Valentin Rajchev

Valentin Rajchev (floor)

Valentin Raychev ( Bulgarian Валентин Райчев ., English transcription Valentin Raychev * 20th August 1958 in Sofia ) is a former Bulgarian wrestler . He was a 1980 Olympic champion in free style welterweight.

Career

Valentin Raychev began as a teenager with rings . After his great talent was recognized, he was delegated to the Bulgarian top club Levski-Spartak Sofia. There he matured into an excellent freestyle wrestler. He was already very successful as a junior in Bulgaria and has represented his country at international championships since 1977. The greatest success he achieved was the 2nd place at the Junior World Championships in Ulaanbaatar behind the Soviet athlete Yuri Vorobiev .

1979 Rajchev won the welterweight competition at the Balkan Games in Jambol before Necmi Gençalp from Turkey . This was his greatest achievement, before the 1980 Moscow Olympics . He secured the starting place for these games through his success in the Bulgarian elimination over Alexander Nanew . In Moscow, Rajchev showed excellent performance and defeated u. a. the top wrestlers Pawel Pinigin from the USSR and Dan Karabín from the CSSR , which made him Olympic champion . But it should not be overlooked that the two best freestyle wrestlers in the world of that year, Leroy Kemp from the United States and Martin Knosp from the Federal Republic of Germany, could not take part in these games because of their states' Olympic boycott.

In 1981, Rajtschew finished 2nd at the European Championships in Łódź behind Elbrus Korajew from the USSR and also at the World Championships that year in Skopje he was 2nd winner. He was clearly defeated in the final against Martin Knosp with 2: 7 points.

After 1981, Rajchev started, although he was only 23 years old, in no other international championships. The reasons for this are not known.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = free style, We = welterweight, back then up to 74 kg body weight)

• 1977, 5th place , Junior World Championships in Las Vegas (Juniors) F, We, behind Joe Churello, USA , Georgi Makarasaschwili , USSR , Martin Knosp , FRG a . Kim, South Korea ;

• 1978, 4th place , Junior European Championship in Oulu , F, We, behind Martin Knosp, Magomed Gudgiew, USSR a. Thomas Munkwitz, GDR a . before Dogan Sahin, Turkey a . Csaba Barkoczy, Romania ;

• 1979, 2nd place , Junior World Championships in Ulaanbaatar , F, We, behind Juri Vorobiew , USSR a. in front of Bejaraa, Mongolia , Steubing, Canada , Hires, USA a. Kleinschmidt, GDR;

• 1979, 1st place , Balkan Games in Jambol , F, We, before Necmi Gençalp , Turkey, Heraklis Deskoulidis, Greece a . Danaila Kost, Romania;

• 1980, gold medal , OS in Moscow , F, We, with victories over Bartl Brötzner, Austria , Ricardo Niccolini, Italy , Reinhold Steingräber , GDR, Rajander Singh, India , Ryszard Scigalski, Poland , Pawel Pinigin , USSR a. Dan Karabín , CSSR ;

• 1981, 2nd place , EM in Łódź , F, We, with victories over Bernd Radschunat, GDR, Pekka Rauhala , Finland , Necmi Gencalp u. Barjan Coroli, Yugoslavia a . a loss to Elbrus Korajew, USSR;

• 1981, 2nd place , World Championship in Skoplje , F, We, with victories over Krysztof Wojtowiek, Poland, Sendelario Lazaro, Cuba , Ricardo Niccolini, Pekka Rauhala u. Ko Tin Won, North Korea a . a loss to Martin Knosp;

• 1981, 2nd place , World Super Championships in Nagoya (unofficial), F, We, behind Leroy Kemp , USA a. in front of Yunihiko Kainuma, Japan

literature

• Trade journal Der Ringer. Numbers: 8/1980, pages 8/9, 5/1981, page 7 and 10/1981, page 6

Web link

• Profile of Valentin Rajtschew at the Institute for Applied Training Science