Kurt Rusterholz

Kurt Rusterholz (born July 1, 1927 ) is a Swiss wrestler . He won in the World Cup 1953 in Naples in Greco-Roman wrestling, a bronze medal in the light heavyweight division .

Career

Kurt Rusterholz began wrestling as a teenager after 1945 in Zurich . He preferred the Greco-Roman style, but occasionally took part in freestyle competitions. As an adult, he weighed around 90 kg with a height of 1.82 meters and always started in the light heavyweight division during his long career. The Zurich wrestling club, for which he started, belonged to the Swiss Amateur Wrestling Association (SARV). In the 1950s and 1960s the Swiss wrestling family was very fragmented. There were no fewer than 5 associations that organized Swiss championships and then at the end of the 1950s were able to decide to organize joint Swiss championships. The following associations were: SARV, ETV, SATUS, SALV and SKTSV.

In 1950, Kurt Rusterholz won the Swiss championships for the first time in both styles (Greco-Roman style and free style). They shouldn't be his only ones. He was soon active on the international wrestling mat and was in the Swiss national team in May 1952, which played against Germany in Munich and Freising . The fighting took place in free style. Kurt Rusterholz lost to Max Leichter from Eckenheim, who was third in the World Cup in 1951, and defeated the German champion Albert Ferber from Schifferstadt in Freising . Even before that, in December, he accepted an invitation from the Irish Wrestling Association and started in Dublin at the International Irish Championship in free style. He won the light heavyweight title there.

It was very disappointing for him that he was not nominated to participate in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He was in 1953 at the World Cup in Greco-Roman style in 1953 in Naples . In the light heavyweight division he defeated Artzi from Israel , Kurt Soukop from Austria and L. Melgers from the Netherlands in Naples . In the finals he was defeated by August Englas from the Soviet Union and against Kelpo Grondahl from Finland . He won a bronze medal anyway and for a long time was the only Swiss wrestler to win a medal at a world championship in the Greco-Roman style.

Kurt Rusterholz also started in Karlsruhe in 1955 at the world championship in the Greco-Roman style in the light heavyweight division. He won there in his first fight over Hans Meyerer from Saarland , but then lost to Valentin Nikolajew from the Soviet Union and against Fritz Dirscherl from Germany and came in 8th place. In December 1955, he was also in the Swiss wrestling team, which played an international match against Turkey . He lost to Bekir Büke by fall. In 1956, Switzerland sent no wrestlers to the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne . In the following years, too, to the chagrin of active wrestlers at international championships, Switzerland often shone by being absent, especially when these championships were held in distant countries. As a result, Kurt Rusterholz could not start at any world championships from 1956 to 1959. It wasn't until 1960 in Rome that he was able to fulfill his dream of an Olympic start. At the time he was already 33 years old. In Rome, Kurt Rusterholz lost to Tevfik Kis from Turkey and to Péter Piti from Hungary. In the final bill, he came in 12th place.

Kurt Rusterholz played his last international championship in 1962 in Toledo in the United States. In the middleweight division he lost there again to Tevfik Kis, then won over Yacoub Abousalloum from Lebanon and retired from Sweden after another defeat against Stig Persson . With these results he reached the 6th place.

International championships

year	space	competition	style	Weight class	Results
1951	1.	International Irish Championship in Dublin	F.	Semi-difficult
1953	3.	World Cup in Naples	GR	Semi-difficult	after victories over Artzi, Israel, Kurt Soukop, Austria a. L. Melgers, Netherlands and losses to August Englas , USSR and Kelpo Grondahl , Finland
1954	1.	Intern. OLMA tournament in St. Gallen	F.	Semi-difficult	before Felix Neuhaus and Raphael Biland, bde. Switzerland
1955	8th.	World Cup in Karlsruhe	GR	Semi-difficult	after a victory over Hans Meyerer, Saarland and defeats against Valentin Nikolajew , USSR and Fritz Dirscherl, Germany
1960	12.	OS in Rome	GR	Semi-difficult	after losing to Tevfik Kis , Turkey and Péter Piti, Hungary
1962	6th	World Cup in Toledo (USA)	GR	medium	after a loss to Tevfik Kis, a win over Yacoub Abousalloum, Lebanon and a loss to Stig Persson, Sweden

Swiss championships

year	space	style	Weight class	Results
1950	1.	F.	Semi-difficult
1950	1.	GR	Semi-difficult
1951	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	in front of Winteler, St. Gallen
1953	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	in front of Karlen, Solothurn
1954	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	before Raphael Biland, Freiburg and Ernst Gogel, Geneva
1955	2.	F.	Semi-difficult	behind Eugen Holzherr , Basel
1956	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	in front of Felix Neuhaus , Freiburg and Staub, Basel
1957	3.	F.	Semi-difficult	behind Felix Neuhaus and Eugen Holzherr
1957	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	before Rudolf Feisst, Basel and Peter Nyffenegger, Arbon
1958	2.	GR	Semi-difficult	behind Rudolf Feisst
1959	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	before Ruppenthaler, Zurich and Vollenweider, Zurich
1960	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	before Karl Schmed, Zurich and Rudolf Feisst
1961	2.	F.	Semi-difficult	behind Max Kobelt , ETV, in front of Henri Mottier, ETV
1961	1.	GR	Semi-difficult	in front of Martin Wolf, ETV and Ernst Zesiger, SATUS
1962	3.	F.	medium	behind Ruedi Kobelt, ETV and Henri Mottier
1962	1.	GR	medium	before Ernst Zesiger, Biel and Fredi Dottli, Basel

Explanations

• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style
• Lightweight until 1961 up to 87 kg, mean weight from 1962 up to 87 kg

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships 1896 to 1976, 1976

Web links

• Kurt Rusterholz in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Profile of Kurt Rusterholz at the Institute for Applied Training Science