Hans Antonsson

Hans Antonsson medal table
Hans Antonsson
Wrestler
Sweden
Olympic games
bronze	1960 Rome	medium
World Championship
bronze	1961 Yokohama	medium

Hans Yngve (Hasse) Antonsson (born November 8, 1934 in Trollhättan ) is a former Swedish wrestler . He won a bronze medal in free style middleweight at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome .

Career

Hasse Antonsson grew up in Trollhättan and started wrestling there as a teenager. He is the nephew of Bertil Antonsson , who was Olympic champion in wrestling in 1952 . It was therefore only natural that Hasse Antonsson should also start wrestling. He was active in both styles, Greco-Roman and free style, but achieved his greater success in free style.

He started his career in Trollhättans AK (Athletics Club) , but later moved to Vänersborg BK (Brottning Klub) and ended his career at Uddevalla IS (Idrotts Sport) . At 1.79 meters tall, he initially wrestled in the welterweight division , but soon grew into the middleweight division. In 1954 he became Swedish junior champion in free style welterweight. In the same year he was used in Stockholm in a double international match against the USSR, but was defeated by the Soviet world-class athletes Wachtang Balawadze and M. Dadaschew each on points. International fights were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The international match between Sweden and the USSR at that time, which was held in free style, attracted 10,000 spectators in four events.

1957 Hasse Antonsson was the first Swedish champion in free style in the middleweight division. In the same year he also won an international tournament in Savona in the Greco-Roman style in the middleweight division in front of Miklos Szilvassy from Hungary and Branislav Simić from Yugoslavia.

1958 Hasse Antonsson was the first Swedish middleweight champion in the Greco-Roman style. He was then Swedish champion twelve times in both styles. He won the last title in 1967 in free style. In an international match against the USSR in Stockholm in 1958, he wrestled against the 1956 middleweight Olympic champion Giwi Kartosia . In the same year he was also used for the first time at a world championship. At the World Championships in Budapest, however, he lost in the middleweight division against Horst Hess from West Germany and Dimitar Dobrew from Bulgaria, with which he only ended up in 13th place.

In preparation for the 1960 Olympic Games, Hasse Antonsson represented the Swedish colors in both styles in several international matches. In Helsinki he fought against both Viljo Punkari and Lehto. In Stockholm he wrestled in free style against Lothar Lippa from the GDR. In Bucharest he fought twice against Ion Țăranu in a double international match against Romania . In Berlin he lost in another international match against the GDR against Lothar Metz in the Greco-Roman style on points. At the Olympic Games in Rome, he started in free style in the middleweight division. He won there in his first fight over Viljo Punkari, then lost to Mansour Mehdizadeh from Iran, then came to victories over Madho Singh from India and Fred Thomas from New Zealand. In the final bouts he lost to Giorgi Schirtladse from the USSR and finally won a bronze medal.

In 1961, Hasse Antonsson started at the world championship in free style in Yokohama. In the middleweight division, he defeated René Schiermeyer from France, Madho Singh and B. Courtney from New Zealand. Then he lost to İsmail Ogan from Turkey and to Mansour Mehdizadeh. In his last fight, a draw against the Hungarian Géza Höllössi was enough for him to take 3rd place.

His next start in an international championship was in 1962 at the World Cup in Toledo, United States. Because of a weight class reform by the world wrestling association FILA in 1961, he was now fighting again in the welterweight division. He scored a draw in Toledo in his first fight against Georg Utz from the Federal Republic of Germany, but then lost on shoulders against Philipp Oberländer from Canada and only reached 7th place.

At the 1963 World Cup in Sofia, Hasse Antonsson started again in the middleweight division. He won there over Gets Johannes Viljoen, South Africa and then lost to Tatsuo Sasaki from Japan and Max Kobelt from Switzerland. He came in 10th place.

In 1964 and 1965 he did not start at any international championship. In 1966, after the re-introduction of the European Championships, he took part in the European Free Style Championships in Karlsruhe. He lost there in the middleweight division against Andrei Tschowrebow from the Soviet Union and against Umberto Marcheggiani from Italy. That resulted in 10th place.

In 1967 he was once again in the Swedish national team, which competed in two country matches in the Federal Republic of Germany. He lost it in the middleweight division against Ernst Knoll from Ziegelhausen on points and wrestled against Eberhard Wahl from Schorndorf in a draw. He was also back at the Middleweight Style Free Style World Championship in New Delhi. However, he lost his fights against Sajan Singh from India and Jigjidym Mönchbat from Mongolia and only finished 13th.

Then he ended his wrestling career.

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class	Results
1957	1.	Intern. Tournament in Savona	GR	medium	before Miklos Szilvassy , Hungary and Branislav Simić , Yugoslavia
1958	13.	World Cup in Budapest	GR	medium	after defeats to Horst Heß , Federal Republic of Germany and Dimitar Dobrew , Bulgaria
1960	bronze	OS in Rome	F.	medium	after a victory over Viljo Punkari, Finland, a defeat against Mansour Mehdizadeh , Iran, victories over Madho Singh, India and Fred Thomas, New Zealand and a defeat against Giorgi Schirtladse , USSR
1961	3.	Klippan tournament	GR	medium	behind Bertil Nyström , Sweden and Dubicki, Poland
1961	3.	World Cup in Yokohama	F.	medium	after victories over René Schiermeyer, France, Madho Singh and B. Courtney, New Zealand, defeats against İsmail Ogan , Turkey and Mansour Mehdizadeh and a draw against Géza Höllössi , Hungary
1962	7th	World Cup in Toledo	F.	Welter	after a draw against Georg Utz (wrestler) , Federal Republic of Germany and a defeat against Philipp Oberlander, Canada
1963	10.	World Cup in Sofia	F.	medium	after a victory over Gets Johannes Viljoen, South Africa and defeats against Tatsuo Sasaki, Japan and Max Kobelt, Switzerland
1965	1.	Klippan tournament	GR	medium	before Bertil Nyström and Wladimir Smolinski, Poland
1966	10.	EM in Karlsruhe	F.	medium	after defeats to Andrei Tschowrebow , USSR and Umberto Marcheggiani, Italy
1967	13.	World Cup in New Delhi	F.	medium	after defeats against Sajan Singh, India and Jigjidym Mönchbat, Mongolia

Swedish championships

Hasse Antonsson was Swedish champion in Greco-Roman style in 1958, 1962, 1964 and 1967 and in 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 in free style, world champion and middleweight division

Explanations

• GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Welter weight until 1961 up to 74 kg, from 1962 up to 78 kg, mean weight until 1961 up to 79 kg, on 1962 up to 87 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of FILA International Championships 1896 to 1976, 1976
• Anniversary volume "Svensk Brottning 100 år", publisher Jan Holmqvist, 2009

Web links

• Hans Antonsson in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Profile of Hans Antonsson at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Brief portrait of Hans Antonsson (Swedish)