Ivan Bohdan

Ivan Gawrylowytsch Bohdan , Ukrainian Іван Гаврилович Богдан , (born February 29, 1928 in Dmitrovo-Belovka in Mykolaiv Oblast ) is a former Soviet wrestler .

Athletic career

Ivan Bohdan began wrestling as a teenager near Moscow . At the beginning of the 1950s he was drafted into the Soviet Army and delegated to the Army Sports Club in Leningrad . There he received u. a. with the old international Konstantin Koberidze an excellent trainer, who soon introduced him to the top Soviet class of heavyweight wrestlers.

Bohdan wrestled exclusively in the Greco-Roman style and weighed only about 100 kg, which was relatively light for a heavyweight. In 1953 and 1954 he was able to place himself in the front field at the Soviet championships in the Greco-Roman style, but could not get past Johannes Kotkas and Alexander Masur , who had dominated the Soviet heavyweight wrestling scene for years . In 1955 and 1956 he was the Soviet runner-up in the heavyweight division and was therefore recommended as a successor to the over forty-year-olds Kotkas and Masur.

The world championships in 1957 and 1959 were only held in free style. In 1958 Bohdan became world champion for the first time and 1960 Olympic champion after he had prevailed in the inner-Soviet duel against the 1956 Olympic champion Anatoly Parfenow . He owed his Olympic victory to the Swede Ragnar Svensson , whom he was able to shoulder, while his main rival Wilfried Dietrich from the FRG Svensson was only able to defeat on points. The duel Bohdan against Dietrich ended in a draw.

Iwan Bohdan became world champion again in 1961, and then resigned. His successors stood ready in the Soviet Union with Anatoli Roschtschin and Nikolai Schmakow and in Europe with István Kozma from Hungary .

Ivan Bohdan was an officer in the Soviet Army.

International success

Bohdan completed all the mentioned competitions in the Greco-Roman style in heavyweight (at that time over 87 kg body weight)

• 1955: 2nd place at the World Youth Games in Warsaw , behind Hussein Mehmedow , Bulgaria and ahead of Nordström, Sweden ;
• 1957: 1st place in the III. International Sports Festival in Moscow , ahead of Hussein Mechmedow and Francisc Balla , Romania ;
• 1958: 1st place at the World Championships in Budapest , with victories over Lazar Bujor , Romania, Anton Geesink , Netherlands and Hamit Kaplan , Turkey as well as a draw against Ljutwi Dschiber Akhmedov , Bulgaria and János Reznák , Hungary ;
• 1960: Gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome , with victories over Tari Tan , Turkey and Ragnar Svensson , Sweden as well as a draw against Bohumil Kubát , CSSR and Wilfried Dietrich , FRG ;
• 1961: 1st place at the World Championships in Yokohama , with victories over Bohumil Kubát, William Lovell, USA and Buck Samarai, Australia and a draw against Hamit Kaplan and István Kozma , Hungary

Most important international battles

• 1958: Sweden - USSR, tie against Bertil Antonsson
• 1959: USSR - Sweden, tie against Ragnar Svensson

USSR championships

• 1955: 2nd place, behind Johannes Kotkas and in front of Alexander Masur
• 1956: 2nd place, behind Kotkas and in front of Anatoli Parfenow
• 1958: 1st place, ahead of Parfenow and Valentin Nikolajew
• 1959: 1st place, ahead of Nikolayev and Parfenow
• 1960: 3rd place, behind Sergej Zaluski and Anatolij Podzunskij
• 1961: 1st place, ahead of Anatoli Roschtschin and Nikolai Schmakow