Vasile Andrei

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Vasile Andrei, 1984

Vasile Andrei (* 28. July 1955 in Albeşti , ialomiţa county ) is a former Romanian wrestler and Olympic champion in 1984 in Roman Greek style in the heavyweight division .

Career

Vasile Andrei started wrestling as a teenager. He was discovered early on through the excellent talent search that was common in the socialist states of that time and delegated to the top club Steaua Bucharest . There he developed very well. He specialized in the Greco-Roman style. However, it was not until 1979 that he was able to prevail in Romania against his tough rivals Nicolae Martinescu and Ivan Savin in the senior class and to compete in the international championships.

Apart from the European Junior Championships in 1975 in Haskovo , where he finished 4th in the heavyweight division, Vasile Andrei started his international wrestling career at the 1979 European heavyweight championships in his native Bucharest . He achieved there with three victories, u. a. he beat the West German champion Hans-Günter Klein from Witten and the strong Hungarian Tamás Gáspár , and defeats against Roman Bierła from Poland and the Soviet wrestler Nikolai Balboschin , who was almost invincible in this weight class at the time, won a medal right away with his third place. At the world championship of the same year in San Diego he won again over Hans-Günter Klein and also defeated Roman Bierła, to whom he had lost at the European championship, but then he was beaten by the Americans Brad Rheingans and Nikolai Balboschin and came so only on the ungrateful 4th place.

1980 won Vasile Andrei at the European Championships in Prievidza even the EM silver medal in the heavyweight behind Georgi Rajkow from Bulgaria , against whom he lost the final battle. Remarkably, Vasile Andrei had lost in a preliminary round match against Hans-Günter Klein, who was eliminated early due to defeats against other wrestlers, so that Andreis's defeat against Klein did not have a negative impact on Andrei. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , Vasile Andrei celebrated victories over the strong Yugoslav Refik Memišević , who later became super heavyweight world champion, and Nikolai Balboschin, who was in weak form due to a protracted injury in the run-up to the Games. Vasile Andrei was defeated against Roman Bierła and Georgi Rajkow and won the bronze medal.

1981 was a slightly weaker year for Vasile Andrei. He was only used at the European Championships in Gothenburg , where he lost after two wins against Nikolai Inkow from the Soviet Union and against Christer Gulldén from Sweden , who was actually a light heavyweight, and therefore only came in 4th place. He did not start at the 1981 World Cup.

In 1982, Vasile Andrei was at the World Championships in Katowice Vice World Champion after the spring at the European Championship in Varna had to make do again with the 4th Place. In Katowice he defeated u. a. Nikolai Inkow and the reigning European champion Andrei Dimitrov from Bulgaria. In the final battle he was somewhat surprisingly defeated by the Polish Roman Wrocławski , who had a great day in Katowice with the support of his Polish compatriots.

In 1983 Vasile Andrei won neither at the European Championships in Budapest nor at the World Championships in Kiev a medal. With the 4th place in Budapest and the 5th place in Kiev he achieved excellent results again. Also at the European Championships in Jönköping in 1984 he only came in 4th place. Andrei Dimitrov, Tamás Gáspár and the Soviet athlete Viktor Avdychew were too strong for him at these championships.

In 1984, when the other strong wrestling nations from the Eastern Bloc countries were missing from the Olympic Games in Los Angeles , Vasile Andrei seized the opportunity and became an Olympic heavyweight champion . In the final fights, however, Georgios Pikilidis from Greece and above all the American Gregory Gibson made this victory very difficult for him. Incidentally, he also wrestled in the free style in the super heavyweight division in Los Angeles, because Romania had not nominated a real freestyle wrestler here and came in 6th place in the style he was unfamiliar with.

Vasile Andrei continued to struggle until 1988 after his Olympic victory. He didn't win a title anymore, but with his 2nd place at the 1986 World Cup in Budapest , his 2nd place at the 1987 European Championships in Tampere and his 3rd place at the 1987 World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand , he proved that his Olympic victory was not Was coincidence. With a 5th place at the European Championships in 1988 in Kolbotn / Norway , Vasile Andrei concluded his international wrestling career. Younger wrestlers like Anatoli Fedorenko from the Soviet Union, Gerhard Himmel from the FRG and Andrzej Wroński from Poland had come forward and replaced him.

The reliability that Vasile Andrei showed at the 19 international championships, which he contested from 1975 to 1988, deserves special mention. In none of these championships he was eliminated prematurely, always competed for the medals and finished in 18 of these championships a place among the top six winners.

After completing his active wrestling career, Vasile Andrei, who was also a multiple Romanian champion in the weight class up to 100 kg body weight (heavyweight), completed a sports degree and then worked for a few years as a coach at his home club Steaua Bucharest. Today he is Secretary General of the Romanian Wrestling Association.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, S = heavyweight, then up to 100 kg body weight)

swell

  • Trade journal Der Ringer, numbers: 5/1979, page 10, 9/1979, page 8, 5/1980, page 9, 8/1980, page 7, 4/1981, page 8, 5/6/1982, page 6, 9/1982, pages 10/11, 9/1983, page 9, 10/1983, page 6, 5/1984, pages 9/10, 9/1984, page 11, 9/1985, page 6, 11/1986, Page 7, 6/1987, page 9, 9/1987, page 10 and 6/1988, page 6
  • Website of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Andrei, Vasile
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Albeşti , Ialomița County