Elie Naasan

Elie (Elias) Naasan (born June 1, 1931 in İskenderun , Turkey ) is a former Lebanese wrestler . He won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman style featherweight at the 1953 World Championships .

Career

Elie Naasan was born in Turkey , but grew up in Beirut and started wrestling there as a teenager. In the 1950s he was part of a strong Lebanese wrestling team, which caused quite a stir at the Olympic Games and World Championships due to its successes.

He made his first start in an international championship at the 1951 Mediterranean Games in Alexandria . There he had to start in featherweight style but in free style because the Lebanese team Safi Taha was called up in the Greco-Roman style . In this style, which was actually alien to him, he took 3rd place behind Bayram Şit from Turkey and the Egyptian Essawy. In all other competitions Elie Naasan only started in the Greco-Roman style.

He was not used at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 . He was at the start of the 1953 World Cup in Naples and surprised all wrestling experts. He defeated there in the featherweight in Greco-Roman style Petter Nordlund from Finland , Guido Copat from Switzerland and the two medalists from the 1952 Olympic Games Imre Polyák from Hungary and Jakob Punkin from the Soviet Union . In the fight for the medals he lost to Umberto Trippa from Italy and Olle Anderberg from Sweden , but won a bronze medal .

In 1955, Elie Naasan finished third at the Mediterranean Games in Barcelona behind Rıza Doğan from Turkey and Umberto Trippa . Lebanon did not take part in the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe , the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and the 1958 World Championships in Budapest , so he could not start there.

In 1959, however, he succeeded again. He won the Mediterranean Games in Beirut in featherweight before Moustapha from Egypt and Niyazi from Turkey . In 1960 he was able to realize his dream and take part in the Olympic Games. In Rome he started in featherweight, but at 29 years old no longer had the shape of earlier years. After all, he came to a point win over Joseph Schmid from Switzerland in Rome and a draw against Vojtech Toth from the CSSR . He lost against Mihai Sult from Romania and came 11th in the final score.

After the Olympic Games in 1960, he did not take part in any other international championships.

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class
1951	3.	Mediterranean Games in Alexandria	F.	feather	behind Bayram Şit , Turkey u. Essawy, Egypt
1953	3.	World Cup in Naples	GR	feather	with victories over Petter Nordlund, Finland , Guido Copat, Switzerland , Imre Polyák , Hungary a . Jakob Punkin , USSR a . Defeats against Umberto Trippa , Italy a . Olle Anderberg , Sweden
1955	3.	Mediterranean Games in Barcelona	GR	feather	behind Rıza Doğan , Turkey u. Umberto Trippa
1956	6th	World Cup in Istanbul	GR	feather	with victories over Anton König , Saarland a . Spas Penew, Bulgaria a . a loss to Vladimir Stashkevich , USSR
1959	1.	Mediterranean Games in Beirut	GR	feather	before M. Moustapha, Egypt a. Niyazi, Turkey
1960	11.	OS in Rome	GR	feather	with a win over Joseph Schmid, Switzerland , a draw against Vojtech Toth, Czechoslovakia and the like. a loss to Mihai Sult, Romania

swell

• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Trade journal athletics ,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976

Web links

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