Steve Fraser

Steven Howard "Steve" Fraser (born March 23, 1958 in Hazel Park , Oakland County ) is a retired American wrestler and coach. He was an Olympic champion in Los Angeles in 1984 .

Career

Fraser began wrestling at Hazel Park High School, where he won several championships. He also successfully continued wrestling at the University of Michigan , which he then attended. He was twice NCAA Division I "all-American" champion. After graduating from college, he wrestled for the Michigan State Club for many years. In 1979 he was able to qualify for the US World Cup team. At the World Cup in San Diego he was defeated in the light heavyweight, Greco-Roman style, in the first two rounds against the Poles Czesław Kwieciński and the West German Pedro Pawlidis and had to retire.

Because of the Olympic boycott of the United States at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , a start there was out of the question for Fraser. At the 1982 World Championships in Katowice in the Greco-Roman style he took part again, but without being able to secure a place in the front field. The exact placements of this championship are not recorded from seventh place. In 1983 he became the Pan American light heavyweight champion in Caracas .

1984 was Fraser's big year. He became an Olympic light heavyweight champion in the Greco-Roman style in Los Angeles . In the final he defeated the Romanian Ilie Matei after he had outdone the multiple Swedish world champion Frank Andersson in the preliminary round . He was the first US Olympic champion in Greco-Roman style wrestling.

After the end of his career as an active wrestler, he was a coach at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University until 1993. He also coached the Michigan Wrestling Club for over 10 years. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994 for his services to wrestling . In 1995 he became the head coach of the US wrestling team and led, among other things, the super heavyweight Rulon Gardner to Olympic victory in the Greco-Roman style in 2000, when he defeated the two-time Olympic champion and multiple world champion Alexander Karelin from Russia , who are considered indomitable .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, Hs = light heavyweight, then up to 90 kg body weight)

• 1979, 12th place , World Championship in San Diego , GR, Hs, after defeats against Czesław Kwieciński , Poland and Pedro Pawlidis , FRG ;
• 1982, 5th place , Grand Prix of the FRG in Freiburg im Breisgau , GR, Hs, behind Igor Kanygin , USSR , Valeri Dolgich, USSR, Uwe Sachs , FRD, Pedro Pawlidis , FRG and ahead of Georgios Pozidis, Greece ;
• 1982, participation in the World Championships in Katowice , GR, Hs, ranking not known, winner: Frank Andersson , Sweden , ahead of Atanas Komtschew , Bulgaria , Igor Kanygin, USSR , Ilie Matei , Romania , Jindrich Durcak, CSSR and Boguslaw Dabrowski, Poland ;
• 1983, 1st place , Pan-American Games in Caracas , GR, Hs, ahead of Luis Figuera, Venezuela and José Poll, Cuba ;
• 1984, gold medal , OS in Los Angeles , GR, Hs, with victories over Kopas, Yugoslavia , Georgios Pozidis, Greece , Frank Andersson and Ilie Matei;
• 1984, 4th place , World Cup in Seinäjoki / Finland, GR, Hs, behind Igor Kanygin, Toni Hannula , Finland , Atanas Komtschew u. off Salah, Egypt
• 1985, 2nd place , World Super Championship (unofficially) in Tokyo , GR, Hs, behind Igor Kanygin and in front of Toru Higashide, Japan

USA championships

Steve Fraser was USA champion in Greco-Roman in 1981 and 1983. Style and 1984 in free style, each in light heavyweight.

Web links

• Profile of Steve Fraser at the Institute of Applied Exercise Science
• Steve Fraser in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Short biography in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (English)
• Statistics in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (English)