Valentin Jordanow

Jordanov (2018)

Valentin Dimitrov Yordanov (also Valentin Dimitrov Jordanov written Bulgarian Валентин Йорданов * 26. January 1960 in Sandrowo , Ruse Province ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler . He was an Olympic champion and multiple world and European champion in free style in flyweight.

Career

Valentin Jordanow started wrestling in his hometown at the age of 10. He was trained by Georgi Achew until 1978 and concentrated entirely on free style. At the age of 18 he joined the Bulgarian army and became a member of the central sports club of the CSKA Sofia army , where Jantscho Patrikeew took over his training. In the further course of his career, Jordan Christow was added as a further coach. Wrestling was his profession during his playing days. At the end of his career, he attended the Sofia National Sports Academy ( Национална спортна академия "Васил Левски" ) and was trained as a wrestling trainer there. From 1990 to 1996 he lived and trained in the United States. After returning to Bulgaria, he founded the sports club Slavia Litex Sofia in 1996 , of which he also became president. In 1998 he was elected President of the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation.

Valentin Jordanow achieved her first major successes as a junior. In 1979 he came at the Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Ulaanbaatar in flyweight, the weight class in which he wrestled throughout his career, only on 5th place, but in 1980 he was in Bursa Junior European flyweight champion before Aslan Seyhanlı from Turkey and Ali Nean Gulachmedov from the Soviet Union .

In the seniors, Valentin Jordanow started for the first time in 1981 at an international championship. At the European Championships in Łódź , however, he lost to Hartmut Reich from the GDR and came in 3rd place. In 1982 he won the European title for the first time in Varna , leaving Lajos Szabo from Hungary , Osman Efendiew from Russia and Hartmut Reich behind him. At the world championship this year in Edmonton , where Hartmut Reich won the world title, he was eliminated early on and only came in 13th.

In 1983, Valentin Jordanow repeated his title win at the European Championships in Budapest . He won there in front of Šaban Trstena from Yugoslavia and Władysław Stecyk from Poland . In the same year he became world champion for the first time in Kiev . There he defeated Tosio Asakura from Japan in the final . Anatoli Beloglasow from the Soviet Union and Hartmut Reich came third and fourth.

In 1984, Valentin Jordanow had to be content with 2nd place at the European Championships in Jönköping , because he was beaten there in the final by Šaban Trstena on points (10: 5) and at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles he was able to get through the boycott of these games the former Eastern Bloc countries do not participate. So while he didn't win an international title in 1984, he was all the more successful in 1985. That year he was first European champion in Leipzig . Victories over Aslan Seyhanlı , Hartmut Reich and Šaban Trstena were enough for him to win this title, later that year he was also world champion in Budapest ahead of Minatulla Daibow from the Soviet Union, Mitsuru Satō from Japan and Joe Gonzalez from the United States.

He was unable to repeat this double title win in 1986. He was European champion again in Athens ahead of Šaban Trstena and Minatulla Daibow. At the World Championships in Budapest , however, he lost to the North Korean Kim Yong Sik and therefore only took 3rd place. In 1987, however, he succeeded in winning this double title again, because he was European champion again in Veliko Tarnovo ahead of Vladimir Toguzov from the Soviet Union and Aslan Seyhanlı and in Clermont-Ferrand he defeated Kim Yong Sik in the final at the World Cup and thus successfully returned the favor Loss of the 1986 World Cup.

In 1988, the next European championship for Valentin Jordanow followed in Manchester . He referred Vladimir Togusow and Šaban Trstena to places 2 and 3. But he failed to grab the Olympic gold medal in Seoul , because he only finished 8th there. The Japanese Mitsuru Satō was Olympic champion ahead of Saban Trstena and Vladimir Toguzov. In 1989, Valentin Jordanow returned to the road to success. The result was winning the European title in Ankara ahead of Mikhail Kuschnir from the Soviet Union, whom he beat relatively narrowly with 5: 3 points in the final battle and Aslan Seyhanlı and winning the world title in Martigny ahead of Vladimir Togusow and Majid Torkan from Iran . In the final he outclassed Toguzov with 7-1 points.

From 1990, that is from the year in which he lived in the United States, Vladimir Jordanov did not start at any European championships. In the next few years he continued to compete at the World Championships and the Olympic Games. In 1990 and 1991, however, he had to be content with the runner-up world title every time. In 1990 he was clearly beaten on points (2: 8) in Tokyo in the final by Majid Torkan and also at the 1991 World Cup in Varna he lost the final fight against Zeke Jones (Larry Jones) from the United States, who played against Jordanow with 6 : 3 points won.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona he finally won an Olympic medal. Not the longed-for golden one, however, but “only” the bronze one. The reason was his defeat in the semifinals against Li Hak-Son from North Korea .

After this defeat, Valentin Jordanow began a unique triumphal march in the last four years of his career. He lost at the World Championships in 1993 in Toronto , 1994 in Istanbul and 1995 in Atlanta and at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta no more fight. The result was the win of three more world championship titles and the crowning glory at the age of 36 the Olympic victory. His main rivals in those years were Gholamreza Mohammadi from Iran , whom he defeated in the World Cup finals in 1993 and 1995, and Namig Abdullajew from Azerbaijan , whom he won in the World Cup final in 1994 and in the Olympic final in Atlanta (just 4: 3 Points).

