Lajos Rácz (wrestler)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lajos Rácz (born July 1, 1952 in Székesfehérvár ) is a former Hungarian wrestler . He was world champion in 1979 and Olympic silver medalist in 1980 in Roman Greek style in the flyweight .

Career

Lajos Rácz was initially active as a teenager with gymnastics , before he switched to wrestling in 1966 . As it soon turned out, this was the right decision, because it was the right sport for the young man. At the sports club "Honvéd Szondi SE" he was led by coach Lajos Nagy into the top Hungarian wrestling class in the Greco-Roman style. He then made the leap into the world's elite with the help of the Hungarian national coach Csaba Hegedűs .

On the international wrestling mat, he first drew attention to himself with a second place in the flyweight division at the 1970 European Junior Championship in Huskvarna, Sweden . In 1972 he made his senior debut at the European Championships in Katowice . He won two fights and came in 6th place in the flyweight division.

In the next two years József Doncsecz dominated the flyweight division in Hungary . However, this then switched to the bantamweight, so that from autumn 1974 Lajos was the undisputed best Hungarian wrestler in flyweight. At the 1974 World Championships in Katowice and 1975 in Minsk , the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1976 European Championships in Leningrad , Lajos always took very good fourth or fifth places, but when it came to the battle for medals, he came out on top of the top wrestlers at the time like Petar Kirow from Bulgaria , Nicu Gângă from Romania or Vitaly Konstantinow from the Soviet Union is not over yet.

His breakthrough came at the 1997 European Championships in Bursa , when he shouldered the Soviet representative Kamil Fatkulin . Although he lost again to Nicu Gângă on points, but this was beaten by Fatkulin, so that Rácz was European champion. Kamil Fatkulin, however, returned the favor to Lajos at the world championship of the same year in Gothenburg and became world champion, while Rácz again had to be satisfied with a 4th place.

The competition was similar in 1978. At the European Championships in Oslo , Rácz only lost to the Soviet athlete Wachtang Blagidze and became vice European champion. At the World Cup in Mexico City he was again subject to Nicu Gângă and, surprisingly, the Greek Haralambos Holidis and came in 5th place.

The most successful year in Lajos Rácz's career followed. In 1979 he was first the third winner at the European Championships in Bucharest , and then in San Diego to become world flyweight champion in convincing style. Here he defeated u. a. Nicu Gângă, Kamil Fatkulin and Rolf Krauß from Germany . In 1980 he succeeded in winning an Olympic medal in Moscow, the silver one, where he was defeated in the decisive battle by his old rival Kamil Fatkulin on points.

Two further medals at the World and European Championships in 1981 rounded off Lajos' successes and in 1983 he again won the European Championships in Budapest with victories over the new stars Roman Kierpacz from Poland , Mladen Mladenow from Bulgaria and Constantin Alexandru from Romania.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Fl = flyweight, back then up to 52 kg body weight)

