Gosta Andersson

Gösta Andersson (born February 15, 1917 in Selånger , † September 12, 1975 in Sundsvall ) was a Swedish wrestler . He was Olympic champion in London in 1948 .

Career

Gosta Andersson began as a teenager at Skene BK with the rings . After his first major successes, he moved to the Sundsvall AIK sports club . He developed into an excellent wrestler in the Greco-Roman style and achieved very good placements at the Swedish championships from 1937, although he did not win his first Swedish championship title until 1945. He made his debut at international championships at the European Championships in Tallinn in 1938 in the Greco-Roman style in the lightweight, where he was defeated by the German Heinrich Nettesheim after three wins and came in 3rd place. In 1939 Gösta won the European lightweight title somewhat surprisingly in Oslo . Although he lost to the Turkish Yaşar Doğu , but won over the Finnish Olympic champion from 1936 Lauri Koskela .

Then the Second World War interrupted Gösta's international career for eight years, because it was not until 1947 that European championships in the Greco-Roman style were held again. He started in 1947 in Prague in the welterweight division and was defeated, as eight years ago, against Yaşar Doğu and became vice European champion.

At the Olympic Games in London in 1948 , Gösta then achieved a great triumph. He won five times and won the gold medal in a superior style. His toughest opponent was the Hungarian Miklós Szilvási , whom Gösta scored.

In 1950, for the first time since 1922, World Championships in Greco-Roman style took place. Gösta was there in Stockholm and won a bronze medal after a surprising defeat against the internationally unknown Finn Matti Siimanainen , who seized the opportunity and became world champion.

Gösta Andersson ended his great career with a silver medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki . After four victories, this time he lost to the Hungarian Miklós Szilvássy, who became Olympic champion, in the final.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = lightweight, We = welterweight, then up to 67 kg or 73 kg body weight)

• 1938, 3rd place , EM in Tallinn , GR, Le, with victories over Ahmet Yener, Turkey , Abraham Kurland , Denmark and Erik Kalnins, Latvia and one defeat against Heinrich Nettesheim , Germany ;
• 1939, 1st place , EM in Oslo , GR. Le, with victories over Jean Vaissier, France and Lauri Koskela , Finland and despite a loss to Yaşar Doğu , Turkey;
• 1947, 2nd place , EM in Prague , GR, We, with victories over Mahmoud Osman, Egypt , Nikolai Kozarski, Soviet Union and Karel Zvonař, Czechoslovakia and one defeat against Yaşar Doğu;
• 1948, gold medal , OS in London , GR, We, with victories over René Chesneau , France, Johan Schouten , Netherlands , Luigi Rigamonti , Italy , Henrik Hansen , Denmark and Miklós Szilvási , Hungary ;
• 1950, 3rd place , World Championship in Stockholm , GR, We, with victories over Björn Cook, Norway , Abdel Moustafa, Egypt, René Chesneau, Miklós Szilvási and one defeat against Matti Siimanainen , Finland;
• 1952, silver medal , OS in Helsinki , GR, We, with victories over Semen Maruschkin, Soviet Union, Haakon Olsen, Denmark, Anton Mackowiak , Germany and Khalil Taha, Lebanon and one defeat against Miklós Szilvási

Swedish championships

Gösta Andersson won the Swedish championship in the Greco-Roman style in 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950, each in the welterweight division.

swell

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976
• various issues of the specialist magazine “Kraftsport” from 1938 to 1939 and the specialist magazine “Athletik” from 1948 to 1952
• Statistics from the Swedish Wrestling Federation about the Swedish championships

Web links

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