Sergei Mureiko

Sergei Mureiko (born July 2, 1970 in Chișinău , Moldovan SSR ) is a wrestler who competed for the Soviet Union , the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria . Winner of the bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and Vice World Champion in 1993 and 1995 in Greco-Roman style in the super heavyweight division.

Career

Sergei Mureiko grew up in the Soviet Union and started wrestling there. He focused on the Greco-Roman style and was already extremely successful as a junior when he became junior super heavyweight champion in 1988 and 1989 . He immediately made contact with the world's elite in the senior sector and proved this with victories and good placements at important international tournaments. Nevertheless, the prospects for him to be able to compete in the major international championships were very slim, because since 1988 Alexander Karelin dominated the super heavyweight class in the Soviet Union , which Sergei Mureiko could not avoid. In this respect, the collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s was a "stroke of luck" for him, because he was now able to start for one of the successor states of the Soviet Union. He chose the Republic of Moldova in 1993 .

At the 1993 European Championships in Istanbul , Sergei competed for this country for the first time and immediately won the bronze medal . He was even more successful at the World Championships in Stockholm that same year , when he was runner-up behind Alexander Karelin. In the final, however, he was shouldered in 1:40 minutes by Karelin, who was in excellent shape.

After a weaker year in 1994, he only finished 7th at the world championships, he also won two medals at the international championships in 1995. At the European Championships in Besançon he finished third after a 8-0 point defeat in the pool final against Alexander Karelin by a sure win over Juha Ahokas from Finland and at the World Championships in Prague he finished after a narrow point defeat against Karelin in the final like 1993 2nd place.

In the 1996 Olympic year, Sergei first took 3rd place at the European Championships in Faenza behind Alexander Karelin and Pyotr Kotok from Ukraine and then won the Olympic bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta behind Alexander Karelin and Matt Ghaffari from the USA . He delivered a good fight against Karelin in the pool final, which he only just lost with 0: 2 points. In the battle for the bronze medal, he clearly defeated Pyotr Kotok on points.

For economic reasons, Sergei Mureiko decided to start for Bulgaria from 1997. He became a member of the Slavia-Litex Sofia sports club and trained there by Bratan Zenow .

1997 opened up for Sergei Mureiko by the absence of Alexander Karelin at the European championship in Kouvola for the first time the chance of winning a big championship. In fact, he was able to use this chance and win the European Championship title ahead of Juha Ahokas from Finland and Alexander Besrutschkin from Russia . At the world championship of the same year in Wroclaw Alexander Karelin was there again and defeated Sergei in the 2nd round with 2-0 on points. Sergei fought for the opportunity to fight for the bronze medal, but lost to Héctor Milián from Cuba .

In 1998 Sergei won another medal with a third place at the European Championships in Minsk . He suffered a shoulder defeat after 2:24 minutes in Alexander Karelin's pool final. At the 1998 World Cup in Gävle , Sweden , it was soon the end of the line after losing to Matt Ghaffari. He took 6th place there.

In 1999, Sergei won another World Cup medal at the World Cup in Athens . In the pool final, he went back to full time with Alexander Karelin, but could not prevent a 2-0 defeat. With the same result, Sergei was defeated by Karelin in the final of the European Championship in 2000. He was thus runner-up in Europe ahead of Mihály Deák Bárdos from Hungary and Yuri Evseitschuk , an Israeli from Belarus .

Hope for another Olympic medal was soon dashed for Sergei at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney . He met Alexander Karelin in the first round, against whom he lost on points. For his second fight against Deak Bardos he did not appear at all due to an injury and ended up in 19th place, which was very disappointing for him.

Despite this disappointment, Sergei Mureiko continued his wrestling career after Sydney. He was actually a professional and lived from wrestling. He proved his strength again in 2001 and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Istanbul , which he just missed with fourth place at the World Championships in Patras that same year .

In the next few years, with the exception of a third place at the European Championships in 2004 in Haparanda, Sergei did not achieve any further successes. He lost several times in the 1st or 2nd round of a championship and was therefore rarely able to place in the front field.

Sergei Mureiko, like many other very good wrestlers, had the misfortune that at his time in Alexander Karelin there was a super heavyweight wrestler on the mat, who could not be defeated from 1988 to the 2000 Olympic Games. But he was, together with Matt Ghaffari from the USA and Tomas Johansson from Sweden, the wrestler that Alexander Karelin opposed the greatest resistance in the 1990s.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, SS = super heavyweight, at that time up to 130 kg, 125 kg or 120 kg body weight)

• 1988, 1st place , Junior World Championships in Wolfurt / Austria (Juniors = up to 18 years of age), GR, up to 115 kg body weight, ahead of Gerasim Gerasimow, Bulgaria , Frank Stübner, GDR and Wojciech Grochowski, Poland ;
• 1989, 3rd place , tournament in Vantaa / Finland , GR, SS, behind Craig Pittman and Matt Ghaffari , both USA and in front of Lubomir David, Czechoslovakia and Nico Schmidt , FRG ;
• 1989, 1st place , Junior World Championship in Budapest (Espoirs = up to 20 years of age), GR, SS, ahead of Milan Radakovic, Yugoslavia , Zoltan Mucsi, Hungary and Christo Dimitrov, Bulgaria;
• 1990, 1st place , Junior European Championship (Espoirs), GR, SS, ahead of Zoltan Mucsi, Frank Stübner, Giuseppe Giunta , Italy and Saban Donat , Turkey ;
• 1990, 2nd place , tournament in Vanta, GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin , Soviet Union and in front of Matis Ounapuu, Estonia , David Koplowitz, USA and Jozsef Szel, Hungary;
• 1990, 2nd place , World Cup in Gothenburg , GR, SS, behind Matt Ghaffari and in front of Abdullah Aziz, Iran and Wilfredo Pelayo Garcia, Cuba ;
• 1990, 1st place , Grand Prix tournament, GR, SS, ahead of László Klauz , Hungary and Tomas Johansson , Sweden ;
• 1991, 3rd place , tournament in Vanta, GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Matt Ghaffari and in front of Ounapuu and Koplowitz;
• 1991, 2nd place , World Cup in Thessaloniki , GR, SS, behind Matt Ghaffari and in front of Hassan El Haddad, Egypt , Nikolao Sofianidis and Panagiotis Pikilidis , bde. Greece ;
• 1993, 3rd place , EM in Istanbul , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin, Russia and Pjotr ​​Kotok , Ukraine and in front of Panagiotis Pikilidis, Krassimir Radojew, Bulgaria and Mario Mikatek, Croatia ;
• 1993, 2nd place , World Championships in Stockholm , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and in front of Tomas Johansson, Pjotr ​​Kotok and László Klauz;
• 1994, 7th place , World Championships in Tampere , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin, Héctor Milián , Cuba, Pjotr ​​Kotok, Milan Radakovis and Matt Ghaffari;
• 1995, 3rd place , EM in Besançon , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Saban Donat and in front of Juha Ahokas , Finland, Pjotr ​​Kotok and Raimund Edfelder , FRG;
• 1995, 2nd place , World Championships in Prague , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and in front of Matt Ghaffari, Juha Ahokas, Juri Ewseitschik , Israel and Tomas Johansson;
• 1996, 1st place , Grand Prix of Italy in Faenza , GR, SS, ahead of Tomas Johansson, Héctor Milián, René Schiekel , FRG, Mihály Deák Bárdos , Hungary and Nikolai Dukow, Bulgaria;
• 1996, 3rd place , EM in Budapest , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Pjotr ​​Kotok and in front of Juha Ahokas, René Schiekel and Tomas Johansson;
• 1996, bronze medal , OS in Atlanta , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Matt Ghaffari and in front of Pjotr ​​Kotok, Panagiotis Pikilidis and René Schiekel;
• 1997, 1st place , EM in Kouvola / Finland, GR, SS, ahead of Juha Ahokas, Alexander Besrutschkin , Russia, Georgi Saldadze , Ukraine, Sergei Silbrich, Belarus and Raimund Edfelder;
• 1997, 4th place , World Championships in Breslau , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin, Mihaly Deak Bardos and Héctor Milián and in front of Rulon Gardner , USA and Pjotr ​​Kotok;
• 1998, 3rd place , Grand Prix “Akropolis 1998” in Athens , GR, SS, behind Juha Ahokas and Dimitri Debelka , Belarus and in front of Juri Evseitschik, Israel and Liakis Roussos, Greece;
• 1998, 3rd place , EM in Minsk , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Georgi Saldadze and in front of Mihaly Deak Bardos, Dimitri Debelka and Juri Ewseitschik;
• 1998, 6th place , WC in Gävle / Sweden, GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin, Matt Ghaffari, Juri Ewseitschik, Mirian Giorgadse , Georgia and Georgi Saldadse;
• 1999, 3rd place , World Championships in Athens , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and Héctor Milián and in front of Giuseppe Giunta , Italy, Georgi Saldadse and Dremiel Byers , USA;
• 2000, 2nd place , EM in Moscow , GR, SS, behind Alexander Karelin and in front of Mihaly Deak Bardos, Juri Ewseitschik, David Vála , Czech Republic and Eddy Bengtsson , Sweden;
• 2000, 19th place , OS in Sydney , GR, SS, winner: Rulon Gardner in front of Alexander Karelin and Dimitri Debelka;
• 2001, 3rd place , EM in Istanbul , GR, SS, behind Mihaly Deak Bardos and Fatih Bakir , Turkey and in front of Juha Ahokas, Alexej Kolesnikow, Russia and Yuri Ewseitschik;
• 2001, 4th place , World Championship in Patras / Greece, GR, SS, with victories over Juha Ahokas, Nico Schmidt and Georgi Tsurtsumia , Georgia and defeats against Rulon Gardner and Xenofou Koutsioubas , Greece;
• 2002, 12th place , EM in Seinäjoki / Finland, GR, SS, with a victory over Eddy Bengtsson and a defeat against Yekta Yilmar Gul, Turkey;
• 2002, 25th place , World Cup in Moscow, GR, SS, after defeats against Juri Patrikejew, Russia and Mijan Lopez Nunez, Cuba;
• 2003, 3rd place , "Nikola Petrow" tournament in Sofia , GR, SS, behind Alexej Tarabarin, Russia and Fatih Bakir and in front of Nico Schmidt and Yekta Yilmaz Gul;
• 2003, 10th place , EM in Belgrade , GR, SS, with a victory over David Vala and defeats against Xenofou Koutsioubas and Hassan Barojew , Russia;
• 2003, 6th place , World Championships in Créteil , GR, SS, with victories over Hohcine Khalfi, Belgium , Andrzej Wroński , Poland and Dimitri Debelka and a defeat against Hassan Barojew;
• 2004, 3rd place , EM in Haparanda , GR, SS, Ö with victories over Christian Branzei, Romania , Yannick Szczepaniak, Poland and Gyula Branda, Hungary and a defeat against Juri Patrikejew;
• 2004, 8th place , OS in Athens , GR, SS, with victories over Marek Mukulski, Poland and Mindaugas Mizgaitis , Latvia and one defeat against Rulon Gardner;
• 2005, 10th place , World Championships in Budapest, GR, SS, with a victory over Vladimir Guralski, Israel and a defeat against Mindaugas Mizgaitis

swell

• various issues of the trade journal Der Ringer from 1988 to 2005

Web links

• Profile of Sergei Mureiko at the Institute for Applied Training Science