Jean-Baptiste Leclerc

Jean-Baptiste Leclerc (born March 10, 1920 in Éloyes , Vosges , † March 3, 2001 in Créteil , Val-de-Marne ) is a former French wrestler . He was an Olympian in London in 1948 and in Helsinki in 1952 .

Career

Jean-Baptiste began wrestling in the 1930s. He belonged to a wrestling club in Paris . His development and development opportunities in his sport were naturally severely restricted by the Second World War . Immediately after the end of the war, he first appeared in the list of winners at the French free style championships in 1945. He finished 2nd in the middleweight division. In 1946 he won his first French championship in free style, which he won in the middleweight class.

Jean-Baptiste Leclerc worked in France in the following years in both styles and won a total of twelve French championship titles in world, middle and light heavyweight by the end of his career in 1960. On the international wrestling mat, he mainly started in free style.

He made his first start in an international championship at the 1948 Olympic Games in London . He scored there in welterweight (free style) point wins over Abdel Mustafa from Egypt , Abbas Zandi from Iran and Louis Culot from Belgium . In his fourth fight he lost against Richard Garrard from Australia on points and had to retire because of five missing points. If he had achieved a shoulder win instead of a point win in one of his three wins, he would have been among the medal winners. So he only got the ungrateful 4th place.

Jean-Baptiste Leclerc also took the same place at the 1949 European Free Style Championships in Istanbul . He won there against Henrik Hansen from Denmark and lost to Per Berlin from Sweden and Ali Ghaffari from Iran. At the 1951 World Championships in Helsinki he reached 6th place in the welterweight division.

In 1952 he took part in the Olympic Games in Helsinki for the second time. He came there in the free style in welterweight with a win over Bev Scott from Australia and losses to Tsugia Yamasaki from Japan and Mehmet Isioglu from Turkey only in 11th place.

1954 Jean-Baptiste Leclerc won in Paris in an international match between France and Finland in the middleweight division on points over the strong Finnish champion Viljo Punkari . In 1955 he won in an international match against the Federal Republic of Germany also over Horst Hess from Dortmund on points. He suffered a defeat in an international match against the FRG in 1956 by Johann Sterr from Munich .

In 1955 he started at the World Championships in Karlsruhe in the Greco-Roman style. In the middleweight division, he succeeded in defeating Poland's Jan Majewicz. But he lost against Lazar Bujor from Romania and Rune Jansson from Sweden and came in 11th place in the final score. He achieved a remarkable result at the Mediterranean Games in Barcelona that same year . He finished there in the Greterweight style behind the Italian Bruno Pirazzoli , but in front of Petmezas from Greece and Mithat Bayrak from Turkey, the 2nd place.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, We = welterweight, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, back then up to 73 kg, 79 kg and 87 kg body weight)

• 1948, 4th place , OS in London, F, We, with victories over Abdel Mustafa, Egypt, Abbas Zandi, Iran and Louis Culot, Belgium and one defeat against Richard Garrard, Australia;

• 1949, 4th place , EM in Istanbul, F, We, with a victory over Henrik Hansen, Denmark and defeats against Per Berlin, Sweden and Ali Ghaffari, Iran;

• 1951, 6th place , World Cup in Helsinki, F, We, after defeats against Karl Schaad, Switzerland and Per Berlin;

• 1952, 11th place , OS in Helsinki, F, We, with a win over Bev Scott, Australia and losses to Tsogia Yamazaki, Japan and Mehmet Isioglu, Turkey;

• 1955, 11th place , World Championships in Karlsruhe, GR, Wed, with a victory over Jan Majewicz, Poland and defeats against Lazar Bujor, Romania and Rune Jansson, Sweden;

• 1955, 2nd place , Mediterranean games in Barcelona, ​​GR, We, behind Bruno Pirazzoli, Italy and in front of Petmezas, Greece and Mithat Bayrak, Turkey

French championships

• Free style: 1946 (on Wed), 1948, 1949, 1950 (each week), 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1960 (each on Wed),
• Greco-Roman Style: 1952, 1953 (both in Wed), 1958 (in Hs)

swell

• Professional journal Athletics , numbers: 15/16/1952, 12/1954, 9/1955, 14/1955, 15/1956.
• Documentation of FILA's International Westling Championships , 1976, pages O-40, E-43, W-17.
• Fédération Française de Lutte