Josef Klapuch

Josef Klapuch (born February 10, 1906 in Zbyslavice , † December 18, 1985 in Prague ) was a Czechoslovak wrestler and actor.

Life

Josef Klapuch began wrestling when he joined the police in the mid-1920s. He became a member of the Police Sports Club ("AFK Stráže bezpečnosti") Prague and soon matured into a full-grown heavyweight of around 115 kg. At first he only wrestled in the Greco-Roman style, but in the 1930s he also turned to the free style, in which he soon achieved greater success than in the Greco-Roman style. From 1928 he took part in the Czechoslovak championships, but was initially in the shadow of Josef Urban , the silver medalist at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in Greco-Roman style.

Josef Klapuch made his first start at an international championship in 1934. He started at the European Championships in Rome in the Greco-Roman style and took 4th place. He suffered defeats against the heavyweight wrestlers Rudolf Svensson from Sweden and Kurt Hornfischer from Germany , who were dominant in Europe at the time . Things went even better for him at the European Free Style Championships in Stockholm that year . Josef won the silver medal behind the Swede Thure Sjöstedt . With four participants he only had to fight two fights. At a large wrestling tournament in Nuremberg in 1934 he even managed to win points over the reigning European champion Kurt Hornfischer.

In 1935 he only started at the European Championships in free style in Brussels and had to be content with 4th place there. After defeating Belgian local hero Léon Charlier, he lost to Swede Nils Åkerlindh and Kurt Hornfischer, who was taking part in a freestyle tournament for the first time.

At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, Josef Klapuch participated in both styles. At the first freestyle tournament, he recorded the greatest success of his wrestling career. He won the silver medal with three victories and was only defeated by Estonian Kristjan Palusalu, who was in great shape in Berlin . In the Greco-Roman style, he had to retire with one win and two defeats after the 3rd round and finished in 7th place in the final result.

In 1937 he also won a medal at the European Championships in the Greco-Roman style in Paris with third place. He celebrated three victories in this championship and had to admit defeat again Palusalu and the Swede John Nyman . For this, Josef Klapuch won no medal at the European Free Style Championships in Munich that year , which was also his last participation in an international championship. He defeated Kurt Hornfischer for the first time at this championship, but retired after the third round, while Hornfischer was European champion despite the defeat against him.

From 1938 onwards, after the Nazis invaded his home country, Josef Klapuch did not participate in any international championships.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, S = heavyweight, then over 87 kg body weight)

• 1931, 1st place , intern. Czechoslovak Championship in Raudnitz an der Elbe , GR, S, in front of Josef Urban , Czechoslovakia a. Bruno Mosig, Germany ;
• 1931, 1st place , intern. Tournament in Uddevalla , GR, S, before Sanfried Söderquist , Sweden ;
• 1934, 1st place , intern. Tournament in Prague , GR, S, in front of Josef Urban u. John Nyman , Sweden ;
• 1934, 4th place , EM in Rome , GR, S, with victories over Eduard Schöll , Austria and Alberts Zvejnieks , Latvia and defeats against Rudolf Svensson , Sweden and Kurt Hornfischer , Germany ;
• 1934, 2nd place , EM in Stockholm , F, S, with a victory over Hjalmar Nyström , Finland and a defeat against Thure Sjöstedt , Sweden;
• 1934, 2nd place , tournament in Nuremberg , GR, S, behind John Nyman , Sweden and in front of Kurt Hornfischer
• 1934, 1st place , tournament in Munich , F, S, in front of Willi Müller (wrestler) , Germany, Chevaert, Belgium and Karl Engelhardt, Germany
• 1935, 4th place , EM in Brussels , F, S, with a victory over Léon Charlier , Belgium and defeats against Nils Åkerlindh , Sweden and Kurt Hornfischer;
• 1936, silver medal , OS in Berlin , F, S, with victories over Léon Charlier, Georg Gehring , Germany and Nils Åkerlindh and one defeat against Kristjan Palusalu , Estonia ;
• 1936, 7th place , OS in Berlin, GR, S, with victory over Alberts Zvejnieks and defeats against Aleardo Donati , Italy and Kurt Hornfischer;
• 1937, 3rd place , EM in Paris, GR, S, with victories over Georg Gehring, Gyula Bóbis , Hungary and Edvīns Bietags , Latvia and defeats against John Nyman and Kristjan Palusalu;
• 1937, 5th place, EM in Munich, F, S, with a win against Kurt Hornfischer and defeats against Nils Åkerlindh and Willy Lardon , Switzerland

Czechoslovak Championships

Josef Klapuch won the Czechoslovak championship in the Greco-Roman style seven times and the free style three times, each in the heavyweight division. In addition, he was twice Czechoslovak runner-up in heavyweight lifting.

swell

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976
• www.czech-wrestling.Cz/www/Zapas/Sportovci/czech_republic.htm

Web links

• Profile of Josef Klapuch at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Josef Klapuch in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Josef Klapuch in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Profile in the Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze (Czech)