Voldemar Mägi

Voldemar Mägi (born November 4, 1914 in Lehtse , Järvamaa (today: Lääne-Virumaa ), Estonia , † February 18, 1954 in Los Angeles ) was an Estonian wrestler . He won a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman style in the middleweight division at the European Championships in 1937.

Life and sports career

Voldemar Mägi started wrestling in 1931 and joined the Kalevi Tallinn Sports Club . In 1935 he was first Estonian champion in free style middleweight. He was then used at the European Championships in the Greco-Roman style in Copenhagen. There he won his first fight over the Poland Jan Galuszka on points, but lost his next two fights against János Rihetzky from Hungary and against Ivar Johansson from Sweden . He finished 5th in Copenhagen.

In 1936 Voldemar Mägi was unable to take part in the Estonian championships due to a hand injury, which made Voldemar Roolaan the Estonian champion in both styles that year. The Estonian Wrestling Association decided to send only one middleweight wrestler in the Greco-Roman style to the Olympic Games in Berlin . For this purpose, the lot was decided between the candidates Mägi and Roolaan. Mägi was the luckier one and was allowed to start in Berlin.

In Berlin Voldemar Mägi met in his first fight against the Olympic champion of 1928 and 1932 in the middleweight division Väinö Kokkinen from Finland . He delivered this an even fight and lost just 1: 2 judges' votes on points. In his second fight he met Ercole Gallegati from Italy , against whom he lost with 0: 3 judges' votes. He was therefore eliminated after the 2nd round and came in 11th place in the final accounts.

In February 1937 Voldemar Mägi defeated in Tallinn in an international match against Finland Arvi Pikkusaari on points. In the final battle of the Estonian championship in 1937 in the Greco-Roman style, he lost to Voldemar Roolaan on points, but was preferred to this at the European championship that year in Paris . In Paris he defeated Teodor Kryszmalski from Poland , Georgs Ozolins from Latvia and Josef Hampl from Czechoslovakia in the middleweight division . He then lost to Ercole Gallegati just on points (1: 2 judges 'votes) and also had to admit defeat to the German Ludwig Schweickert (0: 3 judges' votes). With these results, however, he took 3rd place and thus won an EM bronze medal . In October 1937 he lost in Riga in an international match against Latvia against Georgs Ozoliņš on points.

In 1938 Voldemar Mägi suffered such a serious hand injury while training that he could not go on the mat for the whole of 1938.

In 1939 he started after his recovery in Prague in an international match against Czechoslovakia and there defeated Josef Herda on points in the welterweight division . In the same year he became Estonian master in the Greco-Roman style for the first time. In 1939 he also fought two international matches. He won in Tallinn over the Finn Veikko Kokko, while he lost in Riga against the Latvian Georgs Ozolins. He was not used at the European Championships in Oslo in 1939 .

In 1940 Voldemar Mägi was again Estonian champion in the Greco-Roman style middleweight division. In 1941 he was part of an Estonian wrestling team that undertook a tour of the Caucasus after the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union . The Estonian team won twice against Georgia 7: 0 on this tour , lost to Azerbaijan 3: 4 and on the return trip also beat Moscow with 5: 2 wins. Unfortunately, the individual results of these comparative matches are not known.

Shortly after returning from this trip to Tallinn, Voldemar Mägi, like Kristjan Palusalu , found himself exposed to Soviet reprisals. He evaded them by going underground and fled to Sweden in 1944 . He lived there until 1950. When he felt the long arm of the Soviet secret police there, he traveled to the USA in 1950. There he lived in Los Angeles and worked as a physical education teacher. On February 18, 1954, he was found dead behind the wheel of his car in Hollywood .

International success

year	space	competition	style	Weight class
1935	5.	EM in Copenhagen	GR	medium	with a victory over Jan Galuszka, Poland a . Defeats against János Rihetzky , Hungary a . Ivar Johansson , Sweden
1936	11.	OS in Berlin	GR	medium	after defeats against Väinö Kokkinen , Finland a . Ercole Gallegati , Italy
1937	3.	EM in Paris	GR	medium	with victories over Teodor Kryszmalski, Poland, Georgs Ozolins , Latvia a . Josef Hampl, Czechoslovakia a . Defeats against Ercole Gallegati u. Ludwig Schweickert , Germany

Estonian championships

Voldemar Mägi was Estonian champion in the free style in 1935 and in the Greco-Roman style in 1939 and 1940, each in the middleweight division.

Remarks

• OS = Olympic Games
• EM = European Championship
• GR = Greco-Roman style
• Welter weight, back then up to 73 kg body weight
• Middle weight, at that time up to 79 kg body weight

swell

• Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships , 1976
• Athletics magazine
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig
• Website "arielu.ee"

Web links

• Profile of Voldemar Mägi at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Report on Voldemar Mägi
• Portrait of Voldemar Mägi