Günter Spindler

Günter Spindler (born March 19, 1949 ) is a former German wrestler . He was the bronze medalist at the 1975 European Middleweight Championship in Free Style.

Career

Günter Spindler began wrestling in Leuna , but was soon delegated to the "Chemie" Halle sports club . Under the guidance of trainer Alois Pachmann, he developed into an excellent freestyle wrestler. In 1966 he took 2nd place in the GDR youth championship in Tambach-Dietharz in the class up to 78 kg body weight. Günter only made it onto the podium twice at the GDR senior championships. In 1973 and 1974 he was runner-up in the light heavyweight division behind Horst Stottmeister from Leipzig, who was then dominant in this weight class in the GDR .

Günter was used on the international wrestling mat at various tournaments at home and abroad with very good success as early as 1971. In 1972 he even qualified for the Olympic Games in Munich . There he started in the light heavyweight division, won three fights and even defeated a favorite, Bulgarian Russi Petrow , but was surprisingly defeated by Frenchman Michel Grangier and thus lost a better position than 7th place.

The 7th place occupied Günter Spindler also at the world championship 1973 in Tehran in the middleweight division. After two victories, the strong wrestlers Ismail Abilow from Bulgaria and Vasili Sjulschin from the Soviet Union meant the departure for him. Finally, Günter managed to win a medal on his third appearance at an international championship. In 1975 he won the bronze medal at the European Middleweight Championships in Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

Günter Spindler did not make any further appearances at international championships due to the strong competition in his own country.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = free style, Wed = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, back then up to 82 kg or 90 kg body weight)

• 1971, 3rd place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Berlin , F, Wed, behind Horst Stottmeister u. Benno Paulitz , bde. GDR ;
• 1971, 1st place , tournament in Minsk , F, Wed, ahead of Jan Wypiórczyk , Poland and Wassili Sjulschin , USSR ;
• 1972, 3rd place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Zella-Mehlis , F, Hs, behind Anatoli Prokoptschuk , USSR a. Klaus Gierke , GDR a. before Peter Döring , GDR;
• 1972, 3rd place , intern. Romanian championship in Bucharest , F, Hs, behind Jordanow, Bulgaria u. Károly Bajkó , Hungary ;
• 1972, 7th place , OS in Munich , F, Hs, with victories over Kwak Kwang-Woog, South Korea , Umberto Marcheggiano, Italy and Russi Petrow , Bulgaria a. Losses against Michel Grangier , France a . Gennady Strachow , USSR;
• 1973, 3rd place , tournament in Bucharest, F, Hs, behind Horst Stottmeister u. Pavel Kurczewski , Poland;
• 1973, 7th place , World Championships in Tehran , F, Wed, with victories over Charles Kelly, Great Britain a . Taras Hryb, Canada a . Defeats against Ismail Abilow , Bulgaria a. Vasily Sjulschin;
• 1975, 3rd place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Leipzig , F, Wed, behind Vasile Iorga , Romania a . Magomed Arazilow , USSR a. before Klaus Gierke , GDR a. Adolf Seger , FRG ;
• 1975, 3rd place , tournament in Havana , F, Hs, behind Barbaro Morgan , Cuba a . Stoitchew, Bulgaria;
• 1975, 3rd place , EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , F, Wed, with victories over Arnost Böhm, Czechoslovakia , Franz Pitschmann , Austria and Jimmy Martinetti , Switzerland a . Defeats against Ismail Abilow u. Vasile Iorga

GDR championships

• 1973, 2nd place, F, Hs, behind Horst Stottmeister , SC Leipzig a . in front of Reinhard Vielitz, SG Dynamo Luckenwalde ,
• 1974, 2nd place, F, Hs, behind Herst Stottmeister u. before Reinhard Vielitz

swell

• Div. Issues of the specialist magazine " Athletik " from 1966 to 1975,
• "Hundred Years of Wrestling in Germany", Verlag "Der Ringer", Niedernberg, 1991,
• Website "www.sport-komplett.de"

Web links

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