Harald Christensen (wrestler)

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Jens Harald Christensen (born January 4, 1884 in Copenhagen , † December 20, 1944 in the United States ) was a Danish wrestler .

Career

Harald Christensen started wrestling as a teenager at the sports club Sparta Copenhagen and later moved to the sports club AK Dan Copenhagen . He started in competitions from 1900 and wrestled exclusively in the Greco-Roman style, in which grips are only allowed from the waist up. He achieved his first major success in 1906 when he finished 2nd in the Danish Middleweight Championship. A year later he was the first Danish middleweight champion. By 1924 he won this title a total of seven times, mostly in the light heavyweight division. Harald Christensen was an outspoken defense artist who won many of his fights through perseverance and perseverance.

He first appeared on the international wrestling mat in 1907, when he finished second behind his compatriot Edvard Sörensen at a European Championship in Copenhagen . In the same year he took part in a world championship in Frankfurt am Main . He won the light heavyweight title in front of the Germans Johann Winker, Hugo Edinghaus and Paul Richter. Individual results from this event, like most of the others, are not available.

In 1908 he took part in a world championship in Vienna . He finished there in the middleweight division behind the Austrians Robert Dirry and Alois Toduschek and in front of Andreas Mrosek from Austria and Frithiof Mårtensson from Sweden in 3rd place. In the same year he also started at the Olympic Games in London . He was eliminated there after a defeat in his first fight against the Swede Fritz Larsson and only reached 17th place.

In 1909 Harald Christensen won the title of European light heavyweight champion in Malmö for the first time. He relegated top talent such as Antti Savolainen from Finland and Lorenz Rosman, Anders Ahlgren and Alfred Bark from Sweden to their places.

In 1910, Harald Christensen was third at both a European championship in Düsseldorf and a world championship in Budapest . In Düsseldorf behind the Germans Hermann Buchholz and Fritz Kärcher and in Budapest behind Johan van Westorp , the Netherlands and Anders Ahlgren .

In 1911 he was again European light heavyweight champion in Budapest before Jozsef Marothy and Janos Hudak from Hungary . In that year he also started at three world championships, which were unofficial. In Berlin he was defeated by the German Karl Paulini in the final and came in second behind him. In Dresden he won ahead of the Dutch M. Meyer and J. Reindermann and in Vienna he also won ahead of the Austrians Karl Barl, Johann Trestler and Alois Toduschek.

In 1912 Harald Christensen competed in the Olympic Games for the second time. In Stockholm he won it in the light heavyweight division against Karl Barl and Ernst Nilsson from Sweden, but lost to Ivar Böhling from Finland and Anders Ahlgren and was again without a medal.

In 1913 Harald Christensen took part in an international championship for the last time. At the European Championships in Budapest he had to admit defeat to local Béla Varga , behind whom he finished 2nd.

In 1915 Harald Christensen emigrated to the United States . There he was after overcoming some initial difficulties under the name Mike Howard wrestling trainer at the University of Iowa . He thus became one of the fathers of American wrestling in the Greco-Roman style and was given the not very seriously meant honorary title of "University Professor of Wrestling". After Europe , he never returned more.

successes

(WM = world championship, EM = European championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight)

  • 1908, 17th place , OS in London , GR, Hs (up to 93 kg), after a loss to Fritz Larsson, Sweden;
  • 1909, 1st place , EM in Malmö , GR, Hs (up to 85 kg), ahead of Antti Savolainen, Finland , Loarenz Rosman, Anders Ahlgren and Alfred Bark, all Swedes;
  • 1913, 2nd place , EM in Budapest, GR, Hs (up to 82.5 kg) behind Béla Varga and in front of Jozsef Marothy and Ernö Schwarcz, all Hungarians and Uuno Pelander, Finland

Danish championships

Harald Christensen won the Danish runner-up in 1906 and from 1907 to 1914 the Danish championship in middle and light heavyweight eight times in a row.

swell

  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,
  • Website www.sports-reference.com ,
  • Website of the Danish Wrestling Association gl.brydning.dk ,
  • A. v. Guretzki: The modern wrestling match , Verlag FW Gloeckner & Co., Leipzig, 1922, page 106

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Christensen, Harald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christensen, Jens Harald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH January 4, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1944
Place of death United States