Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier

Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier (born August 26, 1938 in Aschaffenburg , † 2002 ) was a German wrestler .

Career

Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier began wrestling as a teenager at SV Einigkeit Aschaffenburg -Damm . In his career he preferred the Greco-Roman style, but occasionally also started in the free style. With a height of 1.85 meters, he quickly grew into the heavyweight. He learned the trade of a tailor, but was employed for a long time by the city of Aschaffenburg and made it up to the head of the sports department. He had two sons who also became wrestlers and of whom Fritz Gerdsmeier was multiple German champions.

In 1959, at the age of 18, he was in the team of SV Einigkeit Aschaffenburg-Damm , which reached the final of the German team championship against VfK Schifferstadt . In this final, his opponent was none other than Wilfried Dietrich , who was already an absolute world class wrestler back then. This says that Karl-Heinz Gersdmeier had to do with Wilfried Dietrich at the German championships until 1969, against whom he could not win. From 1969 a new weight classification of the international wrestling federation (FILA) came into force. Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier was then able to start in the newly created heavyweight class, which had its weight limit of 100 kg. The previous heavyweight, which went from 97 kg body weight up to 1968, was renamed super heavyweight (over 100 kg body weight).

The sporting successes of Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier in individual championships began in 1959. That year he became German junior champion in free style in the heavyweight division in Nendingen . In 1960 he was German runner-up in the heavyweight division in Greco-Roman style behind Wilfried Dietrich and took 3rd place in the German heavyweight championship in 1960 behind Wilfried Dietrich and Hans Huber (boxer) from Regensburg . Hans Huber was the silver medalist in boxing heavyweight at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo . Hans Huber lost there in the final against Joe Frazier and was a successful wrestler on the national level before his boxing career.

After the Olympic Games in 1960, Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier was used by the German Wrestling Federation in three international matches in the Soviet Union because Wilfried Dietrich, who had become Olympic champion in free style in 1960 , was prevented from doing so. He wrestled there in Moscow , Kiev and Minsk against the world class athlete Anatoly Parfenow , 1960 Olympic champion in Greco-Roman. Style before Wilfried Dietrich, Sergej Zaluski and Anatoli Podzunski. Against Parfenow and Zaluski he lost on points and against Podzunski he even fought a draw.

In 1961 and 1962, Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier was again German runner-up behind Wilfried Dietrich at the German championships in the Greco-Roman style. In 1964 he fought his way to third place at the German championships in Greco-Roman style behind Wilfried Dietrich and Heinz Eichelbaum from Dortmund . With his club he became German team champion in 1963 and 1964.

After 1964, Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier more or less resigned to Wilfried Dietrich and the new German heavyweight star Roland Bock from Sportvg Feuerbach and did not take part in German championships again until 1969, after the weight classes had been re-classified. He succeeded in the heavyweight German masters in Greco-Roman. To become style. There was the curiosity that there were two German champions in this weight class with Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier and Alfons Hecher from Hallbergmoos . The reason for this is that both wrestlers fought against each other and had the same number of fault points and also had the same weight. These circumstances caused the jury to award two German championship titles.

1970 took Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier at the European championship in Greco-Roman. Style in Berlin (East). There he lost his first fight against the former Hungarian world champion Ferenc Kiss and fought against Gerard du Prie from the Netherlands in a draw. So he had six missing points and had to retire and took 9th place in the final bill. In 1974 another use at the European championship in Madrid in the super heavyweight division followed. He lost there against Ömer Topuz from Turkey and Roman Codreanu from Romania and ended up in 7th place.

Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier represented Germany in several international battles in the following years. In 1975 he ended his international wrestling career and only started for his club. In Aschaffenburg he then earned great services as the main organizer of the international wrestling tournament, the Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany, which took place there in the 1980s.

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class
1970	1.	Intern. Tournament in Savona	GR	Heavy	before Savini, Italy , Ellenson, Austria a . Molin, Sweden
1970	9.	EM in Berlin (East)	GR	Heavy	after defeats against Ferenc Kiss , Hungary a . Gerard du Prie, Netherlands
1974	1.	Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bad Reichenhall	GR	Super heavy	before Richard Wolff u. Lorenz Hecher , bde. FRG, Jürgen Bohndorf, GDR a . Zsygmunt Andrecki , Poland
1974	7th	EM in Madrid	GR	Super heavy	after defeats against Ömer Topuz , Turkey a . Roman Codreanu , Romania

German championships

year	space	Age group	style	Weight class	Result
1959	1.	Juniors	F.	Heavy	before Rudolf Wagner, Freising a . Gerhard Linsner, Bamberg
1960	2.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	behind Wilfried Dietrich , VfK Schifferstadt u. before Werner Schreiner, Ketsch
1960	3.	Seniors	F.	Heavy	behind Wilfried Dietrich and Hans Huber (boxer) , Regensburg
1961	2.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	behind Wilfried Dietrich, in front of Josef Hucker , Unterelchingen
1962	2.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	behind Wilfried Dietrich, in front of Willi Kiefer, ASV Mainz 1888
1964	3.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	behind Wilfried Dietrich and Heinz Eichelbaum , Dortmund
1969	1.	Seniors	GR	Heavy	together with Alfons Hecher , Hallbergmoos , in front of Heinz Eichelbaum

Note: GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, EM = European championship, heavyweight, until 1961, from 87 kg, from 1962 to 1968 from 97 kg, since 1969 up to 100 kg, super heavyweight, since 1969 over 100 kg body weight

swell

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976,
• Trade journal athletics ,
• One hundred years of wrestling in Germany , publisher of the Deutscher Ringer-Bund, Verlag Der Ringer, Niedernberg , 1991, page 179