Ivan Zonov

Ivan Zonow Nikolow ( Bulgarian Иван Цонов Николов ; born July 31, 1966 in Krasnovo, Plovdiv region ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler . He won at the Olympic Games 1988, a silver medal in the paper weight , and in 1992 was European champion in the flyweight each in free style.

Career

Ivan Zonow, who trained as an electrical engineer, began wrestling as a teenager in 1977. He concentrated on the free style. At that time he was trained by Kolo Markow. At a height of 1.60 meters, as an adult, with one exception, he always wrestled in flyweight, the weight class that had its weight limit of 52 kg at that time. After the political change in Bulgaria, Ivan Zonow became a member of the newly founded club Slavia Litex Sofia , where he was trained by Miho Dukow . He also completed a sports teacher training and after the end of his active wrestling career became a coach at the Bulgarian Wrestling Association.

His international wrestling career began at the Junior World Championships for the Espoirs age group (up to the age of 20) in Colorado Springs , where he defeated Vladimir Toguzov from the USSR in the flyweight final and was thus junior world champion. In 1986 he added the title of Junior European Champion to this title in Lidköping . At the Junior World Championships in 1987 in Burnaby / Canada he didn't get along so well and had to be content with 5th place there.

Ivan Zonow was unlucky that Bulgaria had a wrestler in his time with Valentin Jordanow who wrestled in the same weight class and in the same style as him and who was without a doubt the world's best wrestler in his weight class between 1985 and 1996. Jordanow was Olympic champion and seven times world champion . Ivan Zonow therefore had to avoid him if he wanted to continue playing a good role internationally. He did this at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 , where he started in the paper weight class (up to 48 kg body weight) after many agonies of training off. According to the regulations at the time, there were two pools in each weight class in Seoul. The winners of the pools then fought for the gold medal . Zonow lost in his pool against Sergei Karamtschakow from the USSR and won u. a. about Reiner Heugabel from the Federal Republic of Germany . Heugabel then defeated Karamtschakow and helped Zonow to get 1st place in the pool. Iwan Zonow then lost the fight for the gold medal against the Japanese Takashi Kobayashi clearly on points. He won an Olympic silver medal with it .

In the following years Iwan Zonow did not manage to train again in the paper weight. Since Valentin Jordanow lived in the United States from 1996, the Bulgarian Wrestling Association made the regulation that Ivan Zonow should start at the European Championships and Valentin Jordanow at the Olympic Games and the World Championships. This is how it was handled and Ivan Zonow was used in 1990 at the 1990 European Flyweight Championships in Poznan . He took 3rd place there behind Šaban Trstena from Yugoslavia and Vladimir Toguzov.

At the European Championships in 1991 in Stuttgart Iwan Zonow lost the fight for the pool victory against Stanislaus Kaczmarek from Germany and also the fight for the European Championship bronze medal against Thierry Bourdin from France and therefore only reached 4th place.

In 1992 Iwan Zonow then succeeded in winning the first title at an international championship. He was European flyweight champion in Kaposvár ahead of Constantin Corduneanu from Romania and Ahmet Örel from Turkey. In 1993 he was unable to defend this title in Istanbul . He left there early and only came in 10th place. In 1994 he was in much better shape at the European Championships in Rome and faced Namig Abdullajew from Azerbaijan in the final . In this fight he led on points until about 10 seconds before the end of the fight, but then gave another rating and therefore lost the European championship title to Abdullaev, which was believed to be safe.

Against the same wrestler Iwan Zonow also lost at the European Championships in 1995 in Friborg / Switzerland , but this time already in the semifinals. But he still fought for the bronze medal with a victory over Constantin Corduneanu from Romania . In 1996 he reached the final again at the European Championships in Budapest, where he lost 3: 5 points to Vladimir Toguzov, who started for Ukraine and KSV Köllerbach after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

Valentin Jordanow resigned from wrestling after his Olympic victory in 1996. This cleared the way for Ivan Zonow to compete in the world championships again in the future. In the meantime, however, it was already 30 years old and from 1997, with one exception, could no longer match the earlier form. At the European Championships in 1997 in Warsaw he managed only one victory over the Poles Stanislaw Surdyka, while he was defeated by German Accountjew from Belarus and against Namig Abdullajew and therefore had to make do with 10th place. At the 1997 World Cup in Krasnoyarsk , he was more successful and won over Tamazi Kuloschwili from Georgia , Jose Infante Barreto from Venezuela , Zeke Jones from the United States and Achilov Achilow from Uzbekistan . A defeat in the first fight against Nurdin Donbajew from Kyrgyzstan had already deprived him of all title chances. After another defeat in the sixth fight against Oleksandr Sacharuk from Ukraine, he finally reached the 7th place.

At the European Championships in 1998 in Bratislava Iwan Zonow lost after winning a fight against Wassili Zeiher from Germany and against Namig Abdullajew and only ended up in 14th place. He did not fare much better at the 1998 World Cup in Tehran. He won there over the strong Japanese Chikara Tanabe , but was surprisingly defeated by the Indian Shankar Patel Kripa and against German Accountjew and finished in 11th place.

