Petar Kirov

Petar Kirow ( Bulgarian Петър Киров ; born September 17, 1942 in Kaltschewo , Yambol Oblast ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler . He was Olympic champion in 1968 and 1972 as well as multiple world and European champion in the Greco-Roman style in flyweight.

Career

Petar Kirov started wrestling as a teenager. After initial successes, he was delegated to Sofia , where he began to study sports and became a member of "Akademisk" Sofia. Even in the junior division he was one of the best Bulgarian wrestlers in the Greco-Roman style, but was only able to prevail against the strong domestic competition at the age of 24, which is late for a wrestler. Nonetheless, he had an unusually successful career that culminated in winning two Olympic gold medals, three world championships and four European championships.

His first start at an international championship was in 1966 at the European Flyweight Championship in Essen in 1966 , the weight class in which he only competed in international championships. He won there in the first three fights on points and retired after a point defeat against the Finn Reino Salimäki because of reaching 6 missing points and came in fifth place. A year later he became European flyweight champion in Minsk . He won there u. a. against the Soviet starter Sergei Rybalko and against Rolf Lacour from Germany. A point defeat against the Hungarian Imre Alker could not prevent his victory . Angel Keresow started for Bulgaria at the 1966 and 1967 World Championships.

In 1968 Petar Kirow remained undefeated in five fights at the European Championships in Västerås , Sweden , but after a draw against Iwan Kotschergin from the Soviet Union , his results only reached 2nd place. For this he triumphed at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City . He celebrated six victories there and won the gold medal . In the decisive fights he beat the Soviet wrestler Vladimir Bakulin and the Czech Miroslav Zemen each on points.

In 1969 he could not start at the European Championships in Modena because Bulgaria boycotted this championship. The reason was that the Italian organizer, at the behest of the Italian government, refused to fly the GDR flag. But in March of that year he had already taken part in the World Championships in Mar del Plata and only finished 4th. A draw against Boško Marinko from Yugoslavia and a defeat against the Iranian Firuz Arlouzadeh cost him a medal there.

But 1970 turned into one of the most successful years in Petar Kirov's career. In the spring of this year he won the title at the European Championships in East Berlin and in the fall he won the World Championships in Edmonton . He won there u. a. about Imre Alker and in the decisive fight against Jan Michalik from Poland . A defeat in a preliminary round match against the Japanese Saburo Sugiyama was ultimately irrelevant.

In 1971, Petar Kirov concentrated entirely on the World Cup taking place in Sofia . Of course, he really wanted to become world champion in Sofia, which he succeeded. After victories over his toughest rivals Koichiro Hirayama from Japan and Gheorghe Stoiciu from Romania, a draw against Jan Michalik was enough for him in the final battle.

In 1972 it initially seemed as if Petar Kirov's star was already dying out. He lost namely at the European Championships in Katowice against Jan Michalik and the Soviet wrestler Vitaly Konstantinow on points and therefore only came in 3rd place. At the Olympic Games in Munich this year , he was therefore not necessarily a favorite. But the shrewd tactician managed to win the gold medal again. He defeated six opponents in Munich, including his feared opponent Jan Michalik, and lost to Koichiro Hirayama, a defeat that had no negative consequences.

In 1973 Petar Kirov took a break from international championships. In 1974 he was successful again at the European Championships in Madrid . He won u. a. about the Soviet wrestler Valeri Arutjunow and Rolf Krauss from Ludwigshafen am Rhein . He was also successful at the World Cup in Katowice that year . He was in great shape there and defeated Koichiro Hirayama, Bruce Thompson from the USA , Valeri Arutjunow, Lajos Rácz from Hungary and others. Nicu Gângă from Romania five world-class athletes. He only had to be content with a draw against Jan Michalik.

For the now 34-year-old Petar Kirov, 1976 was to be the crowning glory of his hugely successful career. He won first in Leningrad by a final victory over the Soviet wrestler Vladimir Shatunov again the European title and started optimistically in the wrestling tournament at the Olympic Games in Montreal . There he was very unlucky, because he was injured so badly in his first fight against Nicu Gângă that he had to give up this fight and was unable to continue.

Despite this mishap, Petar Kirov was one of the most successful Greco-Roman wrestlers of all time. After the 1976 Olympic tournament, he resigned. He successfully completed his sports studies at the NSA (National Sports Academy) in Sofia and then worked as a coach at several Sofia clubs. From 1987 until his retirement he was a lecturer at the NSA. In September 2007 he was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame for his services to wrestling .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Fl = flyweight, BA = bantam weight, back then up to 52 kg or 57 kg body weight)

