over Osvald Käpp, Eitaro Suzuki, Japan, Károly Kárpáti , Hungary and Gustaf Klarén , Sweden

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship
• Lightweight at that time up to 66 kg, welter weight up to 72 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships 1896 to 1976, 1976

Web links

• Profile of Charles Pacôme at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science
• Charles Pacôme in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait in French with some photos by Charles Pacôme