Mikuláš Athanasov

Mikuláš Athanasov (born November 28, 1930 in Košice ; † December 25, 2005 ibid) was a Czechoslovakian wrestler . He won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman style in the lightweight at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 .

Career

Mikuláš Athanasov, a Slovak, grew up in Košice and started playing football there at the age of 10. During the training he saw other young people who were training to wrestle and from then on became interested in the sport. His first coach in Kosice was Ladislav Nagy. As early as 1943 he won a medal at the Hungarian Youth Championship in Diósgyőr . In 1947 he was the first time master of Slovakia in Greco-Roman. Featherweight style. In 1949 he was accepted into the Czechoslovak national team of wrestlers.

In 1950 he played his first international assignment when he met the multiple Soviet champion Yaltyrjan in an international match between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union in Prague and was only slightly defeated by points.

In 1952, Mikuláš Athanasov started at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in Greco-Roman style. He achieved four victories in the lightweight. But he couldn't do anything against the powerful world class wrestlers Gustav Freij from Sweden and Schazam Safin from the Soviet Union. But at least he won the bronze medal , which meant a great success for him.

In 1955 he was used at the World Championships in Karlsruhe . Again in the Greco-Roman style in the lightweight he reached a good 7th place. He won two fights, but lost again to Gustav Freij and the Bulgarian Dimitar Stojanow .

In 1956 there were differences with the Czechoslovak wrestling association. The reason was that a new trainer for the wrestling national relay team was appointed, who placed less emphasis on the wrestler's technique than on the strength of the same. To gain strength, the national relay wrestler should work in a quarry. This led to the fact that the wrestlers showed up for training completely exhausted and could no longer train effectively. Mikuláš Athanasov spoke out against this concept and was banned from the national team. The 1956 Olympic Games therefore took place without him.

He then began training as a coach in 1956 and then trained the wrestlers of Lokomotive Kosice . Soon after, he was rehabilitated, but never returned to the wrestling mat. Later he even became a member of the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, GR = Greco-Roman style, WM = World Championships, Le = lightweight, then up to 67 kg body weight)

• 1952, bronze medal , OS in Helsinki , GR, Le, with victories over Georgios Petmezas, Greece , Andre Verdaine, France , Zbigniew Szajewski, Poland a . Franco Benedetti , Italy and defeats to Gustav Freij , Sweden and Schazam Safin , Soviet Union

• 1955, 7th place , World Championships in Karlsruhe , GR, Le, with victories over Burhan Pandül, Turkey and Hans Both, Saarland and defeats against Gustav Freij and Dimitar Stojanow , Bulgaria

International battles

(as far as known)

• 1950 in Prague , Czechoslovakia against the Soviet Union , GR, Le, point defeat against Armenak Jaltyrjan
• 1951 in Leuna , GDR against Czechoslovakia, GR, Le, victory over Haase
• 1951 in Greiz , GDR against Czechoslovakia, GR, Le, point defeat against Helmut Albrecht
• 1954 in Prague, Czechoslovakia against GDR, GR, Le, point defeat against Helmut Albrecht

swell

• Athletics magazine

Web links

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