Christo Ignatow

Christo Ignatow (born December 1, 1953 ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler .

Career

Christo Ignatow started wrestling as a teenager. He wrestled in the Greco-Roman style, where his development proceeded rapidly. As early as 1972, at the age of only 19, he was used in the heavyweight division of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . Well prepared by national coach Philipp Kriwiwalchew, he showed very good fights there despite his young age. He won over Aimo Mypenpää from Finland and Tore Hem from Norway and fought against the 1970 and 1971 world champion Per Svensson from Sweden . A defeat in his fourth fight against the Soviet champion Nikolai Jakowenko threw him out of the race. But he took an honorable 4th place.

After that, Christo Ignatow was only used at the 1975 European heavyweight championship in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , although it should be remembered that Bulgaria was one of the leading wrestling nations in the world at the time and there were several world-class wrestlers in every style and weight class. In Ludwigshafen he won a victory over Heinz Schäfer from the Federal Republic of Germany . But he lost to József Farkas from Hungary and Zdenek Chara from Czechoslovakia and finished 6th.

Nothing is known about the further life of Christo Ignatow. However, it no longer appears in winners lists at international championships or tournaments.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1972	3.	"Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Zella-Mehlis	Heavy	behind Fredi Albrecht , GDR and Per Svensson , Sweden
1972	4th	OS in Munich	Heavy	with victories over Aimo Muchtenpää , Finland and Tore Hem , Norway , a draw against Per Svensson and a loss against Nikolai Jakowenko , USSR
1973	3.	Klippan tournament	Heavy	behind Nikolai Balboschin , USSR and Alfons Hecher , FRG
1973	1.	Grand Prix of the FRG in Moosburg on the Isar	Super heavy	before Galinski, Poland and Richard Wolff , FRG
1975	6th	EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein	Heavy	with a victory over Heinz Schäfer , FRG and defeats against József Farkas , Hungary and Zdenek Chara, CSSR

Note: all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, heavyweight, then up to 100 kg, super heavyweight, then over 100 kg body weight

literature

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976
• Trade magazines Athletik and Der Ringer

Web links

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