Momir Petković

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Momir Petković (born July 21, 1953 in Subotica ) is a former Yugoslav wrestler .

Career

Momir Petković began wrestling in Subotica when he was seven years old. At the top Yugoslav club “Spartak” Subotica he found good coaches who quickly brought him forward. He has already achieved good results at the international level in the youth and junior sector. He wrestled exclusively in the Greco-Roman style. He made his debut on the international wrestling mat at the 1970 European Youth Championships in Huskvarna, Sweden . There he took an excellent 2nd place in the class up to 75 kg body weight. At the Junior European Championships in 1972 he started in the light heavyweight division and again achieved an excellent 2nd place. In 1972 he also won his first title at the Yugoslav Senior Championships. He was only 19 years old at the time.

In 1973 he was used by the association at the European Middleweight Championships in Helsinki . He won three fights, but then lost to Miroslav Janota from Czechoslovakia and Dimitar Ivanov from Bulgaria and ended up in 5th place. In 1974 and 1975 he was only used at the European Championships in Madrid and Ludwigshafen am Rhein . But he couldn't hold his own in the front field there. At the World Championships in 1973, 1974 and 1975, Milan Nenadić was preferred to him.

In 1976 Petković was initially not used at the European Championships in Leningrad . But his appearance at the Olympic Games in Montreal that same year turned out to be all the more sensational . There Momir Petković won the gold medal in the middleweight division with six superior victories. Ivan Kolew from Bulgaria and Vladimir Cheboksarov from the Soviet Union had no chance against him in the final bouts .

In 1977, 1978 and 1979 Petković only started at the World Championships. In Gothenburg , Mexico City and San Diego , he finished third and was twice vice world champion. Each time his soup was salty by the Romanian Ion Draica , who defeated him at each of these events.

In 1980 Petković was neither at the European Championships nor at the Olympic Games in Moscow.

In 1981 he was there again and won the runner-up title again. In Oslo he won his last medal at an international championship. In the final battle he was defeated by the Soviet athlete Gennadi Korban .

At the 1982 European Championships in Varna and the 1982 World Championships in Katowice , he had to make do with the ungrateful 4th place and at the 1983 European Championships in Budapest he only ended up in 6th place. Nevertheless, Petković wanted to end his career at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles again to win a medal. He narrowly missed this with a 4th place when he was defeated by the Swede Sören Claesson in the battle for the bronze medal with 5: 2 points.

Momir Petković emigrated from Yugoslavia to the United States with his family in 1986 . He was initially a coach at the New York Athletic Club until 1992 and then supervised the US national team of wrestlers in the Greco-Roman style as an assistant coach or head coach. There he played a key role in Rulon Gardner's Olympic victory in 2000 and his spectacular victory over Alexander Karelin from Russia and in the medals won by Matt Lindland and Brandon Paulson .

The results of the international championships and some other tournaments in which Momir Petkovic participated can be seen in the following section.

successes

International

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, then up to 82 kg or 90 kg body weight)

Yugoslav championships

Momir Petković won the Yugoslav championship in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1976 in Greco-Roman. Middleweight style.

Web links