Thomas Zander (wrestler)
| Thomas Zander medal table |
||
|---|---|---|
| Germany | ||
| Olympic games | ||
| silver | 1996 Atlanta | medium |
| World Championship | ||
| gold | 1994 Tampere | medium |
| bronze | 1995 Prague | medium |
| bronze | 1997 Wroclaw | medium |
| silver | 1999 Athens | medium |
| European Championship | ||
| gold | 1990 Poznan | medium |
| bronze | 1991 Aschaffenburg | medium |
| gold | 1992 Copenhagen | medium |
| gold | 1993 Istanbul | medium |
| gold | 1994 Athens | medium |
| silver | 1997 Kouvola | medium |
Thomas Zander (born August 25, 1967 in Aalen -Sandberg) is a former German wrestler.
Career
Thomas Zander grew up in Aalen , a Swabian town with a great wrestling tradition. At the age of six he began at the local top club KSV Aalen with the rings . At the age of 14 he had his first appearance in the Bundesliga relay of KSV Aalen. At that time he was wrestling with paper weight, up to 48 kg body weight. In the youth sector (up to the age of 18) there were initially no major successes with the exception of the regional sector. His trainers at the time in Aalen were Walter Maier and Helmut Westphal. At the age of 17 he began training for the police profession in the state of Baden-Württemberg . Since 1989 his place of employment as a police officer has been Wasseralfingen . In wrestling, the first major successes were achieved at the federal level in 1986, as he became German junior middleweight champion in 1986 and 1987, Greco-Roman style, the style he only wrestled. Thomas made his first international appearance at the Junior World Championships in Vancouver , Canada , where, after a controversial defeat against the Bulgarian Christo Christow, he defeated the eventual vice world champion Lee Jae-Young from South Korea and finished in 6th place. From now on a steep ascent began, which led Thomas Zander to world and European champion and Olympic silver medalist. His Aalen club coach Ahmet Çakıcı and the German national coach Lothar Ruch contributed a lot to this ascent .
The 1988 Olympic Games came a year too early for Thomas Zander. At the German championships of that year, Roger Gössner came second behind the 1987 vice world champion . In 1989 he had his first appearance at a world championship. After a defeat against the multiple Soviet world champion Mikhail Mamiashvili , he finished 7th.
In 1990, however, he made his first big shot. In Poznan he became European middleweight champion. In the final, he beat the Soviet young hopeful Sergei Nassewitsch on points. Strangely enough, Thomas Zander was not nominated for the 1990 World Cup. After German reunification, the training partner of world champion Maik Bullmann Olaf Koschnitzke from Frankfurt (Oder) was preferred to him.
In the run-up to the European Championships in 1991 in Aschaffenburg , he had an injury-related training deficit, but he still won the bronze medal in the middleweight division.
At the 1991 World Cup in Varna, Thomas was surprisingly defeated by the Italian Ernesto Razzino, so that even his victory over the 1990 and 1991 world champion Péter Farkas from Hungary only reached 6th place.
In 1992 Thomas became European champion again without having to give up a single point in his six victorious fights. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona that year , things didn't work out particularly well for Thomas. This time he lost to Farkas and only finished 7th.
In 1993, however, he was fully back at the European Championships in Istanbul and was European champion for the third time. In the final he beat the 17-year-old Turkish Hamza Yerlikaya , who still had a great career ahead of him and with whom Thomas Zander still had many battles.
1994 was the best year in Thomas Zander's career. He became European champion first in Athens and also world champion in Tampere that autumn . In the respective finals he defeated Gotcha Ziziaschwili from Israel and Tuomo Karila from Finland .
In 1995 he was unable to defend his world title in Prague . His 3rd place was worth all honors. In the semifinals he suffered a defeat against Yerlikaya. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta , Thomas won the silver medal. Weakened by an injury resulting from a gross foul by Russian Sergei Zwir , he was defeated again in the final against Hamza Yerlikaya.
1997 was another very good year for Thomas Zander. In spring he became vice European champion in Kouvola and in autumn he finished third at the World Cup in Wroclaw after losing to Zwir.
In the following years, Thomas Zander was active in international championships until 2000, but with the exception of 1999 he missed the medal ranks. In 1999 he was again runner-up in the middleweight division.
Thomas Zander was often thrown back in his career due to severe knee and shoulder injuries.
All of Thomas Zander's fights at the international championships and his placements at the German championships can be read in the following sections.
