Christer Gullden

Lars Christer Gulldén (born August 13, 1960 in Gothenburg ) is a former Swedish wrestler .

Career

Christer Gulldén grew up in the Örgryte district of Gothenburg and started wrestling there at the age of 8. The highly talented Gulldén was introduced to the Swedish top class by his trainer Leo Myllari at the sports club Örgryte Idrottssällskap (IS). At the age of 18 he started at the European Junior Championships in Oulu and took a good 5th place in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight division. In the next few years he did even better at the international junior championships, because in 1979 he was runner-up in Haparanda and in his last junior year in 1980 he was European light heavyweight champion in Bursa, Turkey .

The way to the top of the world was difficult for Gulldén because the several years older multiple world and European champion Frank Andersson was in his weight class in Sweden , against whom Gulldén usually had no chance. He therefore had to switch to the heavyweight division, where he always had a weight disadvantage of around five to eight kilograms. Also at his first start at an international championship, the European championship in Prievidza , Gulldén started in the heavyweight division, but could not compensate for his weight disadvantages and was eliminated after two defeats. At the European Championships in Gothenburg in 1981, he started again in the heavyweight division and won the bronze medal. In the fight for this medal he defeated Vasile Andrei from Romania .

In 1981 Gulldén even managed a victory over Andersson at the light heavyweight tournament in Klippan , but Andersson was still used at the world and European light heavyweight championships. Since Gulldén saw no prospects for himself in the heavyweight division, he decided not to start any more. After Frank Andersson had resigned in the meantime, Gulldén dared a comeback on the international wrestling mat in 1987. But he had to recognize that the development had meanwhile progressed further. After all, he finished 4th at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul in the light heavyweight division.

He then ended his international wrestling career and was coach in Örgryte. He was very successful in this area and led, among others, Mikael Ljungberg to Olympic victory. Christer Gulldén is now a businessman in the advertising industry.

successes

Christer Gulldén was the Swedish Greco-Roman style light heavyweight champion in 1979, 1980, 1988 and 1990 as well as 1986, 1987 and 1994 in the heavyweight division. He was also four times Swedish champion in free style.

For international competitions

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Hs = light heavyweight, S = heavyweight, at that time up to 90 or 100 kilograms of body weight)

• 1978, 5th place , Junior European Championship in Oulu , GR, Hs, behind Sergej Golubowitsch , USSR , Krassimir Krumow, Bulgaria , Uwe Sachs , FRG and Hannu Kinnunen, Finland ;
• 1979, 2nd place , Junior World Championships in Haparanda , GR, Hs, behind Valeri Idanow, USSR and in front of Grzegorz Wilczewski, Poland, Atanas Komtschew , Bulgaria and Uwe Sachs;
• 1980, 1st place , European Junior Championships in Bursa , GR, Hs, ahead of Nikolai Sibitnew, USSR, Lajos Herzceg, Hungary, Zbigniew Lobeyko, Poland, Ilie Matei , Romania and Josef Tertelj , Yugoslavia ;
• 1980, 3rd place , championship of the European Union, GR, Hs, behind Jarmo Övermark, Finland and Pal Berger, Norway and in front of Uwe Sachs and Roger Mannhard, France ;
• 1980, 9th place , EM in Prievidza , GR, S, after defeats against Oldřich Dvořák , Czechoslovakia and Georgi Rajkow , Bulgaria;
• 1980, 1st place , World Cup tournament in Trelleborg , GR, Hs, ahead of Golubowitsch, Mark Johnsson, USA and Tamio Imamura, Japan ;
• 1981, 1st place , “Klippan” tournament, GR, Hs, in front of Valeri Dolgich, USSR, Georgi Rajkow and Frank Andersson , Sweden;
• 1981, 3rd place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg , GR, Hs, behind Igor Kanygin , USSR and Alexander Dubrowski, USSR and in front of Frank Andersson and Franz Pitschmann , Austria ;
• 1981, 3rd place , EM in Göteborg , GR, S, with victories over Georgios Pikilidis, Greece , Roman Wrocławski , Poland and Vasile Andrei , Romania and one defeat against Andrei Dimitrov, Bulgaria;
• 1981, 7th place , World Championships in Oslo , GR, S, after defeats against Roman Wrocławski and Tamás Gáspár , Hungary ;
• 1987, 10th place , World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand , GR, Hs; Winner: Vladimir Popov , USSR ahead of Sándor Major , Hungary and Atanas Komtschew;
• 1988, 4th place , OS in Seoul , GR, Hs, behind Atanas Komtschew, Harri Koskela , Finland and Wladimir Popow and in front of Andreas Steinbach , FRG and Pitschmann

Web links

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