Ercole Gallegati

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Ercole Gallegati (born November 21, 1911 in Faenza , † August 19, 1990 ) was an Italian wrestler . He won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman style at the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1948 .

Career

Ercole Gallegati grew up in Faenza , an Italian wrestling stronghold, and began wrestling there as a teenager. He belonged to the sports club Sportiva Faenza , which was later renamed CA (Club Athletika) Faenza .

In 1931 he was the first Italian champion in the Greco-Roman style welterweight. In his subsequent wrestling career at international championships he concentrated almost exclusively on the Greco-Roman style, but often wrestled in free style at national events. In 1931 Ercole Gallegati took part for the first time in an international wrestling championship, the European championship in Prague . At that time European championships were practically the same as world championships because, at least in the Greco-Roman style, the world elite consisted exclusively of European wrestlers. In Prague he finished in welterweight with two wins and two defeats a good 5th place.

In 1932 he was sent by the Italian Wrestling Federation to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles . The number of participants in the wrestling competitions were very small at these games because many European countries simply could not afford to send wrestlers to Los Angeles. For this reason, Ercole Gallegati was enough a victory over the Japanese Shuichi Yoshida to win the bronze medal in the welterweight division. He lost to Osvald Käpp from Estonia and Väinö Kajander from Finland . In this context, it is interesting to know that both Käpp and Kajander had emigrated to the United States a few years before the Los Angeles Games and were used by their former home states at the Olympic Games to cover the costs of the crossing from in Estonia and Finland resident athletes to save. A victim of this procedure was z. B. the Finn Mikko Nordling , European champion from 1931, 1933 a. 1934 who had to stay at home.

At the European Championships in Helsinki in 1933 Ercole Gallegati came in welterweight after defeats to Sándor Finyak from Hungary and Mikko Nordling in 6th place. But he managed to win a medal at the European Championships in Rome in 1934 , where he finished third with three wins and one defeat against Mikko Nordling.

At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , he started, meanwhile moved up to the middleweight division, in both styles. In Greco-Roman Style he managed a remarkable victory over the Olympic champion of 1928 and 1932 Väinö Kokkinen from Finland. But he lost against the German master Ludwig Schweickert and took 6th place in this style. He also fought very well in free style and defeated the Swedish master Ludvig Lindblom and the German master Hans Schedler from Halle . But against the Turk Ahmet Kireççi it was the end of the line. He came in 7th place in the free style.

Until the outbreak of the Second World War, Ercole Gallegati still participated in the European Championships in 1937 in Paris , 1938 in Tallinn and 1939 in Oslo , each in Greco-Roman. Middleweight style. In Paris and Oslo he finished 4th, beaten by Ivar Johansson from Sweden and Voldemar Roolan from Estonia . At the European Championships in 1938 he lost to Arvi Pikkusaari from Finland and Ivar Johansson and reached 8th place.

In 1947 he was back in Prague at the European Middleweight Championship in Greco-Roman style. He won two fights in Prague, but had to give up injured after a lost fight against Muhlis Tayfur from Turkey and thus came in the ungrateful 4th place.

At the Olympic Games in London in 1948, Ercole Gallegati won again with three wins and one defeat 16 years after winning his first Olympic medal, the bronze one. Although he was now almost 40 years old, he also started at the World Championships in Stockholm in 1950 , the first World Championships after a long break since 1922. But he lost both of his fights there and reached 8th place.

In 1952 Ercole Gallegati took part in his fourth Olympic Games in Helsinki. After a victory over the Belgian Emile Curtois, he lost against Gustav Gocke from Germany and Axel Grönberg from Sweden, who was Olympic champion, dropped out and reached 6th place.

During his career, Ercole Gallegati represented the Italian colors at 41 international events (championships and international matches).

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, We = welterweight, Mi = middleweight, back then up to 72 kg or 29 kg body weight)

Italian championships

Ercole Gallegati won a total of 30 Italian championship titles, 19 in Greco-Roman. Style and 11 in free style.

literature

  • Trade magazines "Athletics" from 1931 to 1936 and 1948 to 1952, as well as "Kraftsport" from 1937 to 1939,
  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976,

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gallegati, Ercole
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Faenza
DATE OF DEATH 19th August 1990