Pietro Lombardi (wrestler)

Pietro Lombardi

Pietro Lombardi (born June 4, 1922 in Bari ; † October 5, 2011 ibid) was an Italian wrestler . His greatest success was winning the flyweight ( Greco-Roman ) Olympic Games in London in 1948 .

Career

Pietro Lombardi was one of five brothers from Bari in southern Italy. In 1938 he began wrestling and, within a few years, under the guidance of trainers Pietro Sciannimanico and Ferdinando Lapalorcia, developed into one of the best Italian wrestlers in the Greco-Roman style in the easy classes. On July 19, 1942, he played his first international match against Germany in Rome and won over Georg Pulheim from Cologne on points.

He made his debut at an international championship in 1947 at the European Championship in the Greco-Roman style in Prague . Starting in the flyweight division, Lombardi won a fight and finished in 7th place. Another Pietro Lombardi was seen at the 1948 Olympic Games in London . He won the five fights that he had to contest and became an Olympic champion. He defeated u in this tournament. a. the strong wrestlers Kenan Olcay from Turkey and Reino Kangasmäki from Finland , who finished second and third behind him.

In 1949 he won notable international battles over Nasuh Akar , Turkey, Maurice Faure, France , Melik Eren, Turkey, Bumberger, Austria and Thevenet, France. In 1950, Lombardi started in Stockholm at the first World Cup after World War II . In the meantime he had moved up to the bantamweight. He won four fights, but was defeated by the Turkish Halil Kaya and the all surprising Egyptian Mahmoud Ali Hassan , who became world champion and took 3rd place.

At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 Lombardi won the bantamweight first over Hubert Persson from Sweden and Rudolf Tobola from Poland on points, but then had to retire after the third round after a defeat against Artyom Terjan from the Soviet Union and ended up in 8th place.

In qualifying for the 1953 World Cup in Naples, Lombardi lost to Giovanni Cocco on points. It was all the more remarkable that he was able to qualify again for the World Cup in Karlsruhe in 1955 at the age of 33 . In Karlsruhe he started in excellent form and at the end of his great career he won another bronze medal at the World Championships.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, Fl = flyweight, Ba = bantam weight, at that time up to 52 kg or 57 kg body weight)

• 1947, 7th place , EM in Prague , GR, Fl, with a victory over Mehmet Koc, Turkey and defeats against Bertil Sundin , Sweden and Lennart Viitala , Finland ;
• 1948, gold medal , OS in London , Gr, Fl, with victories over Svend Aage Thomsen, Denmark , Malte Möller, Sweden, Mohamed El Ward, Egypt , Reino Kangasmäki , Finland and Kenan Olcay , Turkey;
• 1950, 3rd place , World Cup in Stockholm , GR, Ba, with victories over Alojz Moguljak, Yugoslavia , Erkki Johanssen, Finland, Zakaria Chihab, Lebanon and Eduard Genton, Switzerland and defeats to Halil Kaya , Turkey and Mahmoud Ali Hassan , Egypt;
• 1951, 1st place , Mediterranean Games, GR, Ba;
• 1952, 8th place , OS in Helsinki , GR, Ba, with victories over Hubert Persson , Sweden and Rudolf Tobola , Poland and one defeat against Artjom Terjan , Soviet Union ;
• 1955, 3rd place , World Championship in Karlsruhe , GR, Ba, with victories over Kjell-Steen Nielsen, Norway , Gerhard Alflen, Netherlands and Sotiris Panayatopoulos, Greece and defeats against Franz Brunner, Austria , Yasar Yilmaz , Turkey and Vladimir Staschkewitsch , Soviet Union

Italian championships

Pietro Lombardi was Italian champion in the Greco-Roman style in 1947 in flyweight and in 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1952 in bantamweight, also he was Italian champion in free style in 1947, 1949 and 1951 in bantamweight.

literature

• various issues of the specialist magazine " Athletik " from 1948 to 1955,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Corriere del mezzogiorno: Obituary (Italian), October 5th 2011, accessed 14 October 2011