Martin Klein (wrestler)
Martin Klein ( Russian Мартин Клейн ; born September 12, 1884 in Tarvastu , † February 11, 1947 ibid) was an Estonian wrestler . He was an Olympic medalist for Russia in 1912 .
Life and athletic performance
Martin Klein was born in Tarvastu, which had belonged to the Russian Empire since 1721. He attended the village school of Kuressaare and then the parish school of Tarvastu. As a 17-year-old he was hired on a ship, but soon decided to give up the job of a sailor. He then worked as a construction worker in Saint Petersburg . In 1910 he became a security guard at the Sanitas sports club there . Soon he was doing sports himself and was encouraged by his trainer Tõnu Võimula (= Daniel Wiedemann). His talent as a wrestler quickly became apparent.
Martin Klein won the silver medal in wrestling (middleweight, Greco-Roman style) at the Summer Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 . He was then 27 years old. His fight against the 23-year-old Finn Alfred Asikainen on July 14, 1912 went down in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest Olympic wrestling match in history . It lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes. At 10:10 p.m. Klein was declared the winner. Severely exhausted, Klein gave up the fight for the gold medal against the Swede Claes Johansson , which was scheduled for the next day, and was satisfied with silver without a fight.
In 1913, Klein was a favorite at the World Championships in Breslau , but was injured. In 1919/20 Klein took part in the Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia . From 1919 he was the coach of the Estonian wrestlers at the Olympic Games. Attempts to switch to the professional wrestler camp failed. Until 1937 he was still active as a wrestler, but withdrew more and more to his agricultural activities in the village of Säga in his home community.
Klein died in an accident in 1947 while working in the forest. He is buried in the Tarvastu cemetery.
literature
- Eesti Elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 168
Web links
- Profile of Martin Klein at the Institute for Applied Training Science
- Martin Klein in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
- Short CV and picture (Estonian)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Klein, Martin |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Клейн, Мартин (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Estonian-Russian wrestler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 12, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tarvastu |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 1947 |
| Place of death | Tarvastu |