Wilfried Dietrich

Wilfried Dietrich with the German national wrestling team 1981 (first from left)

Wilfried Dietrich medal table
Wrestler
Germany
Olympic games
silver	1956 Melbourne	Heavy Greco
silver	1960 Rome	Heavy Greco
gold	1960 Rome	Heavy freestyle
bronze	1964 Tokyo	Heavy Greco
bronze	1968 Mexico City	Heavy freestyle
World Championship
silver	1957 Istanbul	Heavy freestyle
gold	1961 Yokohama	Heavy freestyle
bronze	1962 Toledo	Heavy Greco
bronze	1962 Toledo	Heavy freestyle
silver	1969 Mar del Plata	Super heavy Greco
European Championship
gold	1967 Istanbul	Heavy freestyle

Wilfried Dietrich (born October 14, 1933 in Schifferstadt ; † June 2, 1992 in Durbanville , South Africa ) was a German wrestler and weightlifter. His greatest achievement was winning the Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in Rome in 1960.

Life

Wilfried Dietrich won a total of 30 German championships between 1951 and 1977 (individual and team titles with VfK Schifferstadt and with ASV Mainz 1888 ).

Dietrich always competed in the highest weight class. This began at the beginning of his career at 87 kg body weight, in 1962 due to a new weight classification by the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) at 97 kg body weight. In 1969, two new weight classes were introduced in addition to the eight existing up to then, paper weights up to 48 kg and heavy weights up to 100 kg. The weight class over 100 kg body weight was now referred to as super heavyweight.

The highlight of his wrestling career was the Olympic gold medal in free style in 1960 in Rome . In the following year, Dietrich confirmed this success by winning the world championship in Yokohama . He won further Olympic medals in Melbourne in 1956 (silver in Greco-Roman style), in Rome in 1960 (silver in Greco-Roman style), 1964 in Tokyo (bronze in Greco-Roman style) and 1968 in Mexico City (bronze in freestyle) .

Wilfried Dietrich (right) after his sensational victory over Taylor (USA)

In 1968 Wilfried Dietrich was the flag bearer of the German team at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games .

At his last Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 , Wilfried Dietrich was without a medal. But he landed a sensational shoulder win against his 182 kg opponent Chris Taylor from the USA.

In 1977 Wilfried Dietrich ended his active career and became a wrestling legend as the " Kran von Schifferstadt ".

Dietrich died of a heart attack in Durbanville in 1992 at the age of only 58 . He lived with his second wife in this suburb of Cape Town (South Africa). Wilfried Dietrich is buried in the forest cemetery in Schifferstadt.

Funeral service for Wilfried Dietrich, 1992

Appreciations

Wilfried Dietrich is described by many experts as a talent of the century in wrestling. Because only a few fighters succeeded in “winning” Olympic precious metal in both styles.

In 1969 Dietrich was made an honorary citizen of Schifferstadt . On May 6, 2008 Wilfried Dietrich was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Sports .

In June 2008, Günther Dietrich, Wilfried Dietrich's brother, bought his sporting estate for over € 25,000 and brought him back to Germany from South Africa. This estate became the cornerstone of a wrestling museum that was founded in Schifferstadt in 2010.

For his services to wrestling , Wilfried Dietrich was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in September 2014 .

International success

(Note: OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, GR = Greco-Roman style, F = freestyle, S = heavyweight, SS = super heavyweight, class = weight class)

