Veikko Lahti

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Veikko Lahti (born July 7, 1926 in Janakkala , † July 28, 2014 in Kotka ) was a Finnish wrestler and winner of the silver medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1955 World Championships in Karlsruhe in the Greco-Roman style .

Career

Veikko Lahti only started wrestling at the Hallan Visa sports club when he was 16 . It therefore took him a relatively long time to reach the top class in Finland. He worked in both styles, the Greco-Roman style and the free style. In 1952 he qualified, without having previously been successful in Finnish championships, in free style for the Olympic Games in Helsinki . In Helsinki he started in the middleweight division, but lost his two fights against Leon Genuth from Argentina and Gholam Reza Takhti from Iran on points and was eliminated after the 2nd round. In the final accounts he came in 12th place.

In 1953 Veikko Lahti won his first medal in the Finnish Greco-Roman style light heavyweight championship with a third place and in 1954 he became Finnish champion in the free style light heavyweight for the first time. By 1963 Veikko Lahti had won a total of six Finnish championship titles in both styles.

Veikko Lahti, who had switched to the club Kotkan Paini-Miehet , started in Dortmund in 1955 in an international match between Germany and Finland , defeating the German champion Fritz Dirscherl on points.

In 1955 he represented Finland as the successor of the Olympic champion Kelpo Grondahl at the World Championships in Karlsruhe in Greco-Roman. Light heavyweight style. He was in great shape there and scored five wins, including u. a. also beat the GDR champion Herbert Albrecht from Albrechts near Zella-Mehlis and the 1948 Olympic champion Karl-Erik Nilsson from Sweden . In the final battle he was defeated by Valentin Nikolajew from the USSR , who was dominant in this weight class , but won the silver medal. This silver medal was his greatest achievement in his wrestling career.

In 1956 Veikko Lahti was also at the start of the Olympic Games in Melbourne . But he was no longer in the form of 1955. He started there in both styles, but won of five fights that he contested, only in Greco-Roman. Style about Dale Thomas from the US on points. He lost the other fights. In free style he took 10th place and in Greco-Roman. He finished seventh in style.

There were no other starts at international championships for Veikko Lahti after 1956.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = free style, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, S 0 heavyweight, back then up to 79 kg and 87 kg, or over 87 kg body weight )

  • 1956, 7th place , OS in Melbourne, GR, Hs, with a victory over Dale Thomas , USA a. Defeats to Valentin Nikolajew a. Karl-Erik Nilsson

Finnish championships

  • 1953, 3rd place, GR, Hs, behind Kelpo Grondahl u. Martti Knuutila,
  • 1954, 1st place, F, Hs, in front of Aarno Seppelä u. Jaako Hantula,
  • 1955, 1st place, F, Hs, before Risto Pohjonen u. Matti Hämäläinen,
  • 1955, 2nd place, GR, S, behind Taisto Kangasniemi u. before Jaako Virta,
  • 1956, 1st place, GR, Hs, in front of Anto Vuorela u. Antero Vanhanen,
  • 1956, 1st place, F, Hs, before Reino Latvala u. Martti Knuutila,
  • 1957, 1st place, F, Hs, before Erkki Vilman u. Arvi Hannula,
  • 1958, 1st place, F, Wed, in front of Viljo Punkari u. Matti Jussero,
  • 1959, 2nd place, F, Wed, behind Viljo Punkari u. before Leo Kuivumäki,
  • 1959, 2nd place, GR, Wed, behind Viljo Punkari u. in front of Pekka Suominen
  • 1960, 3rd place, F, S, behind Viktori Ahven u Erkki Repo,
  • 1963, 3rd place, F, Hs, behind Aimo Mypenpää u. Eelis Rannasto

swell

  • Athletics magazine from 1952 to 1963,
  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976,
  • International Wrestling Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web link

personal data
SURNAME Lahti, Veikko
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Janakkala
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 2014
Place of death Kotka