Reino Kangasmäki

Reino Kalervo Kangasmäki (born July 2, 1916 in Kokkola , Keski-Pohjanmaa , † September 26, 2010 in Vaasa , Pohjanmaa ) was a Finnish wrestler . He won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman style flyweight at the 1948 London Olympics .

Career

Reino Kangasmäki began wrestling as a teenager in his hometown of Kokkola. He also became a member of the Kokkolan Jymyä sports club . He later moved to the Vasaan Tovenit sports club . Both clubs belonged to the Finnish Workers' Sports Association TUL. At that time there was a close cooperation between this sports association and the general Finnish sports association, so that the athletes of the TUL association could also compete in the championships of the general sports associations.

Reino Kangasmäki also took advantage of this and so it came about that in 1943 he took 3rd place at the Finnish championships of the TUL sports association in the Greco-Roman style bantamweight and also achieved the same place at the championships of the general Finnish wrestling association. These were the first medals he won at Finnish championships, when he was 27 years old. In 1945 he was the third winner again at the Finnish championships of the TUL association in bantamweight. In 1947 he was in the general Finnish wrestling federation of Finnish vice-champions in flyweight and in 1948 he succeeded in the sports federation TUL in flyweight the only title win at a Finnish championship. The fact that he did not achieve even greater success at the national level was due to the exceptionally strong competition he had in his country. Only the following names may be mentioned: Väinö Perttunen , Kauko Kiisseli and Lennart Viitala .

In 1948 he was nominated by the Finnish National Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games in London. He started there in the Greco-Roman style in flyweight. He won his first fight against Malte Möller from Sweden and his second against Edmond Faure from France . He then lost two fights, against Pietro Lombardi from Italy , who later became Olympic champion , and against Gyula Szilágyi from Hungary . With these results he came in 3rd place and won an Olympic bronze medal . This competition was the only international championship in which Reino Kangasmäki participated.

Reino Kangasmäki died in 2010 at the age of 94.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1948	bronze	OS in London	To fly	after victories over Malte Möller, Sweden and Edmond Faure , France and defeats against Pietro Lombardi , Italy and Gyula Szilágyi , Hungary

Finnish championships

year	space	Association	Weight class	Results
1943	3.	General	Bantam	behind Kauko Kiisseli and Erkki Johansson
1943	3.	TUL	Bantam	behind Veikko Holmberg and Viljo Koritanta
1945	3.	TUL	Bantam	behind Väinö Markkanen and Veikko Holmberg
1947	2.	General	To fly	behind Alvar Vihersalo, in front of Urho Suvanto
1948	1.	TUL	To fly	in front of Olli Valkonen and Viljo Kotiranta

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games
• Fly weight, back then up to 52 kg, bantam weight up to 56 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Documentation "Wrestling Championships" by FILA, 1976

Web links

• Reino Kangasmäki in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Website "www.tulpaini.fi"