Richard Garrard

Richard ("Dick") Edward Garrard (born November 21, 1911 in Geelong , Victoria ; † March 3, 2003 ) was an Australian wrestler who won a free style welterweight silver medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London .

Career

Dick Garrard began wrestling at the age of 15 in 1926. As was common in all Anglophile countries at the time, he concentrated on the free style. In the course of his career he was a total of ten times Australian champion in free style in light and welterweight.

His international career began in 1934 with a lightweight victory at the British Empire Games in London. He won there ahead of G. North from England and Howard Thomas from Canada . In 1936 he started, again as a lightweight, at the Olympic Games in Berlin . But he lost there against Paride Romagnoli from Italy and the later Olympic champion Károly Kárpáti from Hungary and ended up in 12th place. In 1938 he was again winner of the lightweight in Sydney at the British Empire Games ahead of Vernon Thomas from New Zealand and Alfred Harding from South Africa .

The international wrestling career was interrupted by the Second World War , as was the case with many wrestling colleagues of the same age. It would certainly have been Dick Garrard's best years of wrestling.

So he had to wait until 1948 before he could start again in a major international championship. It was the Olympic Games in London . At the age of 38 he achieved the greatest success of his career in the welterweight division by winning the Olympic silver medal . Victories over Willi Angst from Switzerland , Kalman Sovari from Hungary , A. Bhargava from India and Jean Leclerc from France helped him achieve this . Against Leland Merrill from the United States he lost just on points (1: 2) and he was shouldered by Yaşar Doğu from Turkey . The reason he won the silver medal was due to the rules in force at the time, because although he had lost to Leland Merrill, he placed ahead of him because he had fewer missing points than this.

In 1950, Dick Garrard won the third time at the British Empire Games , which took place in Auckland , New Zealand . In the lightweight he won ahead of Morgan Plumb from Canada and George Hobson from New Zealand . At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 he came in lightweight to victories over Osvaldo Blasi from Argentina and Jack Ward from Ireland . After a defeat in the 3rd round against Takeo Shimotori from Japan , he was eliminated and came in 10th place.

In 1954, now at the age of 44, he started again at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 in Vancouver, Canada . In the lightweight he won a bronze medal behind Godfrey A. Pienaar from South Africa and Ruby Leibovitch from Canada. In the same year he also took part in the World Championships in Tokyo and even trained in featherweight. But he only managed one victory over Mansuato Napilay from the Philippines in Tokyo . He lost against Geza Hoffmann from Hungary and Alan Rice from the United States and with these results reached 7th place.

1956 Dick Garrard wanted to start again at the Olympic Games , which took place in Melbourne , so in his home country Australia . But he could no longer qualify for the Australian team. He then ended his career as an active wrestler. In the following years he held various management positions in both the Australian Wrestling Association and the Australian Olympic Committee. He also received several prestigious awards. In 1970 he became a Member of the British Empire (MBE) and was inducted into the "Hall of Fame" of Australian Sports.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1934	1	British Empire Games in London	Light	before G. North, England and Howard Thomas, Canada
1936	12	Summer Olympics in Berlin	Light	after losing to Paride Romagnoli, Italy and Károly Kárpáti , Hungary
1938	1	British Empire Games in Sydney	Light	before Vernon Thomas, New Zealand and Alfred Harding, South Africa
1948	2	Summer Olympics in London	Welter	with victories over Willy Angst , Switzerland , Kalman Sovari , Hungary , A. Bhargava, India and Jean Leclerc , France and defeats against Leland Merrill , USA and Yaşar Doğu , Turkey
1950	1	British Empire Games in Auckland	Light	before Morgan Plumb, Canada a. George Hobson, New Zealand
1952	10	Summer Olympics in Helsinki	Light	with wins over Osvaldo Blasi, Argentina and Jack Ward, Ireland and one loss against Takeo Shimotori, Japan
1954	3	British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver	Light	behind Godfrey Pienaar, South Africa and Ruby Leibovitch, Canada
1954	7th	World Championships in Tokyo	feather	with a win over Mansuato Napilay, Philippines and defeats against Geza Hoffmann , Hungary and Alan Rice , USA

Note: all competitions in free style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championships, featherweight, up to 62 kg, lightweight, until 1939 up to 66 kg, then up to 67 kg, welterweight, up to 73 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal athletics ,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,
• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Website "www.wrestling.com.au"

Web link

Profile of Richard Garrard at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science