In 1999 the success came back. At the European Championships in Minsk he won another European Championship silver medal with victories over Thomas Röthlisberger from Switzerland, Wassili Zeiher, German Accountiev and Vitali Railean from Moldova and a defeat in the final against Alexander Sacherjuk . At this year's World Cup in Ankara , he won over German Accountjew, Eric Akin from the United States, Ludek Burian from the Czech Republic, Chikara Tanabe and Tümendembereliin Dsüünbajan from Mongolia, before he was slowed down by Kim Woo-yong from South Korea. He then clearly lost the fight for the bronze medal in the bantamweight championship against Oleksandr Sacharuk with 0:10 points.

At the end of his career, Iwan Zonow then went back to the Olympic Games in 2000 , 12 years after winning a medal in 1988. In Sydney , however, he did not win any more individual wins. He lost to Leonid Tschutschunow from Russia and his feared opponent Alexander Sacherjuk and only came in 19th place.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
1985	1.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Colorado Springs	To fly	before Vladimir Toguzov , USSR a . Dorinel Bircu, Romania
1986	1.	Junior European Championship (Espoirs) in Lidköping	To fly	before Aslan Agajew, USSR, Abas Emirci, Yugoslavia a . Jean Lionel de Saint, France
1986	2.	Goodwill Games in Moscow	To fly	behind Vladimir Toguzov, in front of Arslangiin Tsedensodnom , Mongolia a . Adam Cuestas, USA
1987	5.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Burnaby / Canada	To fly	behind Hideo Sasayama , Japan , Lee In-ho, South Korea , Aslan Agajew u. Pat Higa, USA
1988	silver	OS in Seoul	paper	behind Takashi Kobayashi , Japan, in front of Sergei Karamtschakow , USSR, Tim Vanni , USA a. Reiner pitchfork , Germany
1990	3.	EM in Poznan	To fly	behind Šaban Trstena , Yugoslavia a. Wladimir Togusow, before Thierry Bourdin , France a. László Bíró , Hungary
1991	4th	EM in Stuttgart	To fly	behind Wladimir Togusow, Stanislaw Kaczmarek , Germany a. Thierry Bourdin
1992	1.	EM in Kaposvár	To fly	before Constantin Corduneanu , Romania, Ahmet Örel , Turkey a. Thierry Bourdin
1993	10.	EM in Istanbul	To fly	Winner: Ahmet Örel before Sultan Dawudow , Russia a. Mikhail Kuschnir , Ukraine
1994	2.	EM in Rome	To fly	behind Namig Abdullajew , Azerbaijan , in front of Sergei Sambalow , Russia, Constantin Corduneanu u. Volker Anger, Germany
1994	2.	Grand Prix of Germany in Wiesental	To fly	behind Stanislaw Kaczmarek, in front of Ahmet Örel u. David Legrand, France
1995	3.	EM in Friborg / Switzerland	To fly	behind Namig Abdullajew u. Metin Topaktas , Turkey, before Constantin Corduneanu u. Armen Simonjan , Armenia
1996	2.	EM in Budapest	To fly	behind Vladimir Toguzov, in front of Namig Abdullajew u. Ahmet Örel
1997	3.	Grand Prix of Greece in Athens	To fly	behind Villa, Cuba u. Moon Myunkh-suk, South Korea
1997	10.	EM in Warsaw	To fly	after losing to Namig Abdullajew, victory over Stanislaw Surdyka, Poland a. Loss against German Accountjew , Belarus
1997	7th	World Cup in Krasnoyarsk	To fly	after losing to Nurdin Donbajew , Kyrgyzstan , victories over Tamazi Kuloschwili, Georgia , Jose Infante Barreto, Venezuela , Zeke Jones , USA a. Achilow Achilow , Uzbekistan a . a loss to Oleksandr Sacharuk , Ukraine
1998	3.	Dan Kolov Memorial in Sofia	To fly	behind Gholamreza Mohammadi , Iran u. Irfan Keles, Turkey
1998	14th	EM in Bratislava	To fly	after a victory over Gheorghe Corduneanu u. Defeats against Wassili Zeiher , Germany a. Named Abdullaev
1998	11.	World Cup in Tehran	To fly	after defeating Chikara Tanabe , Japan a. Losses against Shankar Patel Kripa , India a . German account Jew
1999	2.	EM in Minsk	To fly	after victories over Thomas Röthlisberger, Switzerland, Wassili Zeiher, German Accountjew a. Witali Railean , Moldova a . a loss to Oleksandr Sacharuk
1999	4th	World Cup in Ankara	To fly	after victories over German Accountjew, Eric Akin , USA, Ludek Burian, Czech Republic, Chikara Tanaba u. Tümendembereliin Dsüünbajan , Mongolia a. Losses against Kim Woo-yong , South Korea a. Oleksandr Sacharuk
2000	19th	OS in Sydney	To fly	after defeats against Leonid Tschutschunow , Russia a. Alexander Sacherjuk

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championships, EM = European Championships
• Paper weight, until 1996 up to 48 kg body weight, then abolished, fly weight, until 1996 up to 52 kg body weight, from 1997 to 2002 up to 54 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web link

• Iwan Zonow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )