Leif Andersson (wrestler)

Leif Andersson (born October 13, 1949 in Arboga ) is a former Swedish wrestler .

Career

Leif Andersson started at the age of seven years with athletes club (AK) Arboga with the rings . His first coach, to whom he owes a lot, was Mats Trygg. Later he also worked very successfully with the trainer Jan Nyberg. He learned the trade of a carpenter in Arboga. Leif wrestled in both styles, but preferred the Greco-Roman style at international championships. As early as 1965 he won the Swedish youth championship in free style for the first time. By 1970 he had won the Swedish junior championship in feather, light and welterweight four times. In 1967 he surprisingly won a Swedish senior featherweight championship, free style, for the first time at the age of 18. By 1973 he had grown into the middleweight division. With a height of 1.75 m and 82 kg he was a stocky, strong guy. At his first international championship, in which he took part, he immediately caused a little sensation, because he became European middleweight champion, Greco-Roman style in Helsinki . At the world championship of the same year in Tehran , however, he was brought back to the ground because he lost his first two fights and had to be eliminated after the second round.

At the European Championships in Madrid in 1974 , Leif was eliminated with a win after the 3rd round and at the World Championships of the same year in Katowice he managed three wins, which was enough for 6th place.

After a weaker placement at the 1975 World Cup, he reached an excellent fourth place at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and just barely missed an Olympic medal in the fight against Ion Enache from Romania .

He was no different at the 1977 European Championships in Bursa . Again he had to make do with 4th place. Again he failed with Ion Draica because of a Romanian. At the world championship of the same year in Gothenburg he delivered Ion Draica and Miklós Hegedűs from Hungary big fights, but lost both times just on points and had to retire after the 2nd round.

In 1978 and 1979 he took 4th place twice at the European Championships, while he did not come in front at the World Championships in those years.

At the European Championships in 1980 he won another medal in Prievidza , the silver one. After five wins he was only defeated in the final by the Soviet champion Gennadi Korban . At the Olympic Games in Moscow in the same year , he again narrowly missed an Olympic medal and, like four years ago, landed in the thankless 4th place. The decisive factor was the fight against Ion Draica, in which neither of the wrestlers managed to score, whereupon both were disqualified. For this Leif received 4 missing points, which took him out of a medal.

After the European Championships in Gothenburg in 1981 , where he came in 9th place, Leif Andersson resigned from international competitive sport and continued to work as a wrestling trainer. Among other things, he also trained the successful Swedish wrestler Roger Tallroth .

The results of the international championships and some other tournaments in which he participated can be found in the following section.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, Fe = featherweight, Le = lightweight, We = welterweight, Mi = middleweight, then up to 62 kg, 68 kg, 74 kg and 82 kg body weight)

• 1973, 1st place , EM in Helsinki , GR, Wed, with victories over Max Mitterbichler , FRG , André Bouchoule , France , Stefan Gjenerali, Albania , Keijo Manni, Finland and Dimitar Iwanow, Bulgaria and despite a defeat against Marian Gardybon, Poland ;
• 1973, 10th place , World Cup in Tehran , GR, Wed, after defeats against Bouchoule and Leonid Liberman , USSR ;
• 1974, 8th place , EM in Madrid , GR, Wed, after a victory over Klaus Mysen, Norway and defeats against Miklós Hegedűs , Hungary and Olteanu Staicu, Romania;
• 1974, 6th place , World Cup in Katowice , GR, Wed, with victories over Sadao Sato, Japan , Bouchoule and Ibrahim Kumas, Turkey , a draw against Hegedűs and defeats against Milan Nenadić , Yugoslavia and Ion Enache , Romania;
• 1975, 7th place , World Championships in Minsk , GR, Wed, with a victory over Dan Chandler , USA and defeats against Anatoli Nasarenko , USSR and Csaba Hegedűs , Hungary;
• 1976, 10th place , EM in Leningrad , GR, Wed, after defeats against Manni and Ivan Kolew , Bulgaria;
• 1976, 4th place , OS in Montreal , GR, Wed, with victories over Kazuhiro Takanishi, Japan, Franz Pitschmann , Austria and Adam Ostrowski, Poland and defeats against Enache and Vladimir Tscheboksarow , USSR;
• 1977, 2nd place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg , GR, Wed, behind Nasarenko and ahead of Dolgowicz, Kurt Spaniol , FRG and André Bouchoule, France;
• 1977, 4th place , EM in Bursa , GR, Wed, with victories over Jaime Pereira, Spain , Pitschmann and Pawel Christow , Bulgaria and defeats against István Kovács , Hungary and Ion Draica , Romania;
• 1977, 10th place , World Championship in Gothenburg , GR, Wed, after defeats against Miklós Hegedűs and Ion Draica;
• 1978, 4th place , EM in Oslo , GR, Wed, with victories over Ömer Suzan, Turkey, Jarmo Övermark , Finland and Kaj Jägersgaard, Denmark and defeats to Jan Dolgowicz , Poland and Pawel Christow;
• 1978, 8th place , World Cup in Mexico City , GR, Wed, with victories over Atushi Iazawa, Japan and defeats against Kurt Spaniol , FRG and Dolgowicz;
• 1979, 4th place , EM in Bucharest , GR, Wed, with victories over Jägersgaard, Frits Ruyter, Netherlands and Suzan and defeats against Dolgowicz u Draica;
• 1979, 10th place , World Championship in San Diego , GR, Wed, after defeats against Spaniol and Pawel Pawlow , Bulgaria;
• 1980, 4th place , tournament in Västerås , GR, Wed, behind Dolgowicz, Taimuraz Abchazawa , USSR and Spaniol and in front of Sören Claesson , Sweden ;
• 1980, 2nd place , EM in Prievidza , GR, Wed, with victories over Andrzej Malina , Poland, Peter Danner, Austria, Karol Kopas, Yugoslavia, Detlef Kuhn, GDR and Pavlov and a defeat against Gennadi Korban , USSR; in the fight Andersson against Draica both wrestlers were disqualified for passivity;
• 1980, 4th place , OS in Moscow , GR, Wed, with a victory over Övermark and a defeat against Pavlov; in the fight Andersson against Draica both wrestlers were again disqualified;
• 1980, 1st place , World Cup tournament in Trelleborg , GR, Wed, ahead of Korban, Phil Lanzatella, USA and Kazuhiro Takanishi, Japan;
• 1981, 3rd place, Grand Prix of the FR Germany in Aschaffenburg , GR, Wed, behind Korban and Dolgowicz and in front of Károly Tamás, Hungary, Draica and Siegfried Seibold , FRG;
• 1981, 9th place , EM in Gothenburg , with victory over Jörn Levermann, GDR and defeats against Korban and Mikko Huhtala , Finland

Swedish championships

Leif Andersson won Swedish Greco-Roman style championships in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 and in free style in 1967, 1974, 1978 and 1981 in the weight classes, featherweight, welterweight and middleweight.

Nordic championships

Andersson won the Nordic championship in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1979 in the Greco-Roman style middleweight division.

Web links

• Profile of Leif Andersson at the Institute for Applied Training Science