Rimantas Bagdonas

Rimantas Bagdonas (born January 25, 1938 in Biržai , Lithuania ) is a former Soviet wrestler of Lithuanian origin. In 1965 he was world champion in the Greco-Roman style middleweight division.

Life

In 1964 Bagdonas graduated from the Kiev Sports Institute .

Rimantas Bagdonas developed as a youth into an excellent wrestler in the Greco-Roman style. In the first half of the 1960s he was one of the best Soviet wrestlers and thus also one of the best wrestlers in the world in this style in light heavy and middleweight. Due to his good performance he was delegated to the Lithuanian top club Spartak Vilnius , where he was led by Michail Misius a. JG Maslennikow was trained and to which he belonged until the end of his career.

The competition for Rimantas Bagdonas in the USSR , which was without a doubt, at least in the Greco-Roman style, the number 1 wrestling nation in the world at the time, was immense in its weight class. Just think of names like Anatoli Kolessow , Nikolai Tschutschalow , Anatoli Kirow , Walentin Olenik or Alexander Jurkewitsch . Nevertheless, he managed to become Soviet champion in 1961 in the light heavyweight division and in 1963 in the middleweight division. It should be noted that the light heavyweight 1961 up to 87 kg body weight and after a weight class reform by the international wrestling federation FILA in 1962 the middle weight ranged up to 87 kg and the light heavy weight up to 97 kg body weight. Rimantas Bagdonas always competed in the weight class up to 87 kg body weight, only this class was called light weight until 1981 and middleweight from 1962.

Initially, however, he did not appear at international championships. In 1965 Rimantas Bagdonas took 3rd place behind Valentin Olenik and Alexander Jurkewitsch at the renowned "Ivan Poddubny" tournament in Moscow . Quite surprisingly, he was used at the World Championships in Tampere that year . He was able to justify this trust because he became world middleweight champion there. On the way to this title he defeated Kaarlo Wieser from Finland , Yacoub Abousalloum from Lebanon and Lothar Metz from the GDR . In the final he then faced Poland's Bolesław Mackiewicz , and this fight ended in a "draw". After that fight, Bagdonas and Mackiewicz had the same number of wins and the same number of faults. According to the regulations of that time, the body weight had to decide for the award of the title, with the lighter wrestler being preferred. Bagdonas was 300 g lighter than Mackiewicz and therefore became world champion .

Rimantas Bagdonas did not come to further appearances at international championships. But he was a total of six times Lithuanian champion in his career. In 1967 he ended his active wrestling career and studied at the University of Vilnius . Then he worked as a hotel manager. He still lives in Vilnius and has important functions in the Lithuanian Wrestling Federation.

successes

year	space	competition	Weight class
1961	1.	Lithuanian championship	Semi-difficult
1961	1.	Soviet championship	Semi-difficult
1963	1.	Lithuanian championship	medium
1963	1.	Soviet championship	medium
1964	1.	Lithuanian championship	medium
1965	1.	Lithuanian championship	medium
1965	3.	"Ivan Poddubny" tournament in Moscow	medium	behind Walentin Olenik u. Alexander Yurkevich
1965	1.	World Cup in Tampere	medium	with victories over Kaarlo Wieser, Finland , Yacoub Abousalloum, Lebanon a . Lothar Metz , GDR a . a tie against Bolesław Mackiewicz , Poland
1966	1.	Lithuanian championships	medium
1967	1.	Lithuanian championships	medium

swell

• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of FILA, 1967,
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Lithuanian Wrestling Association website,
• Athletics magazine

Web links

• Profile of Rimantas Bagdonas at the Institute for Applied Training Science