Willy Kaiser

This article is about the boxer Willy Kaiser. For the politician see Willi Kaiser ; for other people see Wilhelm Kaiser .

Willy Kaiser (also Willi Kaiser , birth name Wilhelm Gustav Kaiser , born January 16, 1912 in Pudewitz , Posen district ; however, he came to Gladbeck in 1913 ; † July 24, 1986 Gladbeck) was the first German boxer to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games won in the flyweight division on August 15, 1936. By winning the gold medal, he also achieved the title of world and European champion. He was also the first Westphalian ever to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics.

Willy Kaiser took part as one of eight German boxers in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and won the flyweight gold medal. He defeated Guillermo López from Chile in the preliminary round, Fidel Tricanico from Uruguay in the quarterfinals, Alfredo Carlomagno from Argentina in the semifinals and finally Gavino Matta from Italy in the final . Since Herbert Runge won the gold medal in the heavyweight division, two German boxers emerged as winners from this Olympics, a fact that could only be repeated in 1988.

At the fifth European Championship in Milan in 1937 , he failed in the semifinals against the Pole Edmund Sobkowiak. In the fight for 3rd place he would have met his final opponent from the Olympic Games of 1936, the Italian Gavino Matta, but neither Kaiser nor Matta competed ( WO. ), Which is why they both shared 4th place in the flyweight division .

In 1937 Kaiser was still German flyweight champion . He fought 118 fights in his active career, of which he won 80, boxed 24 times and lost only 14 fights. The Second World War ended his career. He came into Soviet captivity, from which he did not return until 1949. He married Änne Zander in 1950, with whom he had four sons (Willi 1951, Kurt 1952, Manfred 1955 and Udo 1960). After his return, he devoted himself entirely to pigeon racing, winning numerous Gladbeck championships. Until his retirement he worked as a municipal employee in Gladbeck.

Immediately at the Gladbeck stadium is the oak that he received as a seedling in Berlin for winning the gold medal. In 1993, a memorial plaque was placed at the foot of this "Kaiser-Eiche". Since 1998, the "Willi Kaiser Cup" has been played annually in his memory at the indoor soccer championship.

Web links

• Willy Kaiser in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Results of all boxers of the EM 1937
• German champions in boxing