Kyösti Lehtonen

Kyösti Lehtonen medal table
Kyösti Lehtonen
Wrestler
Finland
Olympic games
gold	1956 Melbourne	Easily Greco
World Championship
silver	1953 Naples	Easily Greco
silver	1955 Karlsruhe	Easily Greco

Kyösti Emil Lehtonen (born March 13, 1931 in Jämsä , † November 15, 1987 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish wrestler .

Career

Kyösti Lehtonen grew up in Jämsä and started wrestling there as a teenager. He was one of the best Finnish young wrestlers in his age and weight class in the Finnish youth and junior division.

Kyösti was accepted into the Finnish national team in 1950 and won his first national championship in the Greco-Roman style in 1952 in the lightweight. He only wrestled this style in competitions. Despite his success, he did not start at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

The first international championship he contested were the 1953 World Championships in Naples . He was defeated there in the final battle against his Nordic rival Gustav Freij from Sweden . He also took 2nd place at the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe . This time he defeated Gustav Freij in a preliminary round fight, but was defeated in the final by the Soviet favorite Grigori Gamarnik just on points.

At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 , Kyösti Lehtonen was able to achieve his greatest success. He won the gold medal with five overwhelming victories. On the way there he also defeated the multiple Swedish world champions Olle Anderberg and Rıza Doğan from Turkey .

The 1958 World Cup in Budapest was a disappointment . Against Hungary Gyula Toth he only managed a draw and against Romania Dumitru Gheorghe he even suffered a shoulder defeat and was eliminated after the second round.

At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 he got into the 4th round, in which he was defeated on points against the Bulgarian Dimitru Stojanow and had to retire. So he was only 5th in these competitions. With a draw against the Soviet athlete Awtandil Koridze, he had actually created good conditions for winning another medal.

For financial reasons, the Finnish Wrestling Association was only able to send a small team to the 1961 World Cup in Yokohama . Kyösti Lehtonen was not included. But he was able to start again at the 1962 World Championships in Toledo , USA . But he had a very difficult lot in the lightweight. He wrestled against Yuri Gussow from the Soviet Union and against Valeriu Bularca from Romania and had to accept a narrow point defeat from Stevan Horvat from Yugoslavia , with which he was eliminated. Kyösti ended his career as a wrestler after this World Cup.

In addition to wrestling, he also tried his hand at sprinter. He ran the 100 m in 11.1 seconds and finished with the team of Ilä Ilveksen at the Finnish Athletics Championships in 1957 in the 4 × 100 m relay a good 3rd place.

Kyösti Lehtonen suffered from alcohol problems after his career as an active athlete. He died at the age of 56.

successes

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = lightweight, up to 1960 up to 67 kg, from 1961 up to 70 kg body weight, We = welter weight, up to 78 kg body weight)

• 1953, 2nd place , World Cup in Naples , GR, Le, with victories over Paul Besson, Switzerland , Gyula Tarr, Hungary , Karel Matoušek , Czechoslovakia and Schazam Safin , USSR and defeats against Dumitru Cuc , Romania and Gustav Freij , Sweden ;
• 1955, 2nd place , World Championships in Karlsruhe , GR, Le, with victories over Bruno Granaiola, Italy , Anastasios Moissidis, Greece , Ernest Gondzik, Poland and Gustav Freij and defeats to Dimitar Stojanow, Bulgaria and Grigori Gamarnik , USSR;
• 1956, gold medal , OS in Melbourne , GE, Le, with victories over Jay Thomas Evans, USA , Stojanow, Olle Anderberg , Sweden, Gyula Tóth , Hungary and Rıza Doğan , Turkey ;
• 1958, 13th place , World Championships in Budapest , GR, Le, with a draw against Gyula Tóth ö and a defeat against Dumitru Gheorghe , Romania;
• 1960, 5th place , OS in Rome , GR, Le, with victories over Benjamin Northrup, USA and Mitsuhara Kitamura, Japan , a draw against Awtandil Koridze , USSR and a defeat against Stojanow;
• 1962, 2nd place , "Ivan Podubbny" tournament in Moscow , GR, Le, behind Dawit Gwanzeladze , USSR and in front of Dumitru Gheorghe;
• 1962, 12th place , World Championships in Toledo / USA, GR, Le, with a tie against Valeriu Bularca , Romania and Juri Gussow , USSR and one defeat against Stevan Horvat , Yugoslavia

Finnish championships

• 1952, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Kalle Haapasalmi and Pauli Hämäläinen,
• 1953, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Veikko Rauhala and Horma Vähäsöyrinki,
• 1954, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Lasse Talosela and Veikko Peltonen,
• 1955, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Erkki Talosela and Peltonen,
• 1956, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Vähäsöyrinki and Erkki Sippola,
• 1957, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Rauno Mäkinen and Veikko Alanen,
• 1960, 1st place, GR, Le, in front of Alanen and Jouko Lehtinen,
• 1961, 1st place, GR, We, ahead of Peltonen and Martti Peltoniemi,
• 1962, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Lehtinen and Peltonen

Web links

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