International success
(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, middleweight, up to 1996 up to 82 kg body weight, from 1997 up to 85 kg body weight, light heavyweight, up to 90 kg body weight)
| year | space | competition | Weight class | |
| 1987 | 6th | Junior World Championships in Vancouver | medium | with victories over Marty Morgan, USA , Hector Baez, Puerto Rico and Lee Jae-Young, South Korea and defeats against Christo Christow, Bulgaria and Henryk Topor, Poland |
| 1988 | 4th | Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Neuss | medium | behind Michail Mamiaschwili , Soviet Union , Magnus Fredriksson , Sweden , Roger Gössner , FR Germany and in front of Hans-Hermann Strauss , FR Germany and Bogdan Daras , Poland |
| 1988 | 1. | Police EM in Oslo | medium | in front of Pal Berger, Norway a. Björn Rhodin, Sweden |
| 1989 | 7th | World Cup in Martigny / Switzerland | medium | with victories over Felix Isosola, Peru , Pierre Wafflard, Belgium and Dimitris, Greece and defeats against John Morgan, USA and Michail Mamiaschwili, Soviet Union |
| 1990 | 1. | EM in Poznan | medium | with victories over Sorin Hertea, Romania , Goran Kasum, Yugoslavia , Kemal Hamiche, France , Stig Kleven, Norway and Sergei Nassewitsch , USSR |
| 1991 | 3. | EM in Aschaffenburg | medium | with wins over David Martinetti, Switzerland , Örjan Jansson, Sweden and Koyunca Erol, Turkey and defeats to Ernesto Razzino, Italy and Péter Farkas , Hungary |
| 1991 | 6th | World Cup in Varna | medium | with victories over Morgan, Wafflard and Farkas and defeats against Razzino and Piotr Stępień , Poland |
| 1992 | 1. | EM in Copenhagen | medium | with victories over Józef Tracz, Poland, Elvan Mert, Turkey, Wiktor Malow , CIS, Kasum, Razzino and Magnus Fredriksson , Sweden |
| 1992 | 7th | OS in Barcelona | medium | with wins over Myung Park, Korea and Fredriksson and one loss to Farkas; in the fight against Goram Kasun both wrestlers were disqualified for passivity, which led to Thomas Zander being eliminated |
| 1992 | 1. | Police EM in Malmö | medium | before Lars Sundström, Sweden a. Jakko Talvitie, Finland |
| 1993 | 1. | EM in Istanbul | medium | with victories over Murat Kardanow , Russia, Christo Lozanow, Bulgaria, Tuomo Karila, Oleh Balamurtow, Ukraine and Hamza Yerlikaya, Turkey |
| 1993 | 2. | Intern. USA Championships in Concord | medium | behind Murat Kardanow, Russia and in front of Sergei Chemow, Russia |
| 1994 | 2. | Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Koblenz | medium | behind Sergei Nassewitsch and in front of Sergei Zwir , both Russia |
| 1994 | 1. | EM in Athens | medium | with victories over Muchran Vakhtangadze , Georgia , Topor, Tibor Komáromi , Hungary, Valeri Zilent , Belarus and Gotcha Ziziaschwili , Israel |
| 1994 | 1. | World Cup in Tampere | medium | with victories over Alic Sardarjan, Armenia , Martin Lidberg , Sweden, Myung Suk, South Korea, Pavel Frinta, Czechoslovakia and Karila |
| 1994 | 3. | Intern. FILA tournament in Camagüey / Cuba | medium | behind Alexei Barus and Alfredo Linares, both Cuba |
| 1995 | 7th | EM in Prague | medium | with victory over Lidberg and defeats against Sardarjan and Ziziaschwili |
| 1995 | 3. | World Cup in Prague | medium | with victories over Asid Aliyev, Azerbaijan , Sardarjan, Raatbek Sanatbajew, Kyrgyzstan , Alexander Jovanović, Yugoslavia, Daulet Turlychanow , Kazakhstan and Sergei Tschwir and a loss against Yerlikaya |
| 1996 | 26th | EM in Budapest | medium | after defeats to Dimitrios Avramis, Greece and Levan Geghamjan, Armenia |
| 1996 | silver | OS in Atlanta | medium | with victories over Felix Isasola, Sergei Tschwir and Gotcha Ziziaschwili and one defeat against Hamza Yerlikaya |
| 1997 | 2. | EM in Kouvola | medium | with victories over Livmanis, Latvia , Christo Stanchew, Bulgaria and Ferenc Takács, Hungary and one defeat against Yerlikaya |
| 1997 | 3. | World Cup in Wroclaw | medium | with victories over Sanatbajew, Toomas Proovel, Estonia , Salvatore Campanella, Italy, Igor Bugaj, Ukraine and Martin Lidberg and one defeat against Zwir |
| 1998 | 4th | EM in Minsk | medium | with victories over Sardarjan, Geghamjan, Tschitschuaschwili and defeats against Lidberg and Zwir |
| 1998 | 8th. | World Cup in Gävle | medium | with victories over Campanella, Fritz Aanes, Norway, Sanatgajew and defeats against Jamschidi, Iran and Ziziaschwili |
| 1999 | 12. | EM in Sofia | medium | with wins over Tomi Rajamäki, Finland and one defeat against Alexander Menschtschikow , Russia |
| 1999 | 2. | World Cup in Athens | medium | with victories over Aanes, In Tae-Jung, Korea, Marcin Letki, Poland, Proovel, Sanatbajew and one defeat against Luis Mendez, Cuba |
| 2000 | 12. | OS in Sydney | medium | with victory over Marko Asell, Finland and one loss against Yerlikaya |
German championships
| year | space | style | Weight class | |
| 1988 | 2. | GR | medium | behind Roger Gössner , Wiesental and in front of Siegfried Seibold, Bad Reichenhall |
| 1990 | 1. | GR | medium | before Gössner and Ralf Bahmer, Heinsheim |
| 1992 | 1. | GR | medium | before Ömer Cetin, Witten and Hans-Paul Bollmann, Worringen |
| 1993 | 1. | GR | medium | before Cetin and Bollmann |
| 1994 | 1. | GR | medium | in front of Mirko Jahn, Schifferstadt and Bollmann |
| 1996 | 1. | GR | Semi-difficult | before Mirko Klein, Witten and Andreas Dudek, Kornwestheim |
| 1997 | 1. | GR | medium | in front of Oldrik Meissner, Luckenwalde and Kai Dittrich, Schifferstadt |
| 1998 | 1. | GR | medium | before Dittrich and Meissner |
Explanations
- OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
- Middleweight, then up to 82 kg, light heavyweight, then up to 90 kg body weight
swell
- Trade journal Der Ringer
- Website of the German Wrestling Federation
- US Wrestling Association website
- Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig
Web links
- Homepage of Thomas Zander
- Profile of Thomas Zander at the Institute for Applied Training Science
- Fight of Thomas Zander (blue) against Gocha Tschitschuaschwili in the final battle for the European championship in 1994
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zander, Thomas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German wrestler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 25, 1967 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aalen sand mountain |