Günter Kowalewski

Günter Kowalewski (born October 31, 1943 in Dortmund-Marten ) is a former German wrestler .

Career

Günter Kowalewski began wrestling as a teenager at KSV Jahn Marten 05 in Dortmund. He later moved to Sportunion Annen . He wrestled in both styles, the Greco-Roman style and the free style, but focused on the Greco-Roman style in his international assignments. As an adult, he was 1.86 meters tall and was a strong light heavyweight, but occasionally he was also heavyweight on the mat. In the further course of his career he joined KSV Witten 07 . With this club he became German team champion in 1974.

In 1961 Günter Kowalewski became German champion in the A-youth free style in the weight class up to 79 kg body weight. 1964 followed a third place at the German junior championship in the free style of middleweight.

He achieved his first success at German championships in 1966 when he was German champion in Greco-Roman style in the middleweight division ahead of Werner Hoppe from Köllerbach . In 1967 he repeated this title win in the same style and weight. He again referred Werner Hoppe to 2nd place. In 1967 he took third place behind Ernst Knoll from Ziegelhausen and Heinz Sperling from Essen .

Günter Kowalewski recorded his next title win at the German championship in 1970. Here he won in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight division in front of Ernst Knoll and Lorenz Hecher from Hallbergmoos . In 1971 and 1972 he came in the Greco-Roman style in light heavyweight behind Ernst Knoll and Fred Theobald from ASV Köllerbach on the 2nd place.

In 1973 Günter Kowalewski became German heavyweight champion in free style in front of Kaspar Eham from Bad Reichenhall and in Greco-Roman style in light heavyweight in front of Reinhard Drott from ASV Mainz 1888 . In 1974 he was the last German champion. He won the heavyweight division in Greco-Roman style in front of Pedro Pawlidis from Aalen and Albert Niederberger from Bad Reichenhall.

In total, Günter Kowalewski won six German championship titles in individual competitions in the senior division. In addition, there is the German championship title for the teams and the German championship title for the A-youth.

Günter Kowalewski's international career was not so successful. In 1967 he was used at the European Middleweight Championships in Minsk , Greco-Roman style. But he lost there against the world class wrestler Wenko Zinzarow from Bulgaria and Gheorghe Popovici from Romania . It was similar for him at the 1967 World Cup in Bucharest . In the same style and in the same weight class, he lost to the 1960 Olympic champion Branislav Simić from Yugoslavia and Sven Allan Olsson from Sweden .

He was also unsuccessful at the 1970 European Championships in Berlin . He lost there against the 1967 world champion László Sillai from Hungary and against Stojan Ivanov from Bulgaria. He landed a victory at the World Cup in Sofia in 1971 , when he was the light heavyweight winner over Ksroni from Lebanon . He fought against Josef Müller from the ČSSR in a draw, but against the Olympic champion of 1968 Lothar Metz from the GDR and against Josip Čorak from Yugoslavia he suffered defeats.

At the 1972 European Championships in Katowice , he wrestled in the light heavyweight division against Suleyman Akbayiz from Turkey and against Jan Sebetovsky from the ČSSR. Both fights ended 4-4, i. This means that in both fights the wrestlers were disqualified for "passivity". Finally, Günter Kowalewski was also used at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. He wrestled there in the light heavyweight, Greco-Roman style. In his first fight he won there over Wayne Baugham from the United States and then lost his next two fights against Hakon Överby from Norway and Valeri Resanzew from the USSR , who later became Olympic champion. He finished 8th in the final accounts in Munich and thus achieved the best placement of his career at an international championship.

After the Olympic Games in Munich, Günter Kowalewski ended his international wrestling career. But he still wrestled for a few years for his club, KSV Witten 07. Professionally, Günter Kowalewski ran an inn in Annen.

International competitions

year	space	competition	style	Weight class
1967	14th	EM in Minsk	GR	medium	after defeats against Wenko Zinzarow , Bulgaria a . Gheorghe Popovici , Romania
1967	13.	World Cup in Bucharest	GR	medium	after defeats against Branislav Simić , Yugoslavia a . Sven Allan Olsson, Sweden
1970	1.	Intern. Tournament in Savona	GR	Semi-difficult	before Andersson, Sweden a. Kralik, Austria
1970	15th	EM in Berlin (East)	GR	Semi-difficult	after defeats against László Sillai , Hungary a . Stoyan Ivanov, Bulgaria
1971	11.	World Cup in Sofia	GR	Semi-difficult	after a victory over Ksroni, Lebanon , a draw against Josef Müller, ČSSR u. Defeats against Lothar Metz , GDR a . Josip Čorak , Yugoslavia
1972	3.	Pre-Olympic tournament in Munich	GR	Semi-difficult	behind Czesław Kwieciński , Poland and Ernst Knoll , FRG
1972	14th	EM in Katowice	GR	Semi-difficult	after defeats against Süleyman Akbayiz, Turkey a . Jan Sebetovsky, CSSR (both wrestlers were disqualified in both fights)
1972	8th.	OS in Munich	GR	Semi-difficult	after defeating Wayne Baugham , USA a. Losses against Hakon Överby , Norway a . Valery Resanzew , USSR

German championships

year	space	Age group	style	Weight class	Result
1961	1.	Youth A	F.	up to 79 kg	before Fritz Finkbeiner, Haslach u. Werner Bittner, Kelheim
1964	3.	Juniors	F.	medium	behind Dieter Umbach , Untertürkheim u. Emil Schmidt, Oppau
1966	1.	Seniors	GR	medium	before Werner Hoppe , Köllerbach a . Klaus Hasenstab, Gailbach
1967	3.	Seniors	F.	medium	behind Ernst Knoll , Ziegelhausen u. Heinz Sperling , Essen
1967	1.	Seniors	GR	medium	before Werner Hoppe u. Norbert Brehm, Waldaschaff
1970	1.	Seniors	GR	Semi-difficult	before Ernst Knoll u. Lorenz Hecher , Hallbergmoos
1971	3.	Seniors	GR	Semi-difficult	behind Ernst Knoll u. Fred Theobald , Köllerbach
1972	3.	Seniors	GR	Semi-difficult	behind Ernst Knoll u. Fred Theobald
1973	1.	Seniors	F.	Heavy	in front of Kaspar Eham, AC Bad Reichenhall u. Roland Bock, Wersau
1973	1.	Seniors	GR	Semi-difficult	before Reinhard Drott, Mainz a . Kaspar Eham
1974	1.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	before Pedro Pawlidis , Aalen a . Albert Niederberger , AC Bad Reichenhall

Note: OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = free style, GR = Greco-Roman style, middleweight, until 1968 up to 87 kg, light heavyweight from 1969 to 1996 up to 90 kg, heavyweight, from 1969 to 1996 up to 100 kg body weight

swell

• Yearbook of the German Wrestling Association from 1972. Athletik-Verlag, Karlsruhe 1972.
• A hundred years of wrestling in Germany. Published by the German Wrestling Association, Der Ringer publishing house , Niedernberg 1991.
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976.
• KSV Witten 07 website