Matti Laakso

Matti Samuel Laakso (born March 23, 1939 in Ilmajoki ) is a former Finnish wrestler . He was a two-time medalist at European Championships in the Greco-Roman style in the world and middleweight division.

Career

Matti Laakso began as a teenager in 1947 with the wrestling club Koskenkorvan Urheilijat with the wrestling. He had a younger brother, Martti Laakso , who also started wrestling two years later. When both athletes got into the international ring, the similarity of their names led to confusion over and over again.

Matti Laakso quickly developed into a very good wrestler who operated both styles, but focused on the Greco-Roman style at the international championships in which he was able to participate from 1963. He was a police officer and in the course of his career still wrestled for the clubs Vasaan Voima-Veikot , Oulun Poliisiurheilijat u. Oulun Pyrintö .

Matti Laakso won his first Finnish championship title at the age of 19 in 1958 in Greco-Roman. Lightweight style. By the end of his wrestling career in 1974 he added another 17 Finnish championship titles to this title. He won in four different weight classes from lightweight to light heavyweight.

Matti Laakso made his debut on the international wrestling mat in 1960, when he was allowed to compete in the Greco-Roman style welterweight at the Olympic Games in Rome and took a very good 6th place with four wins. Among the wrestlers he defeated were the strong Franco Benedetti from Italy and Bertil Nyström from Sweden . The dream of a medal was thwarted by Günther Maritschnigg from Witten , who started for the all-German team , who defeated Matti Laakso in the fifth round and threw him out of the race.

In 1963 Matti Laakso took 1st place at the Nordic Welterweight Championships, ahead of Harald Barlie from Norway . In the same year he came at the world championship in Helsingborg in the welterweight division on the 9th place, whereby it was with Rudolf Vesper from Rostock another German wrestler who prevented a better placement by a victory over him.

After Matti Laakso had to be satisfied with 10th place at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo , he finally managed to win a medal at the 1966 European Championships in Essen . He won four fights there and defeated the German champion Peter Nettekoven from Dortmund and was only defeated in the final by the Soviet athlete Wladislaw Iwlew .

In 1967 and 1968 he achieved very good placings at the international championships, but could not win any medals. At the 1969 World Championships in Mar del Plata , which took place in March of that year, Matti Laakso achieved an excellent 5th place in the middleweight division and at the 1969 European Championships in Modena , he took 3rd place in the middleweight division and thus won another bronze medal Medal. He won over the Swiss Jimmy Martinetti , the German master Ernst Knoll and the Turk Ali Kazan .

At the European Championships in Berlin in 1970 , he came back to 5th place in the middleweight division. His draw against the Soviet representative Tomaz Machavariani is remarkable . In 1972 he took part in international championships for the last time. At the European Championships in Katowice he came in 7th place and at the Olympic Games in Munich it was only enough for 13th place with one win, one draw and one defeat.

After Munich, Matti Laakso ended his international wrestling career.

International success

(all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, Le = lightweight, We = welterweight, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, up to 1962 up to 67 kg, 73 kg, 79 kg etc. 87 kg, up to 1968 up to 70 kg, 79 kg, 87 kg and 97 kg and from 1969 up to 68 kg, 74 kg, 82 kg and 90 kg body weight)

year	space	competition	Weight class
1960	6th	OS in Rome	Welter	with victories over Hans-Jürg Hirschbühl, Switzerland , Bernard Philippi, Luxembourg , Franco Benedetti , Italy a . Bertil Nyström , Sweden a . a loss to Günther Maritschnigg , Germany
1963	1.	Nordic championship	Welter	before Harald Barlie , Norway a . R. Söderlund, Sweden
1963	9.	World Cup in Helsingborg	Welter	with a victory over Albertus Rosbag, Netherlands , draw against Bjarne Ansbøl , Denmark a . Fahrettin Cankaya, Turkey u. a defeat against Rudolf Vesper , GDR
1964	10.	OS in Tokyo	Welter	with a win over Job Mayo, Philippines , a draw against Ion Ţăranu , Romania a . Defeats against Kiril Petkow , Bulgaria a . Mithat Bayrak , Turkey
1965	1.	Nordic championship	Welter	before L. Söderlund, Sweden a. HE Dahn, Norway
1966	2.	EM in Essen	Welter	with victories over Hans-Jürg Hirschbühl, Barend Kops, Netherlands, Dimitrios Savas, Greece a . Peter Nettekoven , FRG a . a loss to Vladislav Ivlev , USSR
1966	9.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	Welter	with a draw against Kiril Petkow u. Bolesław Dubicki , Poland a . a loss to Milan Nenadić , Yugoslavia
1967	4th	"Ivan Poddubny" tournament in Moscow	Welter	behind Viktor Igumenow , Georgi Verkhinin a. Wladislaw Iwlew, all USSR a. before Emil Alexandorw, Bulgaria a. Piotr Starczynski, Poland
1967	7th	EM in Minsk	Welter	with a victory over Vítězslav Mácha , CSSR u. Draw against Jan Kårström , Sweden a. Sandor Kovacs, Hungary
1968	2.	Nordic championship	Welter	behind Harald Barlie u. in front of Roland Andersson, Sweden
1968	11.	EM in Västerås	Welter	with a win over Franz Berger , Austria , a draw against Jan Karström u. a loss to Vladislav Ivlev
1968	1.	Police EM in Freiburg im Breisgau	Welter	before Arne Nilsson, Sweden a. Wolfgang Seidel, FRG
1969	5.	World Cup in Mar del Plata	medium	with a win over Harald Barlie, a draw against Peter Nettekoven u. a loss to Omar Bliadze , USSR
1969	3.	EM in Modena	medium	with victories over Jimmy Martinetti , Switzerland , Ernst Knoll , FRG a. Ali Kazan , Turkey a. Losses against Milan Nenadic, Jan Kårström u. Hakaon Överby, Norway
1970	5.	EM in Berlin	medium	with victories over Ion Gabor, Romania a. Niels Madsen, Denmark, a tie against Tomaz Machavariani , USSR u. a loss to Milan Nenadic
1970	12.	World Cup in Edmonton	medium	with a tie against Ali Yagmur, Turkey u. Defeats against Jan Kårström u. Petar Krumow , Bulgaria
1972	7th	EM in Katowice	medium	with victories over Jan Kårström u. Santiago Morales, Spain a . Defeats to Kiril Dimitrov , Bulgaria a. Miroslav Janota , CSSR
1972	13.	OS in Munich	medium	with a victory over Dasran Miagmar, Mongolia , a draw against Harald Barlie u. a loss to Miroslav Janota

International battles

In the 1960s a. In the 1970s there were regular international battles between Finland and Sweden. Matti Laakso often represented his country in these international matches and scored victories over the Swedish wrestlers Hansmark, A. Karlsson, Ovsiannikov, Leopold Israelsson, L. Söderkvist, Bengt Fridh, Roland Andersson, Larsson and fought against Bertil Nyström and Jan Kärström in a draw.

Finnish championship

• 1958, 1st place, GR, Le, ahead of Veikko Alanen a. Jouko Lehtinen,
• 1959, 2nd place, Gr, We, behind Olavi Niemi u. in front of Veikko Rantanen,
• 1959, 2nd place, F, We, behind Veikko Rantanen u. before Aaro Kivelä,
• 1960, 1st place, GR, We, ahead of Veikko Rantanen u. Olavi Niemi,
• 1961, 1st place, GR, Wed, before Veikko Rantanen u. Pekka Suominen,
• 1961, 2nd place, F, We, behind Veikko Rantanen u. before Aaro Kivelä,
• 1963, 1st place, GR, We, ahead of Olavi Niemi u. Tapani Mänenpää,
• 1963, 1st place, F, Wed, in front of Olavi Niemi u. Mauri Ritamäki,
• 1964, 1st place, GR, We, before Kaarlo Wieser u. Risto Toivola,
• 1965, 1st place, GR, We, ahead of Arto Savolainen a. Tauno Pietelä,
• 1965, 1st place, F, Wed, before Pentti Punkari u. Eino Ikola,
• 1966, 1st place, Gr, We, ahead of Arto Savolainen a. Alpo Koskiniemi,
• 1966, 1st place, F, Wed, in front of Olavi Niemi u. Aulis Keisala,
• 1967, 1st place, GR, We, before Pentti Salo u. Pauli Tuuti,
• 1967, 1st place, F, Wed, before Pentti Punkari a. Tapani Keisala
• 1968, 2nd place, GR, We, behind Eero Tapio u. in front of Erkki Hämälainen,
• 1969, 1st place, GR, Wed, before Jorma Penttinen u. Kaarlo Wieser,
• 1970, 1st place, GR, Wed, before Leo Petrell u. Matti Riihoja,
• 1970, 1st place, F, Hs, in front of Mauno Tuominen u, Keijo Manni,
• 1971, 1st place, GR, Wed, before Pentti Punkari u. Erkki Haapala,
• 1971, 1st place, F, Wed, before Pentti Punkari u. Markku Latvala,
• 1972, 1st place, GR, Wed, before Erkki Hämäläinen u. Jorma Haatanen,
• 1972, 2nd place, F, Hs, behind Seppo Laitinen u. in front of Matti Riihoja,
• 1973, 2nd place, GR, Mi, behind Pentti Salo u. before Timo Perimäki,
• 1974, 2nd place, F, Wed behind Antti Sepponen u. before Esa Ahvenniemi

swell

• Professional magazine Athletics Numbers 23/1963, page 16, 10/1965, page 16
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of the FILA , 1976, pages O-60, = -75, E-49, W-71, E-53, E-60, E.66, W.82, E-77, W-89 , E-86, O-96
• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,

Note: The results of the Laakso brothers (Matti, * March 23, 1939, and Martti, * December 19, 1943) have been mixed up on this website. The results of the weight classes up to 73 kg, 78 kg and 82 kg belong to Matti Laakso and the results of the weight classes up to 62 kg and 63 kg belong to Martti Laakso.

Web links

• Profile of Matti Laakso at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Matti Laakso in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )