Keijo Pehkonen

Keijo Tapio Pehkonen (born November 11, 1964 in Heinola ) is a former Finnish wrestler . He was European champion in the Greco-Roman style in 1987 and 1989 in bantamweight.

Career

Keijo Pehkonen, who started wrestling as a teenager at the Heinolan Isku sports club , was already the Finnish champion in the senior class in 1980 at the age of 16 in free style in paper weight (at that time up to 48 kg body weight). It was not until 1984 that he won the next title. In that year he was Finnish champion in free style in bantamweight (class up to 57 kg body weight). In the course of his career he was Finnish champion six times, four times in the free style and twice in the Greco-Roman style.

The international career of Keijo Pehkonen began in 1986, where he only started in the Greco-Roman style at international championships. At the European Championships in Athens in 1986 , he also won a medal in bantamweight. He took 3rd place behind the Soviet athlete Timurzjan Kalimulin and the Greek Haralambos Holidis . He was even more successful in 1987. He was that year at the European Championships in Tampere, Finland in the bantamweight division before Emil Radojew from Bulgaria , Patrice Mourier from France and András Sike from Hungary . On the way to this title, however, he had to accept a point defeat in the 2nd round by Peter Behl from the Federal Republic of Germany . While Behl was eliminated after the third despite this victory, Keijo Pehkonen fought his way through to winning the title.

Keijo Pehkonen also won a medal at the 1987 World Cup. He lost in the final of his pool against the German Rıfat Yıldız and therefore fought against the American Anthony Lee for the bronze medal . He won this fight safely on points.

In the 1988 Olympic year, Keijo Pehkonen was injured and therefore missed the Olympic Games in Seoul . In 1989 he won his second European bantamweight title in Oulu . He defeated it in the final fight with Emil Ivanov again a Bulgarian wrestler. At the 1989 World Championships in Martigny , however, he was no longer able to present himself so well and only came in 7th place in the bantamweight division.

In 1990 Keijo Pehkonen went to the Federal Republic of Germany and competed for KSV Lahr -Kuhbach in the German Bundesliga. During this time he was not present on the international wrestling mat. It was not until the Olympic year 1992 that he made a comeback, which brought him to participate in the Olympic Games in Barcelona . In Barcelone, however, he did not make it into the final bantamweight division and, like in Martigny, had to be satisfied with 7th place.

In 1993 he started for the last time on the international wrestling mat at a World Cup in Heinola. He came in 6th place in featherweight.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, Pa = paper weight, Ba = bantam weight, Fe = featherweight, at that time up to 48 kg, 57 kg and 62 kg body weight)

• 1985, 6th place , TUL tournament in Helsinki , GR, Ba, behind Juha Virtanen, Finland , Heiko Röll , GDR , Jaroslav Svadlenak, CSSR , Torsk Liuska u. Jari Raika, bde. Finland;

• 1986, 3rd place , EM in Athens , GR, Ba, behind Timurzjan Kalimulin , USSR a . Haralambos Holidis , Greece , ahead of Nicolae Zamfir , Romania , Petar Balow , Bulgaria u. András Sike , Hungary ;

• 1987, 1st place , EM in Tampere , GR, Ba, ahead of Emil Radojew , Bulgaria, Patrice Mourier , France , András Sike, Sergei Bulanow , USSR a. Haralambos Holidis;

• 1987, 3rd place , World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand , GR, Ba, behind Patrice Mourier u. Rıfat Yıldız , FRG, before Anthony Lee , USA , Ronny Sidge, Norway a . Emil Ivanov , Bulgaria;

• 1987, 2nd place , World Cup in Albany / USA, GR, Ba, behind Amadoris Gonzalez Labrada, Cuba , in front of Ken Kurotobi, Japan a. Eric Seward, USA;

• 1987, 3rd place , FILA-Grand-Prix-Gala in Budapest , GR, Be, behind Patrice Mourier u. Emil Iwanow, before Rıfat Yıldız u. Anthony Lee;

• 1989, 1st place , EM in Oulu , GR, Ba, ahead of Emil Iwanow, Sergei Bulanow, Radu Strubert , Romania, Zoran Galovic, Yugoslavia a . Patrice Mourier;

• 1989, 7th place , World Championship in Martigny / Switzerland , GR, Ba, behind Ermil Iwanow, Alexander Schestakow , USSR, András Sike, Michizo Fujioka, Japan, Pierre Dikanda, Sweden a . Yang Changling, China ;

• 1992, 7th place , OS in Barcelona , GR, Ba, behind An Bong-han , South Korea , Rifat Yildiz, Shang Zetian, China, Alexander Ignatenko , USSR, William Lara, Cuba u. Marian Sandu , Romania;

• 1993, 6th place , World Cup in Heinola, GR, Fe, behind Kim Dong-bum, South Korea, Zafar Jakuschew, USSR, Mikael Lindgren , Finland, David S. Zuniga , USA a. Maryas Megyes, Hungary

Finnish championships

Keijo Pehkonen became Finnish free style bantamweight champions in 1980 paper weight, 1984 and 1988 bantamweight, 1985 featherweight and Greco-Roman style 1986 and 1989.

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer , numbers: 5/86, 6/87, 9/87, 5/89, 9/89, 9/92,
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Website of the Finnish Wrestling Association TUL

Web links

• Profile of Keijo Pehkonen at the Institute for Applied Training Science