Lajos Keresztes (wrestler)

Lajos Keresztes

The grave of Lajos Keresztes in the Budapest cemetery Új köztemető

Lajos Keresztes (born April 28, 1900 in Parajd , Udvarhely County , † August 9, 1978 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian wrestler . In 1928 he was Olympic champion in the light weight in the Greco-Roman style in Amsterdam .

Career

Lajos Keresztes began in 1919 when HSC (Husos Sports Club) with the rings . He quickly developed into a top Hungarian wrestler in the Greco-Roman style. In 1923 he became the Hungarian lightweight champion for the first time. In the same year traveled with the Lajos Magyar Atlétikai Club Budapest , where he remained in the meantime, for a friendly fight against ASV 03 Bad Kreuznach to Germany . After this fight, which the Hungarians won 8: 6 points, Lajos stayed with his teammate Jozsef Tasnady in Bad Kreuznach and strengthened ASV 03. He helped this club to win the German team championship in 1925 with a victory over SpVgg Berlin -East. In 1925 Lajos even started in the German championship in the Greco-Roman style in the lightweight and was German champion ahead of Fritz Leibinger from Mühlheim and Gustav Fimpel from Hornberg . After his return to Budapest, Lajos became Hungarian lightweight champion for the second time in 1925.

Lajos Keresztes first competed on the international wrestling mat at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris . He won five fights in the lightweight and was only defeated in the finals to the Finn Oskar Friman just on points.

The following year at the EM in Milan , Lajos was European champion. He also succeeded in taking revenge against Oskari Friman, whom he defeated on points. At the European Championships in 1926 Lajos was not at the start. But he was there again in 1927, when the European Championships were held in Budapest. Lajos won his first three fights there, but then lost to the Estonian Osvald Käpp in the 4th round and had to retire.

Lajos celebrated the greatest success of his career at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam . With seven wins he achieved the Olympic victory. In the final, he defeated the German champion Eduard Sperling from Dortmund .

After 1928 Lajos withdrew from international competition. But he was still active in Hungary for a few years and was last in 1931 in the lightweight Hungarian master in the free style, after he had already become Hungarian master in this style in 1927.

Lajos Keresztes later became national coach of the Hungarian national team and, together with Mihály Matura, played a major role in building up this very successful team in the 1950s and 1960s.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = lightweight, then up to 67.5 kg body weight)

• 1924, silver medal , OS in Paris , GR, Le, with victories over Ahmed Rahmy , Egypt , Kalle Vesterlund , Finland , Roberto De Marchi, Italy , Rafael Rone, Latvia and Charles Friesenfeldt, Denmark and one defeat against Oskar Friman , Finland;
• 1925, 1st place , EM in Milan , GR, Le, with victories over Carlo Dotti, Italy , Georg Warth, Germany , Ludwig Sesta , Austria , Mihály Matura , Hungary and Oskar Friman;
• 1927, 5th place, EM in Budapest, GR, Le, with victories over Ludwig Sesta, Ryszard Blaźyca, Poland and František Kratochvíl, Czechoslovakia and a defeat against Osvald Käpp , Estonia;
• 1928, gold medal , OS in Amsterdam , GR, Le, with victories over Adolphe Dumont, Belgium , Walter Massop, Netherlands , Vladimir Vávra , Czechoslovakia, Tayyar Talaz, Turkey, Edvard Vesterlund , Finland, Karl Pedersen, Norway and Eduard Sperling , Germany

swell

• various issues of the specialist magazine "Athletik" from 1929 to 1931,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976

Web links

Commons : Lajos Keresztes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Profile of Lajos Keresztes at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Lajos Keresztes in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Chronicle of VfL 1848 Bad Kreuznach with several pictures by Lajos Keresztes