Gheorghe Berceanu

Gheorghe Berceanu, 1972

Gheorghe Berceanu (born December 28, 1949 in Cârna , Dolj district ) is a former Romanian wrestler . He was an Olympic gold medalist in 1972 in the Greco-Roman style paper weight.

Career

Gheorghe Berceanu began his wrestling career at the age of 15 at the Electroputere Craiova sports club . He was discovered by Ilie Marinescu, who also became his first trainer. He concentrated entirely on the Greco-Roman style. Since he had started wrestling relatively late, he was not yet able to achieve any success at the international junior championships as a junior. By the age of 18, however, he had already reached the top of the national league. At a height of 1.50 meters, it was in the flyweight category until 1968 and after the introduction of paper weight in 1969 in this weight class. The paper weight had its weight limit at 48 kg body weight. Bringing this weight for every competition was often associated with great torture. Gheorghe Berceanu managed to do this at all international championships in which he participated.

Gheorghe Berceanu's international career began at the 1968 Balkan Games in Constanța , where he won the flyweight title ahead of the Yugoslav Zoltan Wachtler and Georgi Digisow from Bulgaria . In March 1969 he started at the 1969 World Cup in Mar del Plata . There he defeated Baek Seung-hyun, South Korea , Stefan Angelow , Bulgaria, Wladislaw Kustow , USSR and Rahim Aliabadi from Iran in the newly introduced paper weight class and was then the first world champion in this weight class. After this victory he was delegated by the Romanian Wrestling Federation to Steaua Bucharest . He received the rank of lieutenant there, but was still able to devote himself fully to wrestling. He was unable to take part in the 1969 European Championship in Modena because the socialist states at the time, including Romania, did not start there because the Italian organizers refused to fly the flag of the GDR .

His next start at an international championship was the 1970 European championship in Berlin (East). He also won the title there with victories over Erwin Drywa from the Federal Republic of Germany , Henrik Gál from Hungary , Todor Zankow from Bulgaria, Bernard Szczepański from Poland and Lorenzo Calafiore from Italy . In the same year he was again world champion in paper weight in Edmonton . To do this, he needed victories over Bernard Szczepański, Dale Kestel from the United States, Baek Seung-hyun from South Korea, Monami Haruya from Japan and Vladimir Subkow from the USSR.

In 1971 Gheorghe Berceanu could not take part in any international championship. Again, politics played a role, because the Turkish organizer decided to cancel the European championship planned in Istanbul when difficulties with the raising of the GDR flag emerged again. At the World Cup this year in Sofia , he could not start because of an injury.

In 1972, however, his streak of success continued. He was first again European champion in paper weight in Katowice . In the decisive battles he defeated Vladimir Subkow, Ferenc Seres from Hungary a. Stefan Angelow from Bulgaria. Gheorghe Berceanu celebrated the greatest success of his career at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . There he became an Olympic champion in paper weight in a superior style. Despite a bye, he still needed victories over Bernd Drechsel from the GDR, Lennart Svensson from Sweden , Lorenzo Calafiore, Vladimir Subkow, whom he even shouldered, Rahim Aliabadi from Iran and Ferenc Seres.

From 1973 Gheorghe Berceanu had to share the starting positions at the international championships with Constantin Alexandru , because he had grown into a serious competitor to the top position in paper weight in Romania. In 1973 he only started at the European Championships in Helsinki , where he again won the paper weight title. He won over Ferenc Seres, Raimo Hirvonen from Finland and Wladimir Nezwetajew from the Soviet Union , against Pawel Christow from Bulgaria he wrestled and could not win a fight for the first time at one of the major international championships.

In 1974 Gheorghe Berceano had to take a break from the World and European Championships because of a meniscus operation. In 1975 he was able to take part again in the World Cup in Minsk . He defeated four tough opponents there again, Ferenc Seres, Aleksander Zajączkowski from Poland, Salih Bora from Turkey and Stefan Angelow. In the final battle, however, he lost to Vladimir Subkow and therefore had to leave the title to him.

In 1976, Gheorghe Berceanu was preparing to become the second Olympic champion in Montreal . However, he was thrown back in the preparation time by a hepatitis illness. He recovered from this illness just before the beginning of the Olympic wrestling tournament. His preparation for this tournament naturally suffered from this illness. Nevertheless, he defeated Stefan Angelow, Dietmar Hinz from the GDR, Mitchell Kowasaki from Canada , Yoshite Moriwaki from Japan and others in Montreal . Aleksander Zajączkowski. In the final battle he lost against the Soviet starter Alexei Shumakov , who had dethroned Vladimir Subkow in the Soviet championship, on points. He won the Olympic silver medal with it .

