Jukka Rauhala
Jukka Matti Rauhala ( born March 1, 1959 in Muurame ) is a former Finnish wrestler and winner of the bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles in free style at lightweight.
Career
Jukka Rauhala was born in 1959 in Muurame as the son of the winner of the silver medal at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki in the Greco-Roman style wrestling in the middleweight division Kalervo Rauhala. It is not surprising that he in 1966 as a teenager at the wrestlers Club Teuvan Rivakka also started together with his younger brother by one year Pekka Rauhala with the rings. He specialized himself completely to the free style and was very successful as a teenager at the Finnish Championships in the respective age groups. The coach, which he owed most, were Veikko Rauhala and Toivo Sillanpää.
In the senior Jukka Rauhala already won at age 17 in 1976 flyweight his first Finnish championship title. Until 1988, this was followed by eight more titles. In 1977, he won it in the bantamweight before his brother Pekka he defeated in a " battle of brothers " in the final.
His start in international championships were Jukka Rauhala in 1979 at the EC Championships in Manchester featherweight. He finished second there behind the German champion Michael Kuhn. At the European Championships 1981 in Łódź Jukka Rauhala was also quite successful, for he came there in a light weight on an excellent 4th place and defeated Among other things, the West German champion Karl -Heinz Ruch from Aldenhoven and the strong Seker Fevzi Turks. But he was defeated by Mikhail Tscharatschura from the USSR and against Eberhard Probst from Halle ( Saale).
Good placings he also reached at the European Championships 1982 in Varna and 1985 in Jonkoping. In Varna he finished 5th and 6th in Jönköping, each at lightweight. The climax of the career of Jukka Rauhala the 1984 Olympic Games were in Los Angeles. He won there with four wins the bronze medal. Among his four wins were three point success, for which he was charged with one missing dot, so that already resulted in a point loss to the Americans Andrew Rein in the 5th round his resignation before the final. He therefore could no longer fight against the South Koreans You In - Tak for the gold medal.
In the years 1985-1988 it was no longer possible Jukka Rauhala at the international championships, once again to win a medal. He reached in following championships still outstanding results: 4th place at the European Championships in 1986 in Athens, 5th place at the World Cup 1986 in Budapest, 4th place at the European Championship 1987 in Tampere and 6th place at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. At these championships, it was mainly the tip rounder arsenic Fadsajew from the USSR and Simeon Schterew from Bulgaria, prevented the greater successes of Jukka Rauhala
After the 1988 Olympics Jukka Rauhala finished in contrast to his brother Pekka, who was still active up to the 1992 Olympics, his wrestler 's career. He graduated and is now a qualified engineer and in the field of computer science (from Nokia) worked. From 1993 to 1996 he was a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee. In Ringer sports he is involved as before as a coach at youth level. He also sits on the board of the European Association Ringer CELA.
International success
(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = free style, Fl = Flyweight, Ba = bantamweight, Fe = Featherweight, Le = Lightweight, We = welterweight, then 52 kg, 57 kg, 62 kg, 68 kg and 74 kg body weight)
Finnish Championships
Swell
- Journal Athletics, No. 11/ 1979, pages 19
- Website of the sports organization TUL www, tulpaini.fi
- Website of the Institute for Applied Training Science of the University of Leipzig