Josip Čorak

Josip Čorak medal table
Wrestling
Yugoslavia Croatia
European championships
gold	1969 Modena	Greek - Roman light heavyweight
bronze	1970 East Berlin	Greek - Roman light heavyweight
Olympic games
silver	1972 Munich	Greek - Roman light heavyweight

Josip Čorak (born June 14, 1943 in Rastoka , Lika , Independent State of Croatia ) is a former Yugoslav wrestler . He won a silver medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and was European champion in 1969 in Modena in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight division .

Career

Born in Croatia, he started wrestling in Gospić at the age of 18 . In the course of his career he also played at the clubs "Lokomotive", "Sljeme" and "Lika" in Zagreb . He wrestled in both styles, Greco-Roman and Free Style, but had his greater success in the Greco-Roman style.

Čorak won his first Yugoslav championship in 1966 in the light heavyweight division (Greco-Roman style). By 1976, ten more titles in light heavy and heavyweight followed. His first start at an international championship he completed at the World Championships in 1965 in Tampere in Greco-Roman. Style. There he came in the light heavyweight division on 10th place. After further placements in this area at World and European Championships from 1966 to 1968, he achieved his breakthrough in 1969 at the European Championships in Modena. He won the light heavyweight title there with four wins.

He was also very successful in 1970. At the European Championships that year in East Berlin he won a bronze medal in the light heavyweight division and at the World Championships of the same year in Edmonton , Canada , he took a very good fourth place. What is remarkable is that he remained undefeated in his five fights at this World Cup. He won three times and tied with the Polish world-class wrestler Czesław Kwieciński and with the Soviet Olympic champion and multiple world champion Valeri Resanzew .

In 1971 he came in 6th place in the free style light heavyweight championship in Sofia . The 1972 Olympic Games in Munich were the highlight of his career . Josip Čorak was in excellent shape there and won the silver medal in the light heavyweight division. He also defeated the former Olympic champion Lothar Metz from Rostock and the strong Romanian Nicolae Neguț , fought against Czesław Kwieciński and lost in the decisive duel for the gold medal Valeri Resanzew just on points.

After this success he ended his international wrestling career, but continued to wrestle at the national level for a few years. With the club "Lika" Zagreb, which he founded in 1966, he was Yugoslav team champion in 1971, 1975 and 1976 and took 3rd place at the European team championships in 1972 and 1975.

Josip Čorak was also an unusually successful wrestler among the veterans (35+). He won the world title ten times here.

Today he is Vice President at "Lika" Zagreb.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greek - Roman style, F = free style, Hs = light heavyweight (up to 1968 up to 97 kg, from 1969 up to 90 kg body weight), S = heavyweight , from 1969 up to 100 kg body weight)

• 1965, 2nd place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Baku , GR, Hs; behind Alexei Karmatsky USSR ;
• 1965, 2nd place , tournament in Prague , GR, Hs;
• 1965, 10th place , World Championships in Tampere , GR, Hs, after defeats against Per Svensson , Sweden and Czesław Kwieciński , Poland ;
• 1965, 3rd place , "Ivan Petrow" tournament in Chaskowo , GR, Hs;
• 1966, 2nd place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Minsk , GR, Hs; behind Vassili Merkulov USSR;
• 1966, 3rd place , Balkan Games in Ljubljana , GR, Hs, behind Stefan Petrow , Bulgaria a . Lü, Turkey and before Pawel, Romania;
• 1966, 10th place , EM in Essen , GR, Hs, with a draw against Czesław Kwieciński and Heinz Kiehl , BRD a . a loss to Aimo Muchtenpää , Finland ;
• 1967, 3rd place , tournament in Klippan / Sweden, GR, Hs, behind Per Svensson u. Jürgen Klinge , GDR a. in front of Tore Hem, Norway;
• 1967, 7th place , EM in Minsk , GR, Hs, with a victory over Peter Jutzeler , Switzerland a . Draw against Tore Hem u. Per Svensson;
• 1967, 2nd place , Mediterranean Games in Tunis, GR, Hs, behind Ömer Topuz, Turkey a. before Vito Loiacono, Italy ;
• 1967, 2nd place , Mediterranean Games in Tunis, F, Hs, behind Huseyin Gürsoy, Turkey a. before Marcel Levasseur, France ;
• 1967, 9th place , World Cup in Budapest , GR, Hs, with a victory over Tore Hem, a draw against Ferenc Kiss , Hungary a. a loss to Czesław Kwieciński;
• 1969, 1st place , EM in Modena, GR, Hs, with victories over Tore Hem, Enzo Nobili, Italy, Bernard Philippe, Luxemburg a . Roland Andersson , Sweden;
• 1970, 3rd place , EM in East Berlin, GR, Hs, with victories over Bernard Philippe, Hakon Överby, Norway a. László Sillai , Hungary, a draw against Czesław Kwieciński u. a loss to Lothar Metz , GDR ;
• 1970, 4th place , World Cup in Edmonton / Canada, GR, Hs, with victories over Wayne Baugham , USA , László Sillai u. Ron Lappagae, Canada and draw against Czesław Kwieciński u. Valery Resanzew, USSR;
• 1970, 12th place , World Cup in Edmonton / Canada, F, Hs, after defeat against Bill Harlow , USA a. Russi Petrow , Bulgaria;
• 1971, 1st place, Mediterranean Games in Izmir, GR, Hs, before Ibrahim Kumas, Turkey a. Hochem Muharrem, Syria ;
• 1971, 6th place , World Championship in Sofia , GR, Hs, with victories over Conny Svensson, Sweden, Michel Grangier, France a. Günter Kowalewski , FRG a. Defeats against Jozsef Percsi, Hungary a. Nicolae Neguț , Romania;
• 1972, silver medal , OS in Munich , GR, Hs, with victories over Barend Kops, Netherlands, Lothar Metz u. Nicolae Neguț, a draw against Czesław Kwieciński u. a loss to Valery Resanzew

Yugoslav championships

Josip Čorak was Yugoslav light heavyweight champion in 1966 and 1967 and from 1968 to 1976 nine times in a row Yugoslav heavyweight champion (Greco-Roman style).

swell

• Athletics magazine from 1965 to 1972,
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of FILA , 1976, pages: E-50, E-54, E-66, E-78, W-66, W-76, W-89, W-94, W-104 and others. O-96
• International Wrestling Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig ,
• Information from Eduard Hemar, Zagreb

Web links

• Profile of Josip Čorak at the Institute for Applied Training Science