year	space	competition	style	class	Remarks
1955	6th	World Cup in Karlsruhe	GR	S.	with victories over Alexandru Șuli , Romania a . Ladislav Baksaj, Yugoslavia a . one loss to Hamit Kaplan , Turkey
1956	silver	OS in Melbourne	GR	S.	with victories over Bertil Antonsson , Sweden , Hussein Mehmedow , Bulgaria , Hamit Kaplan u. Adelmo Bulgarelli , Italy a . a loss to Anatoly Parfenov , USSR
1957	2.	World Cup in Istanbul	F.	S.	with victories over Shunichi Kawano, Japan , Gholamreza Takhti , Iran a . Lucjan Sosnowski , Poland a . Draw against Hussein Mehmedow u. Hamit Kaplan
1958	1.	Tournament in Udine	GR	S.	before Giuseppe Marcucci, Italy a. Ladislav Baksaj
1959	1.	Tournament in Savona	GR	S.	in front of Adelmo Bulgarelli u. Suleyman Bastimur, Turkey
1959	1.	Tournament in Split	GR	S.	before István Kozma , Hungary , Suleyman Bastimur, Bertil Antonsson, Hussein Mehmedow u. Ladislav Baksaj
1960	silver	OS in Rome	GR	S.	with victories over Ragnar Svensson , Sweden a. Radoslav Kassabow , Bulgaria a. Draw against Bohumil Kubát , Czechoslovakia a . Ivan Bogdan , USSR
1960	gold	OS in Rome	F.	S.	with victories over Ray Mitchell, Australia , Max Widmer , Switzerland , Bertil Antonsson, Yaqub-Ali Shourvazi, Iran, Pietro Marascalchi, Italy a. Sawkus Dscharasow , USSR a. a tie against Hamit Kaplan
1961	1.	World Cup in Yokohama	F.	S.	with victories over Isamu Ohtsuka, Japan, Hossein Noori, Iran a. Alexander Medwed , USSR a. Draw against János Reznák , Hungary a. Hamit Kaplan
1962	1.	Tournament in Klippan / Sweden	GR	S.	before Ragnar Svensson u. Stoykow, Yugoslavia
1962	1.	Tournament in Belgrade	GR	S.	before István Kozma u. Anatoly Parfenov
1962	3.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	GR	S.	with victories over Akeo Nojima, Japan, Hallow Wilson, USA , Radoslaw Kassabow a. Hamit Kaplan, a tie against Anatoli Roschtschin , USSR a. a loss to István Kozma
1962	3.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	F.	S.	with victories over Aziz Keyani, Iran a. Ragnar Svensson et al. Draw against Lyutvi Dschiber Akhmedov , Bulgaria a. Hamit Kaplan
1963	4th	World Cup in Sofia	F.	S.	with victories over Hamit Arslan, Turkey a. Alwyn Visser, South Africa , a tie against János Reznák u. a loss to Lyutvi Djiber Akhmedov
1963	6th	World Cup in Helsingborg	GR	S.	with a victory over Werner Tschimmel, GDR , a draw against István Kozma u. Lyutvi Dzhiber Akhmedov a. a loss to Anatoly Roschtschin
1964	2.	Tournament in Klippan	GR	S.	behind Ragnar Svensson u. before Lennart Eriksson , Sweden
1964	bronze	OS in Tokyo	GR	S.	with victories over Tsuneharu Sugiyama, Japan a. Radoslaw Kassabow u. Defeats against Anatoli Roschtschin u. István Kozma
1964	7th	OS in Tokyo	F.	S.	with a win over Arne Robertsson , Sweden, a draw against Hamit Kaplan u. a loss to Larry Kristoff , USA
1967	5.	EM in Minsk	GR	S.	with a victory over Radoslaw Kassabow u. Draw against Nikolai Schmakow , USSR a. István Kozma
1967	1.	EM in Istanbul	F.	S.	with victories over László Nyers, Hungary, Arne Robertsson , Bohumil Kubát , Osman Duraliew , Bulgaria a. Vladimir Saunin , USSR, despite losing to Giyasettin Yilmaz , Turkey
1968	bronze	OS in Mexico City	F.	S.	with victories over Harry Geris, Canada, Wieslaw Bochenski, Poland, Olziisaihany Erdeneochir, Mongolia a . Ștefan Stîngu , Romania a . Defeats to Osman Duraliew u. Alexander Medved
1969	5.	EM in Sofia	F.	S.	with a tie against Omar Topuz , Turkey u. a loss to Osman Duraliew
1969	2.	World Cup in Mar del Plata	GR	SS	with victories over Merv Holden, Canada a. Petar Donew, Bulgaria a. a tie against Anatoly Roschtschin
1970	1.	Tournament in Tehran	F.	SS	before Filabi, Iran a. Osman Duraliew
1972	1.	Tournament in Bucharest	F.	SS	before Ștefan Stîngu u. Ladislau Șimon , bde. Romania
1972	1.	Tournament in Växjö	F.	SS	before Arne Robertsson u. Andre Burek, Czechoslovakia
1972	5.	OS in Munich	F.	SS	with victories over Oldrich Vlasak, Czechoslovakia a. Istvan Marothy, Hungary a. Losses against Chris Taylor , USA a. Alexander Medved
1972	4th	OS in Munich	GR	SS	with victories over Chris Taylor u. Raimo Karlsson, Finland and defeats to Victor Dolipschi , Romania a. Anatoly Roschtschin

Wilfried-Dietrich-Halle in Schifferstadt , 2006

Honors

• Honorary citizen of the city of Schifferstadt in 1969
• Hall of Fame of German Sports 2008
• Hall of Fame FILA 2014
• Legend of wrestling 2015

