Vítězslav Mácha

Vítězslav Mácha (born April 6, 1948 in Krmelín ) is a former Czechoslovak wrestler . He was at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich Olympic champion in the welterweight (. Greco-Roman style).

Career

Vitežlav Macha comes from Krmelín and started wrestling there as a teenager. Via Vítkovice he came to the top Czech club "Banik" Ostrava , where he became a top wrestler in Greco-Roman from coach Kamil Odenahl. Style was shaped. He made his debut at international championships when he was nineteen at the European welterweight championships in Minsk . There he came in 11th place, where he wrestled in his first fight against the German champion Peter Nettekoven .

Until 1971 Vitežlav started regularly at the World and European Championships and also at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City . His best result was the 7th place at the 1968 European Championships in Västerås . In Mexico City he came in 8th place and at the 1970 World Cup in Berlin only in 11th place. Twice, at the European Championships in Modena in 1969 and at the World Championships in Sofia in 1971 , he had to give up injured and remained unplaced. In those years he also lost several times to Klaus Pohl from the GDR . So all in all, not very successful years for him. Nonetheless, Vitežlav stayed with the crowd and continued to train hard.

The success came suddenly in 1972. First he took 3rd place at the European Welterweight Championships in Katowice and won the bronze medal and then he caused a bang at the Olympic Games in Munich when he became Olympic champion with five victories . He lost in a preliminary round match against Iwan Kolew from Bulgaria, but he was eliminated before the final. In the final Vitežlav defeated the Greek Petros Galaktopoulos , against whom he had lost at the European Championships in Katowice.

In 1973 and 1974 he won the silver medal at the European Championships in Helsinki and Madrid . He lost each time in the final against Ivan Kolew. Also at the 1973 World Cup in Tehran he lost to Ivan Kolew and only came in 6th place. Overall, he suffered four defeats in the years 1972, 1973 and 1974 at Ivan Kolew's international championships, which of course cost him even greater successes with the exception of 1972.

At the 1974 World Cup in Katowice, Vitežlav came up trumps again and became world champion with six wins. But he did not have to compete against Iwan Kolew, because he had left early after defeats against Iosif Berishvili from the USSR and Jan Karlsson from Sweden .

At the European Championships in 1975 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , he finally managed to win over Iwan Kolew. However, he lost in the decisive battles for the title against Klaus-Peter Göpfert from the GDR and Jan Karlsson and therefore had to be content with 3rd place. After a 4th place at the 1975 World Cup in Minsk , where he lost to the new Soviet welterweight star Anatoly Bykov for the first time , he presented himself in excellent shape again at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal . There he defeated u. a. the two German starters Klaus-Peter Göpfert from Zella-Mehlis and Karl-Heinz Helbing from Mainz and won the silver medal because he lost again to Anatoli Bykow in the final. Eighteen-year-old Karl-Heinz Helbing won the bronze medal behind him.

Vitežlav Macha's most successful year was 1977. He won both major titles, namely the world championship in Gothenburg and the European championship in Bursa . Among the wrestlers he defeated were again Klaus-Peter Göpfert and Karl-Heinz Helbing but also the absolute top wrestlers Ferenc Kocsis from Hungary and Anatoli Bykow.

At the European Championships in Oslo in 1978 , Vitežlav was injured and had to give up after the second fight. He had to take a long recovery break and after that did not regain his old form. At the 1979 World Cup in San Diego he therefore lost to Ferenc Kocsis (wrestler) | Ferenc Kocsis and to the Soviet athlete Vyacheslav Mkrychev and only came in 9th place. The 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, which were to be a highlight in his wrestling career, saw him in 6th place. After two wins he was kicked out of the tournament by Anatoli Bykow and Janko Schopow from Bulgaria.

Overall, Vitežlav Macha's career was of course extremely successful. The Czech media have not forgotten his successes either, because in 2001 he was elected among the ten best Czech athletes of the 20th century and thus placed on a par with Emil Zátopek and Věra Čáslavská .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = lightweight, then up to 70 kg body weight, We = welter weight, up to 1968 up to 78 kg and from 1969 up to 74 kg body weight)

