Vincenzo Maenza

Vincenzo Maenza (born May 2, 1962 in Faenza ) is a former Italian wrestler . He was a two-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman. Style in paper weight (up to 48 kg body weight).

Career

Vincenzo Maenza grew up in his hometown Faenza, which has always been a stronghold in Italian wrestling. It is therefore not surprising that little Vincenzo, who was nicknamed “Pollicino”, started wrestling at the local CISA AUDAX wrestling club at the age of 12. Maenza, who was employed by a bank, played his first major competitions in 1976. It wasn't long before he had fought his way into the top class of Italian wrestlers in the lightest weight class, the paper weight, i.e. up to 48 kg body weight. With a few exceptions, Maenza always started in this weight class until the end of his international career in 1992.

Maenza made his debut at an international championship at the age of 17 at the Mediterranean Games in Split , when he was in the Greco-Roman. Style, the style that he exclusively wrestled, took 2nd place behind the strong Turk Salih Bora . In 1980 he took second place at the Junior World Championship (Cadets = up to the age of 18) in Colorado Springs and third place at the European Junior Championships of Espoirs (up to the age of 20) in Bursa . He was then allowed to start at the European Senior Championships in Prievidza and the Olympic Games in Moscow and came in 7th place both times.

Also in the years 1981 to 1983 Maenza competed regularly at the World and European Championships, but never managed a better placement than 5th place. He made the big leap forward in 1984. First he won the bronze medal at the European paperweight championships in Jönköping , defeating Bernd Scherer from the Federal Republic of Germany in the fight for this medal and then he was also Olympic champion in this weight class in Los Angeles . In the final battle he defeated the German champion Markus Scherer , the brother of Bernd Scherer, against whom he led with 12: 0 points after 1.59 minutes, which, according to the rules of the time, the fight was broken off in favor of Vincenzo Maenza.

In 1985 Vincenzo Maenza took a break from the Welt- u. European Championships, but was third in the European Championships in Athens in 1986 and European champion in Tampere in 1987 and vice world champion in paper weight in Clermont-Ferrand . At the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 Maenza then confirmed his Olympic victory in 1984, when the strong Eastern Bloc wrestlers had been absent because of the Olympic boycott of the Los Angeles Games, because he was also Olympic champion in Seoul in convincing style. In the final Maenza defeated Poland Andrzej Głąb with 3-0 points.

In the following years Maenza stepped a little shorter, but started in 1990 at the World Cup in Rome . There he lost in the semifinals against the Soviet athlete Oleg Kutscherenko , who later took on German citizenship and could not compete for 3rd place because he missed the weight limit of 48 kg for the first time in his career.

At the end of his career, Maenza started at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona . Maenza fought her way into the final in an excellent manner. However, Oleg Kutscherenko again blocked the jump to his third Olympic victory, who defeated Maenza with 3-0 points on points.

After the 1992 Olympic Games, Maenza ended his international wrestling career. With two gold and one silver medal, he was the most successful Italian wrestler ever to stand on the mat. Vincenzo Maenza is now the manager of an Italian football club, is involved in the Italian Olympic Committee to support athletes who need to be reintegrated into civil life after their sports careers and is also President of NICO, an association of Italian medalists at the Olympic Games . In September 2005 Maenza was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame .

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, Pa = paper weight, Fl = fly weight, at that time up to 48 gk or 52 kg body weight)

