Mikko Nordling

Mikko Nordling (born April 15, 1906 in Porvoo , † 1988 ) was a Finnish wrestler . He was three times European champion in the Greco-Roman style welterweight.

Career

Mikko Nordling started wrestling in 1922 at the age of 16 in Porvoo, southern Finland . One of his trainers was the Finnish old international Adolf Lindfors . He focused on the Greco-Roman style, which was predominantly practiced in European countries at that time. In the course of his career he wrestled for the clubs Porvoon Akilles , Porvoon Veikot, Helsingin Jyry, Helsingin Kisa-Veikot and Helsingin Paini-Miehet. He was a shoemaker by trade.

Mikko Nordling's first sports club belonged to the workers' sports association TUL , which still exists today (2010). He achieved his first success in 1927 at the association championship of this sports association, when he took 3rd place in the middleweight division behind Kalle Tammi and Väinö Kajander . Before 1930 he moved to a club that belonged to the general Finnish wrestling association. In 1930 he was runner-up behind Aarne Mäki at the Finnish championship in the welterweight class, which was only introduced in 1929 . At the European Championships this year in Stockholm , however, he was preferred to Mäki and won the European Championship there with victories over Jaroslaw Jaros, Czechoslovakia , Torsten Bergström , Sweden , Gyula Zombory , Hungary and Jean Földeák , Germany .

In 1931 he started at the Finnish middleweight championship and finished second behind Olympic champion Väinö Kokkinen . At the European Championships in Prague in 1931 , he started again in the welterweight division and won the European championship there for the second time. In the decisive battles he defeated Ercole Gallegati , Italy , Albert Kusnets , Estonia and Gunnar Glans , Sweden .

In 1932 Mikko Nordling was the first Finnish welterweight champion ahead of Veikko Korhonen and Oskari Halonen. Although in 1932, as a two-time European champion, he was certainly the best welterweight wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling in the world, because the European championships in this style were equivalent to world championships at the time, he was not sent from Finland to the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles . The reason was that his former TUL rival Väinö Kajander had emigrated to the United States in the late 1920s and, although he was already 39, offered to compete for the Finnish team in Los Angeles . The Finnish federation accepted this offer for financial reasons and so Kajander started in the welterweight division at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, while Mikko Nordling had to stay at home.

In 1933 Mikko Nordling was again Finnish welterweight champion before S. Ilmarinen and V. Kaijanen and at the European championship in Helsinki at home , he won the European welterweight title for the third time. He defeated Ercole Gallegati , Oswald Möchel from Germany, Albert Kusnets and Gunnar Glans .

At the European Championships in Rome in 1934 he was no longer able to defend his title. He was defeated in the fight for this title this time against Gunnar Glans , whom he had defeated in 1931 and 1933 and finished second behind this.

From 1935, Mikko Nordling only started in the middleweight division due to weight problems. In this weight class, however, he only finished 3rd in the Finnish championship this year behind Arvi Pikkusaari and Elis Wecksten. He could no longer qualify for further international championships, including the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin .

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
1930	1.	EM in Stockholm	Welter	with victories over Jaroslaw Jaros, Czechoslovakia , Torsten Bergström , Sweden , Gyula Zombory , Hungary a . Jean Földeák , Germany
1931	1.	EM in Prague	Welter	with victories over Ivan Markovic, Yugoslavia , Ryszard Blazyca, Poland , Ercole Gallegati , Italy , Albert Kusnets , Estonia and Gunnar Glans , Sweden
1933	1.	EM in Helsinki	Welter	with victories over Ercole Gallegati , Oswald Möchel , Germany, Albert Kusnets u. Gunnar Glans
1934	2.	EM in Rome	Welter	with victories over Louis Claverie, France , Arild Dahl, Norway , F. Rejniak, Poland a. Ercole Gallegati et al. a loss to Gunnar Glans

Finnish championships

year	space	Weight class	Result
1927	3.	medium	behind Kalle Tammi u. Väinö Kajander (in the TUL Association)
1930	2.	Welter	behind Aarne Mäki , in front of G. Lindquist
1931	2.	medium	behind Väinö Kokkinen , in front of Edvard Westerlund
1932	1.	Welter	before Veikko Korhonen and Oskari Halonen
1933	1.	Welter	before S. Ilmarinen and V. Kaijanen
1935	3.	medium	behind Arvi Pikkusaari u. Eli's Wecksten

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• EM = European Championship
• Welter weight since 1929 up to 72 kg, middle weight, up to 1928 up to 75 kg, since 1929 up to 79 kg body weight

swell

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976
• Websites of the Finnish Wrestling Association and the Sports Association TUL