Gösta Andersson (wrestler)

Gösta Andersson (born 15 February 1917 Selånger; † September 12, 1975 in Sundsvall ) was a Swedish wrestler. He was Olympic champion in 1948 in London.

Career

Gösta Andersson began as a teenager when Skene BK with the rings. After the first major successes, he joined the sports club AIK Sundsvall. He developed into an excellent wrestler in the Greco-Roman style from 1937 and reached very good results in the Swedish Championships, although he won his first Swedish championship title in 1945. His start in international championships he gave at the European Championships 1938 in Tallinn in Greco-Roman wrestling at lightweight, where he was defeated by the German Heinrich Nettesheim after three wins and came to 3rd place. 1939 Gösta won in Oslo, somewhat surprisingly the European title at lightweight. Although he lost to the Turks Yaşar Dogu, but triumphed over the Finnish Olympic champion from 1936 Lauri Koskela.

After the Second World War interrupted the international career Göstas for eight years, because in 1947 European Championships were conducted in the Greco-Roman style again. He started in Prague in 1947 welterweight and defeated, like eight years ago, against Yaşar Dogu and became vice European champion.

At the 1948 Olympic Games in London then Gösta succeeded the really big triumph. He won five times and won in superior style the gold medal. His toughest opponent was the Hungarian Miklós Szilvási, the Gösta auspunktete.

1950 found for the first time since 1922 back World Championships in Greco-Roman style instead. Gösta was here in Stockholm and won a bronze medal after a surprise defeat against the international hitherto unknown Finns Matti Siimanainen, who took advantage of the opportunity and became world champion.

With a silver medal at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki Gösta Andersson finished his magnificent career. After four victories, he lost the final this time the Hungarian Miklós Szilvássy, the Olympic champion.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM =, GR = Greco-Roman style, Le = Lightweight, We = welterweight, then to 67 kg or 73 kg body weight)

Swedish Championships

Gösta Andersson won the Swedish championship in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950, respectively welterweight.

Swell

• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships FILA, 1976
• Various editions of the journal " weight training " from 1938 to 1939 and the journal " athletics " 1948-1952
• Statistics of the Swedish Association of the Swedish Championships Ringer