Joseph Atiyeh

Joseph Atiyeh ( born October 8, 1957) is a former Syrian wrestler. He won a silver medal in the free style in the heavyweight division at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Career

Joseph (Joe) Atiyeh was the son of a family that immigrated from Amar in Syria in the United States and in Allentown (Pennsylvania), lived. He originally only had the American nationality. As a student of Dieruff High School, he began as a teenager with his brothers George and Benis with the rings. At the same time, he also played American football.

After high school he attended Louisiana State University and also participated there in Ringer's competitions. He started in 1980 and 1981 in the so-called NCAA Championships, which is the American students Championship. An event that has a very good reputation in the American Ringer sports because almost all major U.S. wrestlers come from the students warehouse. Joe Atiyeh finished at the NCAA Championships in 1980 in free style in the heavyweight 8 and in 1981 the 9th Place. Other achievements he could not achieve.

In 1984 he acquired in addition to U.S. citizenship even the Syrian and started for this country at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Although he had never participated in a major international championship, he won there in free style in the heavyweight division with wins over Vasile Puscasu, Romania, Kartar Singh Dillon, India and Georgios Pikilidis from Greece. He was in the battle for the Olympic gold medal against the Americans Lou Banach, from which he was shouldered. He thus won the silver medal and thus the first medal that had won up to that point at the Olympic Games ever a Syrian athletes.

After this success, Joe Atiyeh received by the Syrian government an offer for a return to Syria to get a high military posts. He remained in the United States and worked at the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge as a professional football player. At further championships in wrestling, he no longer participated.

International success

Note: OS = Olympic Games, F = Freestyle, heavyweight, then to 100 kg body weight

Swell

  • Journal The wrestler, number 9/84, page 14,
  • Database of the Institute for Applied Training Science at the University of Leipzig
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