Leslie Gutches

Leslie Gutches (* 23. February 1973 in Medford , Oregon ) is a retired American wrestler and world champion in 1997 freestyle middleweight.

Career

Les Gutches, from a family in which wrestling has traditionally been practiced for several generations, began wrestling as a child in 1985. He later wrestled for the Oregon State Beavers Wrestling Team and, after studying economics and German studies at Oregon State University in 1993, he wrestled for the university team, but later moved to the most famous US wrestling club, the Sunkist Kids in Phoenix , Arizona , where Ive Wells was his trainer. Gutches first attracted attention in 1989 when he became the American junior middleweight champion in the Greco-Roman style and in the same year became vice world champion at the Junior World Championship for Cadets (youngsters up to 18 years of age).

Gutches celebrated his first major success with the seniors at international championships in 1993 at the Pan American Championships in free style, to which he had switched, in the middleweight division before the strong Cuban Elise Guzman . From 1993 to 1996 Gutches also achieved great success in university wrestling on a pan-American level. So he was in 1995 and 1996 NCAA Division I Collegiate Champion (US-American student champion) in free style in the middleweight division.

In 1996 he represented the USA at the Olympic Games in Atlanta , after becoming USA champion for the first time. As a relatively inexperienced wrestler, he was not yet able to assert himself against the strong wrestlers from the former Eastern Bloc countries and Asia . In 1997 he was again USA champion and prepared himself for these championships in a periodic training that was completely tailored to the World Championships in Krasnoyarsk . The success should prove him right, because he became world champion and also defeated the 1996 Olympic champion Chadschimurad Magomedow from Russia .

In 1998 he defeated the "Goodwill" games in New York City , which had priority for him that year, again Chadschimurad Magomedov and took 1st place. At this year's World Cup in Tehran , however, he was not in good shape and had to be content with 7th place.

In 1999 he won an extremely strong tournament in Spokane / USA and also won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg in the middleweight division. At the World Cup that year he won a bronze medal again.

For the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 , Les Gutches could not prevail in the so-called trials against his rival Charles Burton and thus no longer qualify. He ended his career as an active wrestler. He even resumed his studies at Oregon State University, graduating with a “Bachelor” in German and a “Master's” in economics. He has also worked as a wrestling trainer at Oregon State University since 1996. He lives with his family in Corvallis, Oregon.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, F = free style, GR = Greco-Roman style, Wed = middle weight, up to 1982 up to 82 kg, from 1997 up to 85 kg body weight (body weight))

year	space	competition	style	Weight class
1989	2.	Junior World Championships (Cadets) in Warrensburg / USA	GR	up to 83 kg body weight	behind Nandor Gelenesi , Hungary and in front of Ibrahim Demirtürkoglu, Turkey
1990	7th	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Istanbul	F.	up to 81 kg body weight	Winner: Kalojan Baew, Bulgaria ahead of Attila Nagy, Hungary and Eldari Luka Kurtanidze , USSR
1993	1.	Pan American Championship	F.	medium	in front of Elise Guzman , Cuba , Jose Betancourt Rosario, Puerto Rico and Kally Maillot, Canada
1993	3.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Athens	F.	medium	behind Eldar Asanow , Ukraine and Magomed Kurugliew , Kazakhstan and in front of Roschtschislaw Aizenberg, Israel and Osman Albayrak, Turkey
1994	3.	Pan American Championship in Mexico City	F.	medium	behind Wilson Ariel Ramos, Cuba and Felix Villalobo Isosola, Peru and in front of Jose Betancourt Rosario and Kevin Coghill, Canada
1996	7th	OS in Atlanta	F.	medium	behind Chadschimurad Magomedow , Russia, Yang Hyun-mo , South Korea , Amir Reza Khadem , Iran , Sebahattin Öztürk , Turkey, Mogamed Ibragimov , Azerbaijan and Elmadi Jabrailow , Kazakhstan
1997	1.	World Cup in Krasnoyarsk	F.	medium	in front of Eldar Asanow, Ukraine, Alireza Heidari , Iran, Hadschimurad Magomedow and Yoel Romero Palacio , Cuba
1998	3.	World Cup in Stillwater / USA	F.	medium	behind Yoel Romero Palacio and Aleksei Krupnjakow , Kyrgyzstan and in front of Alireza Heidari , Andre Backhaus , FRG and Tatsuo Kawaii, Japan
1998	1.	"Goodwill" games in New York City	F.	medium	before Chadschimurad Magomedow, Ali Özden Turkey and Abbas Majidi, Iran
1998	7th	World Cup in Tehran	F.	medium	behind Alireza Heidari, Magomed Ibragimow, Yoel Romero, Kadschimurad Magomedow, Magomed Kuruglijew and M. Stanilsawski, Poland
1999	1.	World Cup in Spokane / USA	F.	medium	in front of Yoel Romero Palacio, Feridon Ghanbaripisar, Iran, Hans Gstöttner and Andre Backhaus , bde. BRD and Justin Abdou, Canada
1999	1.	Pan American Games in Winnipeg	F.	medium	before Gary Holmes, Canada, Yoel Romero Palacio and Felix Villalobo Isasola
1999	3.	World Cup in Ankara	F.	medium	behind Yoel Romero Palacio and Chadschimurad Magomedow and in front of Ali Özden, Tatsuo Kawaii and Rassul Katinowassow , Uzbekistan
2000	2.	World Cup in Fairfax / USA	F.	medium	behind Yoel Romero Palacio and in front of Mehdi Saradschilow, Iran, Saschid Saschidow , Russia and Taras Danko , Ukraine

USA championships

Les Gutches became USA free style middleweight champions in 1996 and 1997

swell

• The Ringer trade journal from 1989 to 2000,
• International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig,

Web links

Profile of Leslie Gutches at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science