• 1966, 1st place , Balkan Games in Ljubljana , GR, Fl, before Boško Marinko , Yugoslavia a . Vassilios Ganotis, Greece ;
• 1966, 5th place , EM in Essen , GR, Fl, with victories over Roman Kochanski, Poland , Vassilios Ganotis u. Metin Cikmaz, Turkey a . a loss to Reino Salimäki , Finland ;
• 1967, 2nd place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Moscow , GR, Fl, behind Wladimir Bakulin , USSR and in front of Karamat Agajew, USSR, Stefan Hajduk , Poland a. Boško Marinko;
• 1967, 1st place , EM in Minsk , GR, Fl, with victories over Trond Martiniussen, Norway , Metin Cikmaz, Stefan Hajduk, Sergei Rybalko , USSR a. Rolf Lacour , FRG a. despite a loss to Imre Alker , Hungary ;
• 1967, 3rd place , Pre-Olympic Games in Mexico City , GR, Fl, behind Boško Marinko u. Wladimir Bakulin u. before Imre Alker;
• 1968, 1st place , "Dan-Kolew" tournament in Sevljewo / Bulgaria , GR, Fl, before Massajew, USSR a. Maca, CSSR;
• 1968, 2nd place , EM in Västerås , GR, Fl, with victories over Anronio Olmo, Spain , Imre Alker, Gheorghe Stoiciu , Romania a. Jussi Vesterinen, Finland a. a draw with Ivan Kochergin , USSR;
• 1968, 1st place , tournament in Zella-Mehlis , GR, Fl, before Kjell Fernström , Sweden a . Berthold Bitterling, GDR ;
• 1968, gold medal , OS in Mexico City, GR, Fl, with victories over Vassilios Ganotis, Domenico Centurioni, Italy , Metin Cikmaz, Wladimir Bakulin u. Miroslav Zeman , CSSR ;
• 1969, 1st place , "Stanislaw-Pytlasinski" tournament in Warsaw , GR, Fl, before Szczepanski u. Nowicki, bde. Poland;
• 1969, 4th place , World Championship in Mar del Plata / Argentina , GR, Fl, with victories over Rolf Lacour u. Arthur Chavez, USA, a draw against Boško Marinko u. a loss to Firuz Arlouzadeh , Iran ;
• 1970, 1st place , EM in East Berlin , GR, Fl, with victories over Alex Bürger, Denmark , Gheorghe Stoiciu, Rolf Lacour u. Boško Marinko u. a tie against Kim Olsojew , USSR;
• 1970, 1st place , World Championships in Edmonton , GR, Fl, with victories over Hasan Ibrahim, Lebanon , Giuseppe Bognanni , Italy, Gheorghe Stoiciu, Imre Alker u. Jan Michalik , Poland and despite a loss to Saburo Sugiyama , Japan ;
• 1971, 2nd place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Berlin, GR, Ba, behind János Varga , Hungary a. before Wolfgang Radmacher , GDR;
• 1971, 1st place , "Nikola-Petrow" tournament in Varna , GR, Fl, in front of Vladimir Bakulin a. József Doncsecz , Hungary;
• 1971, 1st place , World Cup in Sofia , GR, Fl, with victories over Koichiro Hirayama , Japan, Heinz Schmidt , GDR, Ole Sörensen, Denmark a. Gheorghe Stoiciu et al. a draw with Jan Michalak;
• 1972, 1st place , "Nikola Petrow" tournament in Sofia, GR, Fl, in front of Vitaly Konstantinov , USSR a. József Doncsecz;
• 1972, 3rd place , EM in Katowice , GR, Fl, with victories over Miroslav Zeman, Otto Köb, Austria a . Erkki Huhtala, Finland a. Defeats against Witali Konstantinow a. Jan Michalik;
• 1972, gold medal , OS in Munich , GR, Fl, with victories over Mehdi Houriar, Iran, Miroslav Zeman, Mohamed Karmous, Morocco , Jemran Monhochir, Mongolia , Giuseppe Bognanni u. Jan Michalik u. despite a loss to Koichiro Hirayama;
• 1974, 1st place , "Nikola Petrow" tournament in Pleven , GR, Fl, before Valeri Arutjunow , USSR a. Najdenow, Bulgaria;
• 1974, 1st place , EM in Madrid , GR, Fl, with victories over Slobodan Djordjevic, Yugoslavia , Jan Michalik, Bilal Tabur , Turkey, Nicu Gângă , Romania, József Doncsecz, Rolf Krauss , FRG a. Valery Arutjunov;
• 1974, 1st place , World Championships in Katowice, GR, Fl, with victories over Koichiro Hirayama, Bruce Thompson , USA, Valeri Arutjunow, Lajos Rácz , Hungary a. Nicu Gângă u. a draw with Jan Michalik;
• 1975, 1st place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Aschaffenburg , GR, Fl, ahead of Nicu Gângă u. Paul Schneider, FRG;
• 1976, 1st place , EM in Leningrad , GR, Fl, with victories over Lajos Rácz, Alois Van Leempul, Belgium , Haralambos Holidis , Greece a. Vladimir Shatunov , USSR;
• 1976, unpl. , OS in Montreal , GR, Fl, surrendered due to injury in his first fight against Nicu Gângă

swell

• Professional magazines Athletics from 1966 to 1975 and Der Ringer from 1976,
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of FILA , 1976, pages: E-47, E-51, E-58, O-82, W-80, E-75, W-86, W-101, E-84, O- 93, E-96, W-120, E-113 u. O-98,
• Wrestling database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FILA Class of 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on July 21, 2010