After the 1976 Olympics, Gheorghe Berceanu ended his international wrestling career. During his time at Steaua Bucharest, he had already completed a sports teacher training course and was wrestling coach at this club from 1976. He is now retired.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1967	1.	Intern. Wrestling tournament in Bucharest	To fly	before Karaglin, USSR a. Cornel Turturea , Romania
1968	1.	Balkan Games in Constanța	To fly	before Zoltan Wachtler, Yugoslavia a . Georgi Digisow, Bulgaria
1969	1.	Klippan tournament	paper	before Heinz Schmidt , GDR a. Holte, Denmark
1969	1.	World Cup in Mar del Plata	paper	with victories over Baek Seung-hyun, South Korea, Stefan Angelow, Bulgaria, Wladislaw Kustow, USSR a. Rahim Aliabadi, Iran
1969	1.	Spartakiad of the armies of the social states in Kiev	paper
1969	1.	Intern. Tournament in Bucharest	paper	before Henrik Gál , Hungary and Sotirios Ventas, Greece
1970	1.	Intern. Tournament in Split	paper	before Ferenc Seres, Hungary and Nowicki, Poland
1970	1.	EM in Berlin (East)	paper	with victories over Erwin Drywa, FRG , Henrik Gál, Todor Zamkow, Bulgaria, Bernard Szczepański , Poland and Lorenzo Calafiore, Italy
1970	1.	World Cup in Edmonton	paper	with victories over Bernard Szczepański, Dale Kestel, USA , Baek Seung-hyun, Minami Haruya, Japan and Vladimir Subkow, USSR
1971	1.	Intern. Tournament in Constanta	paper	before Vladimir Nezwetajew, USSR and Ion Gibu, Romania
1971	3.	Intern. Tournament in Varna	paper	behind Stefan Angelow and Tschawka, USSR
1972	1.	Klippan tournament	paper	before Günter Maas , FRG, Bernd Drechsel, GDR and Stefan Angelow
1972	1.	"Nikola Petrov" tournament in Sofia	paper	before Krastew, Bulgaria and Lorenzo Calfiore
1972	1.	EM in Katowice	paper	with victories over Bernard Szczepański, Xhelil Cibaka, Albania , Winfrid Kaprol, GDR, Wladimir Subkow and. Stefan Angelow
1972	gold	OS in Munich	paper	with victories over Bernd Drechsel, Lennart Svensson, Sweden, Lorenzo Calfiore, Ferenc Seres, Hungary, Wladimir Subkow and Rahim Aliabadi, Iran
1973	2.	Intern. Tournament in Constanta	paper	behind Constantin Alexandru, Romania and in front of Fritz Schmidt, FRG
1973	1.	EM in Helsinki	paper	with a victory over Ferenc Seres, a draw against Pawel Christow, Bulgaria and victories over Raimo Hirvonen, Finland and Vladimir Nezwetajew, USSR
1973	1.	Universities World Cup in Moscow	paper	before Alexei Schumakow, USSR and K. Statschkow, Bulgaria
1975	1.	Intern. Tournament in Galați	paper	before Constantin Alexandru and Mircea Secosan, both Romania and Salih Bora, Turkey
1975	2.	World Cup in Minsk	paper	with victories over Ferenc Seres, Aleksander Zajączkowski, Poland, Salih Bora and Stefan Angelow and one defeat against Vladimir Subkow
1976	silver	OS in Montreal	paper	with victories over Mitchell Kowasaki, Canada, Stefan Angelow, Dietmar Hinz, DDR, Yoshite Moriwaki, Japan and Aleksander Zajączkowski and one defeat against Alexei Schumakow

Romanian championships

Gheorghe Berceanu won the Romanian championship in Greco-Roman eight times. Paper or flyweight style.

Note: all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, paper weight, then up to 48 kg, flyweight, then up to 52 kg body weight

swell

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976,
• Trade magazines Athletik and Der Ringer ,
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

• Profile of Gheorghe Berceanu at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Portrait of Gheorghe Berceanu in Romanian with photos