  • 1970, 2nd place , European Junior Championship in Huskvarna , Sweden , GR, Fl, behind Marko Maturaga, Yugoslavia and in front of Rafael Eizarow, USSR and Antonio Cruciata, Italy ;
  • 1972, 6th place , EM in Katowice , GR, Fl, with victories over Erkki Huhtala, Finland and Alex Bürger, Denmark and defeats against Paul Schneider, FRG and Vitaly Konstantinow , Soviet Union ;
  • 1974, 4th place , World Championships in Katowice, GR, Fl, with victories over Heinz Schmidt , GDR , Martin Svaty, Czechoslovakia and Abdurahim Kuzu, Turkey and defeats against Petar Kirow , Bulgaria and Nicu Gângă , Romania ;
  • 1975, 2nd place , tournament in Helsinki , GR, Fl, behind Jan Michalik , Poland and in front of Benni Ljungbeck , Sweden;
  • 1975, 5th place , World Championship in Minsk , GR, Fl, with victories over Heinz Schmidt, Constantin Alexandru , Romania, Koichiro Hirayama, Japan and Enrique Montellano, Mexico and defeats against Haralambos Holidis , Greece and Vitali Konstantinow, USSR;
  • 1976, 4th place , EM in Leningrad , GR, Fl, with victories over Nicu Gângă and Ladislav Kokošvar, Czechoslovakia, and defeats against Haralambos Holidis and Petar Kirow;
  • 1976, 5th place , OS in Montreal , GR, Fl, with victories over Moradali Shirani, Iran , Haralambos Holidis, Bruce Thompson, USA and one defeat against Koichiro Hirayama;
  • 1977, 1st place , EM in Bursa , GR, Fl, with victories over Stanotow Donchev, Bulgaria, Herbert Nigsch, Austria , Serhag Karadag, Turkey and Kamil Fatkulin , USSR and despite a defeat against Nicu Gângă ;
  • 1977, 4th place , World Championship in Gothenburg , GR, Fl, with victories over Agostino Di Mauro, Italy, Mike Fleming, USA, Mladen Mladenow , Bulgaria and defeats against Moradali Shirani and Kamil Fatkulin;
  • 1978, 2nd place , EM in Oslo , GR, Fl, with victories over Kien, France , Witold Maldachowski, Poland and Nicu Gângă and a defeat against Wachtang Blagidze , USSR;
  • 1978, 5th place , World Cup in Mexico City , GR, Fl, with victories over Bang Dae-Deo, Korea , Kauko Navala, Sweden and Rolf Krauss , Germany and defeats against Haralambos Holidis and Nicu Gângă;
  • 1979, 3rd place , EM in Bucharest , GR, Fl, with victories over Ionnidis Papadopoulos, Greece, Witold Maldachowski, Hans Diefenthal, FRG, Anton Jelinek, CSSR and Nico Ginga and one defeat against Robert Mersisian, USSR;
  • 1979, 1st place , World Championship in San Diego , GR, Fl, with victories over Abdullah Chafi, Morocco , Taisto Halonen, Finland, Rolf Krauss, Toshio Asakura , Japan, Nicu Gângă and Kamil Fatkulin;
  • 1980, silver medal , OS in Moscow , GR, Fl, with victories over Hazim Abdulrhida, Iraq , Stanislaw Wroblewski, Poland and Mladen Mladenow and one defeat against Kamil Fatkulin . In the fight between Racz and Ginga both wrestlers were disqualified, which led to Ginga being eliminated;
  • 1981, 2nd place , EM in Gothenburg , GR, Fl, with victories over Jürgen Kleer , FRG, Per Nielsen, Denmark and Ljubomir Zekow , Bulgaria a. Defeats to Constantin Alexandru and Benur Paschajan , USSR;
  • 1981, 3rd place , World Championships in Oslo , GR, Fl, with victories over Roman Kierpacz , Poland, Jon Rønningen , Norway and Taisto Halonen and one defeat against Wachtang Blagidse ;
  • 1982, 4th place , EM in Varna , GR, Fl, behind Benur Paschajan, Marian Stefan, Romania and Roman Kierpacz and in front of Erol Kemah , Turkey and Taisto Halonen;
  • 1982, 4th place , World Championships in Katowice, GR, Fl, behind Benur Paschajan, Ljubomir Zekow and Bang Dae-Deo and in front of Marian Stefan and Atsuji Miyahara , Japan;
  • 1983, 1st place , EM in Budapest , GR, Fl, ahead of Sergei Djudajew , USSR, Roman Kierpacz, Mladen Mladenow, Constantin Alexandru and Erol Keman

Hungarian championships

Lajos Rácz won the Hungarian flyweight championship, Greco-Roman style, eleven times in a row from 1974 to 1984.

swell

  • various issues of the specialist magazines "Athletik" from 1970 to 1975 and "Der Ringer" from 1976 to 1984,
  • International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rácz, Lajos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Székesfehérvár