• 1967, 11th place , EM in Minsk , GR, We, with a draw against Peter Nettekoven , FRG , and against Piotr Starczynski, Poland , and a defeat against Matti Laakso , Finland ;
• 1968, 7th place , EM in Västerås , GR, Le, with wins against Joseph Duvivier, Belgium , and Jose Luis Contreras, Spain , and losses against Matti Poikkala , Finland, and Klaus Pohl , GDR ;
• 1968, 8th place , OS in Mexico City , GR, Le, with victories over Mario Tovar, Mexico , and Gordon Garvie, Canada , and defeats to Klaus Pohl, GDR, and Gennadi Sapunow , USSR ;
• 1969, unpl. , EM in Modena , GR, We, retired due to injury after defeating Jan Karlsson , Sweden ;
• 1970, 11th place , EM in Berlin , GR, We, with a draw against Toini Schoberg, Sweden, and defeats against Klaus Pohl and Pentti Salo, Finland;
• 1971, unpl. , World Cup in Sofia , GR, We, resigned due to injury after a defeat by Klaus Pohl;
• 1972, 3rd place , EM in Katowice , GR, We, with victories over Victor Prentu, Romania , Bernard Milhit, Switzerland , and Stanisław Krzesiński , Poland, and defeats against Kasim Halilow , USSR, Boris Butrakow , Bulgaria , and Petros Galaktopoulos , Greece ;
• 1972, gold medal , OS in Munich , GR, We, with victories over Nestor Gonzalez, Argentina , Mehmet Türüt, Turkey , Klaus Pohl, Daniel Robin , France , and Petros Galaktopoulos and despite a defeat against Iwan Kolew , Bulgaria;
• 1973, 2nd place , EM in Helsinki , GR, We, with victories over Johannes von de Paverde, Netherlands , Imant Klintson , USSR, Anders Persson, Sweden, Niels Madsen, Denmark , and Vojislav Tabacki , Yugoslavia , a draw against Klaus- Peter Göpfert , GDR, and a defeat to Iwan Kolew;
• 1976, 6th place , World Championships in Tehran , GR, We, with victories over Kasim Halilow, Ferenc Kocsis , Hungary , and Kung Young Shik, North Korea , and one defeat against Iwan Kolew;
• 1974, 2nd place , "Nikola Petrow" tournament in Pleven , GR, We, behind Anatoli Bykow , USSR, and in front of Iosif Berishvili , USSR;
• 1974, 2nd place , EM in Madrid , GR, We, with victories over Iosif Berischwili, Tevfik Aydeniz, Turkey, and Hans-Joachim Klötzing , FRG, a draw against Vojislav Tabacki and a defeat against Iwan Kolew;
• 1974, 1st place , World Championships in Katowice , GR, We, with victories over Apostolos Messiakaris, Greece, Rashem Ghombari, Iran , Jan Karlsson, Iosif Berischwili, Veikko Lavonen, Finland, and Mihály Toma , Hungary;
• 1975, 3rd place , EM in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , GR, We, with victories over Iwan Kolew, Max Stacher, Switzerland, Petros Galaktopoulos and Wladimir Zemkow, USSR, and defeats against Klaus-Peter Göpfert and Jan Karlsson;
• 1975, 4th place , World Championships in Minsk , GR, We, with victories over Jan Karlsson, Johann Kiss, Austria , Vojislav Tabacki and Hans-Joachim Klötzing and defeats against Mihály Toma and Anatoli Bykow;
• 1976, silver medal , OS in Montreal , GR, We, with victories over Klaus-Peter Göpfert, Brian Renken, Canada, Janko Schopow , Bulgaria, Karl-Heinz Helbing , FRG, Mikko Huhtala , Finland, and one defeat against Anatoli Bykow;
• 1977, 1st place , EM in Bursa , GR, We, with victories over Mikko Huhtala, Stanislaus Krzesinski, Days Weirum, Denmark, Wladimir Zemkow and Klaus-Peter Göpfert;
• 1977, 1st place , World Championships in Gothenburg , GR, We, with victories over Johannes von der Paverd, Klaus-Peter Göpfert, Ferenc Kocsis (wrestler) | Ferenc Kocsis, Anatoli Bykow and Janko Schopow; in the match between Mácha and Karl-Heinz Helbing both wrestlers were disqualified for being passive;
• 1978, unplaced , EM in Oslo , GR, We, after victories over Georg Brötzner, Austria, and Karl-Heinz Helbing retired due to injury;
• 1979, 9th place , World Championships in San Diego , GR, We, with a victory over Idalberto Barba, Cuba , and defeats to Ferenc Kocsis (wrestler) | Ferenc Kocsis and Vyacheslav Mkrychev , USSR;
• 1980, 6th place , OS in Moscow , GR, We, with victories over Jacques van Lancker, Belgium , and Lennart Lundell , Sweden, and defeats against Anatoli Bykow and Janko Schopow

swell

• 1) Div. Issues of the journals "Athletik" from 1967 to 1975 and "Der Ringer" from 1976 to 1980,
• 2) Documentation of International Wrestling Championships of the FILA, 1976

Web links

• Profile of Vítězslav Mácha at the Institute of Applied Training Science
• Vítězslav Mácha in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )