George de Relwyskow

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George William Frederick de Relwyskow (born June 18, 1887 in London , † November 9, 1943 in Burma ) was a British wrestler and Olympic champion in London in 1908 in free style in the lightweight.

Career

George de Rewylskow came from a Belarusian family who had emigrated to England and had a tradition of wrestling . George also devoted himself to this sport. He became the British Free Style Lightweight and Middleweight Champion in 1907 and 1908. This was a peculiarity, because that a wrestler could compete in championships in the same style in two weight classes, was not common.

That’s exactly what George did at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. He initially competed in the free style in lightweight and won the gold medal in this weight class with three shoulder wins and one point victory . Then he also started in the middleweight division, again in free style and won the silver medal after losing points in the final against his compatriot Stanley Bacon . A novelty that is unlikely to happen again in the history of Olympic wrestling.

Further results of wrestling events in which George de Relwyskow participated are not known. He devoted himself to this sport at least until the beginning of the First World War. During the First World War he was an instructor in the British Army and in 1918 in Aldershot he became a specialist in training in wrestling and in general physical training in the British Army.

From 1918 to 1939 he continued to work as a wrestler, wrestling trainer and organizer of professional wrestling competitions. In 1924 he was the head coach of the British Olympic wrestling team at the Olympic Games in Paris . In those years he also published two specialist books with the titles: "The Simple Way To Health" and "The Art of Wrestling".

In 1939 he rejoined the army and was chief instructor of the Special Operations Executive as a sergeant major . He taught special hand-to-hand combat up to and including silent killing. In 1941 he was an instructor in the same capacity at an SOE school in Canada . But since he wanted to go back to the front himself, he volunteered to join a special unit in Burma in 1942 and fell there on November 9, 1943 in a combat mission.

International success

  • 1908, gold medal , Olympic Games in London , free style, lightweight (up to 66.6 kg body weight), with victories over W. Henson, W. Shepherd, Albert Gingell and others. William Wood, all UK ;
  • 1908, silver medal , Olympic Games in London, free style, middleweight (up to 73 kg body weight), with victories over Harry Challstorp, Sweden , Edgar Bacon, Great Britain, Carl Andersson, Sweden and one defeat against Stanley Bacon , Great Britain

swell

  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,
  • Website of the English wrestling association with statistics about the British championships,
  • "CQB Services" website

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Relwyskow, George de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Relwyskow, George William Frederick de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1943
Place of death Burma