Vitaly Jakowlewitsch Kuznetsov

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Vitaly Jakowlewitsch Kuznetsov (1972)

Vitaly Jakowlewitsch Kuznetsov ( Russian Виталий Яковлевич Кузнецов ; born February 16, 1941 in Novo-Mazino , Tatarstan ; †  October 12, 2011 in Moscow ) was a Soviet judoka . He won an Olympic silver medal in 1972.

The 1.80 m tall Kuznetsov competed in the heavyweight or open class. He was originally a wrestler and began playing sambo , the Russian variant of judo , during his army service in 1961 . He was the Soviet Sambo heavyweight champion in 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978 and 1979 and in the open class in 1974, 1976 and 1977. In 1975 he was world champion in sambo and in 1972 European champion, both in the heavyweight division.

His international judo career began in 1969 when he won a bronze medal at the European Championships both with the team and in heavyweight singles. In 1971 he again received bronze with the team and won the individual competition in the open class in front of the Spaniard Santiago Ojeda . At the 1971 World Championships in Ludwigshafen , he received the silver medal behind the Japanese Masatoshi Shinomaki in the open class . In 1972 Kuznetsov won the bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the European Championships and won with the Soviet team.

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich he defeated the Brazilian Chiaki Ishii , the Dutch Willem Ruska and the German Klaus Glahn in the open class and was the winner of his pool, the French Jean-Claude Brondani won the other pool . Willem Ruska and the Briton Angelo Parisi reached the semi-finals via the hope lap . In the fight for the final, Kuznetsov defeated Parisi and met Ruska in the final, who won the final after 3:58 minutes.

After a few years break, Kuznetsov returned to the judo mat in 1978 and won silver at the European Team Championships. At the European Championships in 1979 he was only defeated in the heavyweight final against the French Jean-Luc Rougé . In the fall of 1979, Kuznetsov won the European team championships with the Soviet team. At the World Championships in Paris in 1979 , Kuznetsov went to the open class, defeated the Belgian Robert Van de Walle in the semifinals and was defeated in the final against the Japanese Sumio Endo . At the end of his career, Kuznetsov went to the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow in the heavyweight division, but already lost his first fight against the Yugoslav Radomir Kovačević .

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SURNAME Kuznetsov, Vitaly Jakowlewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Кузнецов, Виталий Яковлевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet judoka
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Novo-Mazino , Tatarstan , Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 2011
Place of death Moscow