Petros Galaktopoulos

Petros Galaktopoulos ( Greek Πέτρος Γαλακτόπουλος ; born June 6, 1945 in Athens ) is a former Greek wrestler . He was a medal winner at the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972 in the Greco-Roman style in light and welterweight.

Career

Petros Galaktopoulos started wrestling as a teenager at the sports club "Ethnikos GS" Athens in 1960 . He quickly developed into an excellent wrestler in both styles, who was able to place himself in the front of the field in the 1962 Pan-Hellenistic Championships. Galaktopoulos made his debut at international championships when he was nineteen at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo . Starting in featherweight he came in a good 8th place in the Greco-Roman style, on which he concentrated from then on.

At the World Championships in Tampere in 1965 he started in the lightweight and achieved superior victories in his first two fights. Due to a shoulder defeat in his third fight against Klaus Pohl from Halle , he was eliminated and finished in 7th place.

At the European Championships in Essen in 1966 , Galaktopoulos was unlucky because he injured himself so badly in his second fight against Franz Schmitt from Mainz that he had to give up and was unable to take part in any international championships in 1967. For the first time after his injury break he was back at the European Championship in 1968 in Västerås . But he couldn't place himself in the front field in the lightweight. All the more surprising was his medal win at the Olympic Games in Mexico City that same year . Galaktopoulos was in excellent shape, winning five fights, including victories in the revenge against Klaus Pohl and over world champion Gennady Sapunov from the Soviet Union . He also fought against former world champion Stevan Horvat from Yugoslavia in a draw. A defeat against the Japanese Muneji Munemura prevented his Olympic victory .

At the European Championships in Berlin in 1970 , Galaktopoulos just missed a medal with a 4th place, which he won in the same year at the World Welterweight Championships in Edmonton . In Edmonton he wrestled against world champion Viktor Igumenow from the Soviet Union , but lost to Werner Schröter from Schifferstadt and came in 3rd place.

Galaktopoulos was able to celebrate his first title win in 1972 at the European welterweight championship in Katowice , and at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich Galaktopoulos was just about to win the Olympic gold. After three wins and a draw against Wiktor Igumenow, he had fought his way into the final against Vítězslav Mácha from Czechoslovakia against whom he had won at the European Championships in Katowice. Mácha was able to turn the tables in Munich and defeat Galaktopoulos just on points. Galaktopoulos thus won the silver medal.

After a two-year break from competition, Galaktopoulos started a comeback in 1975, which initially failed, because at the European Championships in 1975 he had to give up due to injury in his second fight in which he met Vitešlav Macha. At the World Cup in 1975 he could not start because of this injury. At the European Championships in 1976 in Leningrad , Galaktopoulos managed to win a medal with third place. Galaktopoulos could not achieve his goal of winning a medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal . After a victory over the Canadian Brian Renken, he lost to the two German starters Klaus-Peter Göpfert from Suhl and Karl-Heinz Helbing from Mainz and came in 8th place.

After 1976 Galaktopoulos ended his career as an active wrestler. He worked as a coach in Greece for many years and was also the coach of the Greek national wrestling team. Galaktopoulos is also an Athens businessman in the food and tourism industries. For many years he was President of the Association of Hellenic Olympic Champions. In 2004 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, Fe = featherweight, Le = lightweight, We = welterweight, back then up to 63 kg, 70 kg or 74 kg body weight)

• 1964, 8th place , OS in Tokyo , GR, Fe, with a victory over Kim Bong-Jo, North Korea and defeats against Johann Marte, Austria and Imre Polyák , Hungary ;
• 1965, 7th place , World Championships in Tampere , GR, Le, with victories over Adil Güngör, Turkey and Giovanni Delmonte, Italy and a defeat against Klaus Pohl , GDR ;
• 1966, unpl. , WM in Essen , GR, Le, after a victory over Josef Brötzner, Austria, retired due to injury in the fight against Franz Schmitt (wrestler) , FRG ;
• 1967, 2nd place , Mediterranean Games in Tunis , GR, Le, behind Stevan Horvat , Yugoslavia and in front of Pero Bellotti, Italy;
• 1968, 19th place , Em in Västerås , GR, Le, after defeats against Boris Butrakow , Bulgaria and Wladimir Novochatko , USSR ;
• 1968, bronze medal , OS in Mexico City , GR, Le, with victories over Mario Tovar, Mexico , Klaus Pohl, Gennadi Sapunow , USSR and Antonius Margaca Galantinho, Portugal , one draw against Stevan Horvat and one loss against Muneji Munemura , Japan ;
• 1970, 4th place , EM in Berlin , GR, We, with victories over Werner Schröter , FRG, Jaques Van Lancker, Belgium and Robert Blaser, Switzerland , a draw against Momir Kecman , Yugoslavia and defeats against Antal Steer , Hungary and Wiktor Igumenow , USSR;
• 1970, 3rd place , World Championships in Edmonton , GR, We, with victories over Franz Berger , Austria, John Stanley, New Zealand and Sırrı Acar , Turkey, a draw against Wiktor Igumenow and a defeat against Werner Schröter;
• 1971, 3rd place , World Cup in Sofia , GR, We, with victories over Bruno Brugnolo, Italy, Miklós Hegedüs , Hungary, Muneji Munemura, Werner Schröter and Boris Butrakow, a draw against Daniel Robin , France and Wiktor Igumenow and a defeat against Momir Kecman;
• 1972, 1st place , EM in Katowice , GR, We, with victories over Kurt Gansserich, FRG, Johann Kiss, Austria, Kasim Halilow , USSR, Boris Butrakow and Vítězslav Mácha , Czechoslovakia and a draw against Stanisław Krzesiński , Poland ;
• 1972, silver medal , OS in Munich , GR, We, with victories over Constant Bens, Belgium, Franz Berger, Austria and Eero Tapio , Finland , a draw against Wiktor Igumenow and a defeat against Vítězslav Mácha;
• 1975, unpl. EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , GR, We, after a victory over Gheorghe Ciobotaru , Romania , retired due to injury in the fight against Vítězslav Mácha;
• 1976, 3rd place , EM in Leningrad , GE, We, with victories over Josip Major, Yugoslavia, Jacques Van Lancker and Ferenc Kocsis , Hungary and defeats against Iosif Berishvili , USSR, Gheorghe Ciobotaru and Janko Schopow , Bulgaria;
• 1976, 8th place , OS in Montreal , GR, We, with a victory over Brian Renken , Canada and defeats against Klaus-Peter Göpfert , GDR and Karl-Heinz Helbing , FRG

swell

• various issues of the specialist magazines "Athletik" from 1964 to 1975 and "Der Ringer" from 1976,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,
• International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig,
• Website of the Hellenic International Olympic Committee (slightly incorrect)

Web links

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