Jeffrey Blatnick

Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick (born July 26, 1957 in Schenectady , New York , † October 24, 2012 in Ballston , New York) was an American wrestler .

Career

Jeff Blatnick began his wrestling career in 1973 at Niskayuna High School in Niskayuna, New York. He wrestled very successfully in both styles (Greco-Roman style and freestyle) and won 69 of 81 fights. In 1975 he became the New York State Heavyweight Free Style Master. From 1976 he continued his career at Springfield College in Massachusetts , won several championships and qualified in Greco-Roman style for participation in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow . However, the US Olympic boycott ruined its start. In 1980 he became the American champion in the Greco-Roman style in the super heavyweight class and in the same year took second place behind Oleksandr Kolchynskyj at the World Cup in Trelleborg - four years later he won the long-awaited Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles (super heavyweight, Greco-Roman style) by defeating Swedish World Champion Tomas Johansson on points in the final; Johansson was subsequently convicted of doping and disqualified. Jeff Blatnick never took part in a world championship.

His Olympic victory in 1984 is all the more remarkable since in 1982 Blatnick developed cancer that was treated with chemotherapy. In 1988 he overcame a relapse of the disease. Jeff Blatnick worked for many years as a director in the American Wrestling Association. He also enjoyed broadcasting sports, mainly wrestling.

Due to severe heart problems, Blatnick died on October 24, 2012 at the age of 55.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, S = heavyweight, SS = super heavyweight, back then up to 100 kg or over 100 kg body weight)

• 1977, 3rd place , Juniors (Espoirs) World Championships in Las Vegas , F, S, behind Magomed Magomedow , Soviet Union and Venelin Atanassov, Bulgaria ;
• 1980, 2nd place , World Cup in Trelleborg , GR, SS, behind Oleksandr Kolchynskyj , Soviet Union and in front of Tomas Johansson , Sweden ;
• 1984, gold medal , OS in Los Angeles , GR, SS, ahead of Refik Memišević , Yugoslavia , Victor Dolipschi , Romania , Panayotis Pikilidis, Greece and Hassan El Haddad, Egypt ;
• 1987, 3rd place , World Cup in Albany / USA, GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin , Soviet Union and Juan Poulot, Cuba and in front of Kenichi Mikosawa, Japan

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fox, Magalit: Jeff Blatnick, 55, Dies; Won Olympic Gold in Wrestling at nytimes.com, October 25, 2012 (accessed October 25, 2012).

Web links

• Profile of Jeffrey Blatnick at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Jeffrey Blatnick in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Biography of Jeffrey C. Blatnick ( Memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)