Fritz Stöckli

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Fritz Karl Stöckli (* 15. May 1916 , † 1968 in Zurich ) was a Swiss wrestler , Schwinger and bobsledder . He won a silver medal in freestyle wrestling light heavyweight at the 1948 London Olympics . In 1953 he became world champion in the two-man bobsleigh with Felix Endrich in Garmisch-Partenkirchen .

Success in wrestling

Fritz Stöckli began as a teenager with freestyle wrestling and the Swiss national sport wrestling. The first result known from this time is a 5th place in an international wrestling tournament in free style middleweight in Strasbourg in 1934, which was won by Jean Jourlin from France . He could not qualify for participation as a freestyle wrestler at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . In 1938 he was Swiss champion in freestyle wrestling light heavyweight before A. Eggenberger from Bern. He started there for a Lausanne sports club.

In 1939, Fritz Stöckli was on the Swiss relay team, which played an international match against Germany in Mannheim . He lost it in the light heavyweight division against Karl Ehret from Ludwigshafen on points.

On the international level, he was only able to show his skills from 1946 on, as there were no international championships in freestyle wrestling from 1938 to 1945 due to the tense pre-war period and the Second World War. In 1946 he took part in the European Light Heavyweight Championships in Stockholm . There he defeated Muharrem Candaş from Turkey , Hubert Prokop from Czechoslovakia and Gyula Bobis from Hungary . It was only in the final that he lost to Bengt Fahlkvist from Sweden by just a few points, making him runner-up in Europe. In 1948 he also received Olympic honors at the Olympic Games in London . In the freestyle tournament he defeated Robert Landesmann from France, Charles Istaz from Belgium , Muharrem Candaş, Fernand Payelle from Canada and Bengt Fahlkvist in the light heavyweight division . In the final he had to admit defeat to the American Henry Wittenberg and won the silver medal .

Success in swinging

As a wrestler, Fritz Stöckli, now based in Zurich, had some successes, especially in the 1940s. In 1942 he won the Herbstschwingertag in Siebnen and the Federal National Gymnastics Day in Olten , 1943 at the Berchtoldsschwinget in Zurich, 1944 at the Zurich Cantonal Wrestling Festival in Winterthur , 1945 at the Swiss National Gymnastics Day in Solothurn and again in 1947 at the Zurich Cantonal Wrestling Festival in Oerlikon . The title of Schwinger king he could never reach or Erstgekrönten.

Success in bobsleigh

At the end of the 1940s, Fritz Stöckli came to bobsleigh , animated by Fritz Feierabend , the Swiss Olympic champion and multiple world champion in bobsleigh. Other Swiss wrestlers and wrestlers such as Gottfried Diener and Heinrich Angst also went this way. With the helmsman Heiri Angst , Fritz Stöckli became Swiss champion in the two-man bobsleigh in 1951. In 1952 he then sat in the four-man bobsleigh of the helmsman Felix Endrich , who came in 4th place as Switzerland II at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo .

1953 was Fritz Stöckli's most successful, but also the saddest year of his bobsleigh career. In Garmisch-Partenkirchen he became world champion in the two-man bobsleigh with Felix Endrich as helmsman . He then sat in Felix Endrich's four-man bobsleigh, who was thrown off the track a week after winning the two-man bobsleigh during training for the four-man world championship. Felix Endrich suffered fatal injuries. Fritz Stöckli got away with minor injuries, but ended his career as a bobsleigh driver after this tragic incident.

Life

Fritz Stöckli was a trained machine fitter and worked 12 years as a traffic policeman in Zurich. In 1954 he took over a garage there. He died of liver disease at the age of 53.

literature

  • Olle Larsson, Peter Irdén: Documentation of International Wrestling Championships 1896–1976. FILA, Lausanne 1976.
  • Professional magazines athletics and strength training .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Profile of Fritz Stöckli at the Institute for Applied Training Science .
  2. ↑ a b Fritz Stöckli in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ).
  3. ↑ The Federal National Gymnastics Days in Olten. In: Oberländer Tagblatt. September 9, 1942, p. 3.
  4. ↑ The Berchtolds Schwinget in Zurich. In: Neue Zürcher Nachrichten . January 4, 1943, 2nd sheet.
  5. ↑ Heiri fear died. In: Freiburger Nachrichten . September 13, 1989, p. 9.
  6. ↑ World Championships 1950–1959 ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Bobsleigh and Sleigh Association for Germany (BSD) e. V.
  7. ↑ Fritz Stöckli no longer active. In: Neue Zürcher Nachrichten. January 9, 1954, p. 11.
  8. ↑ Fritz Stöckli died. In: Thuner Tagblatt . December 5, 1968, p. 12 (the bronze medal winner at the 1950 World Cup mentioned here is not Fritz, but Franz Stöckli).
personal data
SURNAME Stöckli, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stöckli, Fritz Karl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss wrestlers, wrestlers and bobsledders
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1916
DATE OF DEATH 1968
Place of death Zurich