German championships

year	space	style	class
1955	1.	GR	S.	before Otto Hartwig, Untertürkheim a . Heinz Volb, Eckenheim
1955	1.	F.	S.	in front of Franz Wiesholler, Witten -Annen u. Werner Schreiner, Ketch
1956	1.	GR	S.	before Hans Huber , Regensburg a . Hans Gietl, Botnang
1957	1.	GR	S.	before Otto Hartwig u. Werner Schreiner
1957	1.	F.	S.	before Otto Hartwig u. Heinz Volb
1958	1.	GR	S.	before Günter Krehl, Feuerbach u. Heinz Volb
1958	1.	F.	S.	in front of Werner Reinlein, Lichtenfels a . Ludwig Gehron, Pirmasens
1959	1.	GR	S.	before Heinrich Dietz, Langendiebach a . Emil Öhmen, Duisdorf
1959	1.	F.	S.	before Werner Reinlein u. Hans Huber
1960	1.	GR	S.	in front of Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier , Aschaffenburg a . Werner Schreiner
1960	1.	F.	S.	before Hans Huber u. Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier
1961	1.	GR	S.	before Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier u. Josef Hucker, Unterelchingen
1961	1.	F.	S.	before Josef Hucker u. Otto Hartwig
1962	1.	GR	S.	before Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier u. Willi Kiefer, Mainz
1962	1.	F.	S.	before Heinrich Dietz u. Theo Löhrer, Efferen
1963	1.	GR	S.	before Emil Neunkirchen, Rheydt a. Alfred Weger, spares
1963	1.	F.	S.	before Heinz Volb u. Roland Bock , Feuerbach
1964	1.	GR	S.	before Heinz Eichelbaum , Dortmund a . Karl-Heinz Gerdsmeier
1964	1.	F.	S.	in front of Hans Focken, Krefeld a . Willi Kiefer
1965	1.	GR	S.	before Heinz Eichelbaum u. Josef Gammel, Munich- Neuaubing
1965	1.	GR	F.	before Roland Bock u. Heinz Eichelbaum
1966	1.	GR	S.	before Roland Bock u. Heinz Eichelbaum
1966	1.	F.	S.	before Roland Bock u. Helmut Löw, Nuremberg
1967	1.	GR	S.	in front of Horst Schwarz , Untertürkheim a . Heinz Eichelbaum
1967	1.	F.	S.	in front of Gerd Volz , Mainz a. Heinz Eichelbaum
1970	1.	F.	SS	before Heinz Eichelbaum u. Emil Neunkirchen
1971	1.	F.	SS	before Gerd Volz u. Gerhard Trutnau, Hanau
1972	1.	F.	SS	before Gerd Volz u. Heiner Raber
1973	1.	F.	SS	before Heinz Eichelbaum u. Gerd Volz
1974	1.	GR	SS	before Lorenz Hecher , Hallbergmoos u. Gerd Volz

All-German Olympic qualifications

year	space	style	class
1960	1.	F.	S.	before Hans Huber, Horst Czech a. Hans Päschke, bde. Leipzig
1960	1.	GR	S.	before Werner Tschimmel, Luckenwalde, Hans Huber u. Müller, Rostock
1964	1.	GR	S.	before Dieter Jerschneck, Luckenwalde
1964	1.	F.	S.	before Peter Germer , Jena

literature

• Wilfried Dietrich - wrestling legend from Schifferstadt. In: Gerhard Sellinger: Contributions to the history of Schifferstadt. Geier-Druck-Verlag, Schifferstadt 2004, pp. 59–79.
• Rolf Sperber: The "Schifferstadt crane" towered over all heavy athletes. In: Heimat-Jahrbuch Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis. Vol. 26 (2009), pp. 12-24.
• Wilfried Dietrich - wrestling legend from Schifferstadt. Tomorrow, Sunday, June 3rd, will be the 20th anniversary of the death. In: Schifferstadter Tagblatt vol. 108, No. 127 of June 2, 2012, magazine. ZDB ID 1019722-9 .
• Exactly 40 years ago: The “throw of the century”. In: Schifferstadter Tagblatt vol. 108, No. 209 v. September 7, 2012. ZDB ID 1019722-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Wilfried Dietrich
2. ↑ First German Ringer Museum . Accessed August 5, 2016
3. ↑ FILA Announces Class of 2014 Hall of Famers: Sixteen Individuals to be Inducted in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on September 6 , accessed on April 16, 2017 (English)

Web links

• Profile of Wilfried Dietrich at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Wilfried Dietrich in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait, dates and biography of Wilfried Dietrich in the Hall of Fame of German Sports