Mitsuru Satō (wrestler)

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Mitsuru Satō ( Japanese佐藤 満, Satō Mitsuru ; * December 21, 1961 ) is a former Japanese wrestler and Olympic champion in 1988 in free style in flyweight.

Career

Mitsuru Satō began wrestling as a teenager in high school. He later attended the Nippon Sport Science University in Tokyo , where he found very good training conditions and coaches. In 1981 he first drew attention to himself on the international wrestling stage when he became the student flyweight world champion in free style in Bucharest .

In 1983 Sato disappointed at the Asian Championship in Tehran when he only came in 4th place. He also failed to qualify for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles . He then won his first World Championship medal at the World Championship in Budapest in 1985 , when he finished third behind superstar Valentin Jordanow from Bulgaria and the Soviet athlete Minatulla Daibow .

In 1986 Sato won the flyweight title at the Asian Games in Seoul in front of the Iranian defending champion Yaghoob Najafi Jouybari . In the same year he was also vice world champion in Budapest behind the North Korean Kim Young Sik but before Valentin Jordanow. He also won a medal at the 1987 World Cup in Clermont-Ferrand . He took 3rd place there behind his old rivals Valentin Jordanow and Kim Young Sik.

The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul were the climax of Mitsuru Satō's career . After Valentin Jordanow had failed in the preliminary round, he succeeded in winning the Olympic gold before the 1984 Olympic champion Šaban Trstena from Yugoslavia and the Soviet athlete Vladimir Toguzov .

1989 and 1990 Satō paused on the international wrestling mat. The comeback, which he tried in 1991, he only succeeded halfway, because he finished 5th at the 1991 World Cup in Varna and came 6th at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona , each in flyweight. Since these placements certainly did not meet his requirements, he finally said goodbye to the international wrestling mat after the 1992 Olympic Games.

He became a wrestling coach at his home university.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, F = free style, Fl = flyweight, back then up to 52 kg body weight)

literature

  • Div. Issues of the trade journal "Der Ringer" from 1981 to 1992,
  • International Wrestling Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Satō, Mitsuru
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1961