For his success, Valentin Jordanow was inducted into the FILA Hall of Fame by the FILA World Wrestling Federation in 2003.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
1979	2.	Balkan Games in Yambol	To fly	behind Aslan Seyhanlı , Turkey , in front of Stefan Gores, Romania
1979	5.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Ulaanbaatar	To fly	behind Iragli Schugajew, USSR , George Gunovski, Canada , R. Willingham, USA a . Dorjdsovdyn Ganbat , Mongolia
1980	1.	Balkan Championships in Istanbul	To fly	before Aslan Seyhanlı u. Constantin Ciucioiu, Romania
1980	1.	Junior European Championship in Bursa	To fly	before Aslan Seyhanlı u. Ali Nean Gulachmedov, USSR
1981	3.	EM in Łódź	To fly	after victory over Władysław Stecyk , Poland , defeat against Hartmut Reich , GDR a . Victories over Efremow Koce, Yugoslavia u. Fritz Niebler , Federal Republic of Germany
1982	1.	EM in Varna	To fly	in front of Lajos Szabo, Hungary , Osman Efendijew , Soviet Union a. Hartmut Reich
1982	13.	World Cup in Edmonton	To fly	Winner: Hartmut Reich ahead of Osman Efendijew u. Joe Gonzalez , USA
1983	1.	EM in Budapest	To fly	before Šaban Trstena , Yugoslavia , Władysław Stecyk u. Aslan Seyhanlı
1983	1.	World Cup in Kiev	To fly	before Tosio Asakura , Japan , Anatoli Beloglasow , USSR a. Hartmut Reich
1984	2.	EM in Jönköping	To fly	with victories over Lajos Szabo, Hungary, Władysław Stecyk , Ferhat Gumustekin, Rüekei u. Thierry Bourdin , France a . a loss to Saban Trstena , Yugoslavia
1985	1.	EM in Leipzig	To fly	with victories over Aslan Seyhanlı, Hartmut Reich u. Saban Trstena
1985	1.	World Cup in Budapest	To fly	before Minatulla Daibow , USSR, Mitsuru Satō , Japan a. Joe Gonzalez , USA
1986	1.	EM in Athens	To fly	in front of Šaban Trstena , Minatulla Daibow u. Nicu Hincu, Romania
1986	3.	World Cup in Budapest	To fly	behind Kim Yong Sik , North Korea u. Mitsuru Satō, in front of Hartmut Reich and Rho Kyung-sun, South Korea
1987	1.	EM in Veliko Tarnovo	To fly	before Wladimir Togusow , USSR, Aslan Seyhanlı, Nicu Hincu u. Stanislaw Kaczmarek , Poland
1987	1.	World Cup in Clermont-Ferrand	To fly	before Kim Yong Sik, Mitsuru Satō, Wladimir Togusow u. Tserenbaataryn Enchbajar , Mongolia
1988	1.	EM in Manchester	To fly	before Wladimir Togusow, Šaban Trstena , Aslan Seyhanlı, Nicu Hincu u. Herbert Tutsch , FRG
1988	8th.	OS in Seoul	To fly	Winner: Mitsuru Satō ahead of Šaban Trstena u. Vladimir Toguzov
1989	1.	EM in Ankara	To fly	before Michail Kuschnir , USSR, Aslan Seyhanlı u. Thierry Bourdin
1989	1.	World Cup in Martigny	To fly	in front of Vladimir Toguzov , Majid Torkan , Iran , Constantin Corduneanu, Romania and Son Tcheul-seul, South Korea
1990	2.	World Cup in Tokyo	To fly	behind Majid Torkan , in front of Aslan Agajew, USSR, Constantin Corduneanu u. Son Tcheul-seul
1991	2.	World Cup in Varna	To fly	behind Zeke Jones , USA, in front of Wladimir Togusow, Constantin Corduneanu u. Mitsuru Satō
1992	bronze	OS in Barcelona	To fly	behind Li Hak-Son , North Korea a. Zeke Jones , before Kim Sun-hak, South Korea, Ahmet Örel, Turkey a. Mitsuru Satō
1993	1.	World Cup in Toronto	To fly	in front of Gholamreza Mohammadi , Iran, Sergei Sambalow, Russia, Zeke Jones , Carlos Valera, Cuba and others Mikhail Kuschnir
1994	1.	World Cup in Istanbul	To fly	before Namig Abdullajew , Azerbaijan , Gholamreza Mohammadi , Ahmet Özel u. Nourdin Donbajew, Kyrgyzstan
1995	1.	World Cup in Atlanta	To fly	before Gholamreza Mohammadi , Zeke Jones , Namig Abdullajew u. Vladimir Toguzov
1996	gold	OS in Atlanta	To fly	with victories over Victor Rodriguez, Mexico , Chechenol Mongush , Russia, Maulen Mamyrow , Kazakhstan u. Named Abdullaev

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championships, EM = European Championships
• Flyweight, weight class up to 52 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig

Web links

• Profile of Valentin Jordanow at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Valentin Jordanow in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Official website