• 1979, 2nd place , Mediterranean Games in Split , GR, Pa, behind Salih Bora , Turkey a . off Sotirios Ventas, Greece ;
• 1980, 2nd place , Junior World Championships (Cadets) in Colorado Springs , GR, Pa, behind Daniel Aceves , Mexico a . before Mikael Lindblom, Sweden ;
• 1980, 3rd place , Junior EM (Espoirs) in Bursa , GR, Pa, behind Ilja Umanow, Soviet Union a . Atanas Emzew, Bulgaria ;
• 1980, 7th place , EM in Prievidza , GR, Pa, with a victory over Reijo Haaparanta, Finland a . Defeats against Freddy Scherer , BRD a . Kent Andersson, Sweden;
• 1980, 7th place , OS in Moscow , GR, Pa, after defeats against Reijo Haaparanta u. Pawel Christow , Bulgaria;
• 1981, 5th place , Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Vancouver , GR, Pa, behind Mark Fuller , USA , Magyatdin Allachwerdijew , Soviet Union, Bratan Zenow , Bulgaria a. Bernd Scherer , FRG a. in front of Lars Rønningen , Norway ;
• 1981, 5th place , EM in Göteborg , GR, Pa, with victories over Jon Rønningen , Norway, Mihai Cişmaş , Romania a . Ferenc Seres , Hungary a . Defeats against Salih Bora u. Totju Andonow , Bulgaria;
• 1981, 7th place , World Championships in Oslo , GR, Pa, with a victory over Mark Fuller u. Defeats against Saksylik Uschkempirow , USSR a. Totju Andonow;
• 1982, 6th place , World Cup in Katowice , GR, Pa, behind Timor Taimuras Kasaraschwili , Soviet Union, Salih Bora, Bratan Zenow , Bulgaria, Leszek Mayakowski, Poland and others. Csaba Vadász , Hungary;
• 1983, 1st place , Mediterranean Games in Casablanca , GR, Pa, ahead of Ali Farag, Egypt a . Salih Bora;
• 1983, 5th place , EM in Budapest , GR, Pa, behind Bratan Zenow , Wassili Anikin, Soviet Union, Csaba Vadasz u. Markus Scherer , FRG a. in front of Krzystof Mudrecki, Poland;
• 1984, 3rd place , EM in Jönköping , GR, Pa, with victories over Kent Andersson, Andreas Klektiven, GDR a . Bernd Scherer u. a loss to Magyatdin Allachwerdijew ;
• 1984, gold medal , OS in Los Angeles , GR, Pa, with victories over Salih Bora , Li Haisheng, PR China , Kent Andersson u. Markus Scherer;
• 1985, 1st place , World Super Championship (unofficial) in Tokyo , GR, Pa, ahead of Ikuzo Saito, Japan and Ortze Ortzew , Bulgaria;
• 1986, 3rd place , EM in Athens , GR, Pa, behind Iwan Samtajew , Soviet Union a. Bratan Zenow et al. in front of Lars Rønningen, Fuat Yildiz , Turkey a. Giorgios Nikitas, Greece;
• 1987, 1st place , EM in Tampere , GR, Pa, ahead of Bratan Zenow, Sergei Suworow, Soviet Union, Markus Scherer, Andrzej Głąb , Poland a. Georgios Nikitas;
• 1987, 2nd place , World Championships in Clermont-Ferrand , GR, Pa, behind Magyatdin Allachwerdijew u. before Lars Rønningen, Andrzej Głąb, Bratan Zenow u. Yond Kyun Duk, North Korea ;
• 1987, 1st place , FILA-Grand Prix in Budapest , GR, Pa, ahead of Bratan Zenow , Andrzej Głąb, Markus Scherer , Reinaldo Jimenez, Cuba a . Magyatdin Allachwerdiev ;
• 1988, 1st place , Mediterranean Games in Latakia , GR, Fl, ahead of Serge Robert, France a. Muhammat Öztürk, Turkey;
• 1988, gold medal , OS in Seoul , GR, Pa, in front of Andrzej Głąb, Bratan Zenow , Magyatdin Allachwerdijew , Khaled Al-Faraj, Syria a . Markus Scherer ;
• 1990, 4th place , World Cup in Rome , GR, Pa, behind Oleg Kutscherenko , Soviet Union, Raiko Marinow, Bulgaria a. Elenia Koishi, Japan a. before Wilber Sánchez , Cuba and Jozsef Farago , Hungary;
• 1991, 3rd place , Mediterranean Games in Athens , GR, Fl, behind Khaled Al-Faraj u. Serge Robert et al. before Zeljko Popovic, Yugoslavia ;
• 1992, silver medal , OS in Barcelona , GR, Pa, behind Oleg Kutscherenko u. before Wilber Sánchez , Fuat Yildiz , Turkey, Iliuță Dăscălescu , Romania a. Rezah Simkhah, Iran

swell

• Div. Issues of the specialist magazine "Athletik" from 1979 to 1992,
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• European Hapkido Organization website (in Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ TheMat.com from September 13, 2005 ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on July 8, 2010 (English) 

Web links

• Vincenzo Maenza's profile at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science
• Vincenzo Maenza in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )