Sergei Rybalko

Sergei Grigoryevich Rybalko ( Russian Сергей Григорьевич Рыбалко ; * 1938 , † 1989 ) was a Soviet wrestler . He was a two-time Greco-Roman style flyweight world champion .

Career

Sergei Rybalko was a Ukrainian who started wrestling as a teenager . First he started for Burewestnik, later in 1961 he switched to "Dynamo" Zaporischschja . There he developed into a world class wrestler in the Greco-Roman style, mostly in the lightest weight class at the time, the flyweight.

In 1957 he was the first Soviet flyweight champion in front of Armais Sajadow and Georgi Akonin and thus made a lasting impression. Nevertheless, it was not until 1962 before he came to his first appearance at an international championship, because the Soviet team management could fall back on a large reservoir of excellent wrestlers in all weight classes. At the 1962 World Championships in Toledo ( USA ) Rybalko hit the bull's eye because he became world champion there. As the only wrestler, only Rolf Lacour from Köllerbach , who fought against him in a draw, could stand up to him.

At the 1963 World Cup in Helsingborg , Rybalko remained undefeated in six fights, but only came to a draw against Rolf Lacour , Angel Keresow from Bulgaria and Ignazio Fabra from Italy and ended up in 3rd place.

After Rybalko had missed the Olympic qualification for Tokyo in 1964 , he was back at the World Championships in Tampere in 1965 and was world champion for the second time with six wins. He also managed his first victory over Rolf Lacour.

Sergei Rybalko played his last world championship again in Toledo (USA) in 1966 and was runner-up there. In the decisive fight he fought a draw with Angel Keresow, but had a worse point account from the preliminary fights than this and was only second.

In 1967 Rybalko started in Minsk at the European championship and was runner-up in flyweight at the end of his career. Again it was a Bulgarian, Petar Kirov , who was at the beginning of a long and very successful career, who prevented him from reaching the top of the podium.

International success

(WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Fl = flyweight, Ba = bantam weight, back then up to 52 kg or 57 kg body weight)

• 1958, 1st place , "Werner-Seelenbinder" tournament in Leipzig , GR, Fl, before Eckhard Thorun , GDR a . Rothert, GDR;

• 1962, 1st place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Moscow , GR, Fl, before Jordanow, Bulgaria a . Savenkow, USSR ;

• 1962, 1st place , World Cup in Toledo / USA , GR, Fl, with victories over Burhan Bozkurt , Turkey , Nikola Dimitrov, Bulgaria, Bengt Frändfors, Sweden , Ignazio Fabra , Italy a . a draw against Rolf Lacour , FRG ;

• 1963, 3rd place , World Championship in Helsingborg , GR, Fl, with victories over Risto Björlin , Finland , Andrew Fitch, USA , Karl Sandquist, Sweden a. Draw against Angel Keresow , Bulgaria, Rolf Lacour u. Ignazio Fabra;

• 1965, 3rd place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Moscow, GR, Ba, behind Armais Sajadow , USSR a. Amari Egadze , USSR;

• 1965, 1st place , World Championship in Tampere , GR, Fl, with victories over Karl Sandquist, Vassilios Ganotis, Greece , Angel Keresow, Gheorghe Stoiciu , Romania , Rolf Lacour u. Stefan Hajduk, Poland ;

• 1966, 2nd place , World Championship in Toledo / USA, GR, Fl, with victories over John Krause, USA, Akira Kato, Japan , Gheorghe Stoiciu u. Rolf Lacour et al. a draw with Angel Keresow;

• 1967, 5th place , "Iwan-Poddubny" tournament in Moscow, GR, Ba, behind Andre Kimstach u. Rustam Kazakow , bde. USSR, Franz Tempes, FRG a. Armais Sajadow et al. before Vyacheslav Pogorelow, USSR;

• 1967, 2nd place , EM in Minsk , GR, Fl. with victories over Jorma Kujanne, Finland, Gheorghe Stoiciu, Rolf Lacour, Metin Cikmaz, Turkey a. Miroslav Zeman , CSSR , a draw against Boško Marinko , Yugoslavia a . a loss to Petar Kirov , Bulgaria

swell

• Div. Issues of the specialist magazine "Athletik" from 1957 to 1967,
• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976

Web links

• Overview of the medal winners at world championships in Greco-Roman. Flyweight style