Oskar Friman

Oskar Friman

Oskar David "Oskari" Friman (born January 27, 1893 in Vahviala , East Karelia , † October 19, 1933 in Voikkaa ) was a Finnish wrestler . He won gold medals in the lightweight categories at the Olympic Games in 1920 and 1924 and at the 1921 World Championships. At the national level he collected eleven Finnish titles, 1915-1924 and 1928.

Friman began wrestling in 1908 and, along with his clubmate Emil Väre, became one of Finland's finest lightweight wrestlers in 1915 . Because of the First World War, he did not begin to wrestle internationally until the Olympic Games in 1920, where he went down to featherweight in order not to meet Vare. Vare retired soon after, and Friman returned to lightweight. During these years he worked as a butcher and plumber, but later, when he became famous and retired from competitions, he was hired as the head coach of the Finnish and Swedish national wrestling teams.

successes

• 1920, gold medal , OS in Antwerp , GR, up to 62 kg, ahead of Heikki Kähkönen , Finland and Frithjof Svensson , Sweden
• 1921, 1st place , World Championships in Helsinki , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Rafael Rone , Latvia and Juho Ikävalko , Finland
• 1924, gold medal , OS in Paris , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Lajos Keresztes , Hungary and Kalle Westerlund , Finland

Finnish championships

With ten Finnish championship titles, Oskar Friman is one of the most successful Finnish wrestlers.

• 1915, 1st place
• 1916, 1st place , GR, up to 60 kg, ahead of Kalle Anttila and Adolf Salonen
• 1917, 1st place , GR, up to 60 kg, ahead of A. Pirskanen and Kalle Anttila
• 1918, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Volmar Wikström and Juti Ikävalko
• 1919, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Evert Mäntynen
• 1920, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Edvard Vesterlund and Kalle Westerlund
• 1921, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Eetu Huupponen
• 1922, 1st place , GR, up to 75 kg, ahead of Masa Perttilä and Vilho Pekkala
• 1923, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Aleksanteri Toivola
• 1924, 1st place , GR, up to 75 kg, ahead of Emil Juvonen and Vilho Pekkala
• 1925, 2nd place , GR, up to 75 kg, behind Herman Nykänen
• 1928, 1st place , GR, up to 67.5 kg, ahead of Kalle Anttila and Elias Toivola

Web links

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