Károly Bajkó

Károly Bajkó ( born August 1, 1944 in Békés, † 9 June 1997 in Budapest) was a Hungarian wrestler. He won a bronze medal each in the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972.

Career

Károly Bajkó began in 1958 while Csepel SC with the rings. This club he was a member until 1966. In 1967 he moved to Vasas Budapest. He quickly proved so good performances that he has already recorded with 19 years in 1963 in the Hungarian national team of wrestlers. The former head coach of the Hungarian wrestler Matura thought he was a great talent and encouraged him greatly.

In 1964 he was seconded to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. He wrestled in free style welterweight and came out with a win and two defeats on the 11th Place. At the World Championships 1965 in Manchester he scored two wins in the welterweight division, among which was very remarkable about the Bulgarian Petko Dermendschiew. He arrived in Manchester on the 8th Place. A year later, he came at the European Championships in Karlsruhe in free style welterweight on the 7th Place. He won it, inter alia, against Juergen Wiechmann from Leipzig, but was subject to the top wrestlers Mahmut Atalay from Turkey and Yuri Schakmuradow from the Soviet Union.

The first medal at an international championship won Károly Bajkó at the European Championships 1967 in Istanbul in free style at welterweight. He won there four bouts, defeating, among others Martin Heinze from Halle ( Saale), but lost again against Atalay and Schakmuradow. But with the World Cup the same year in New Delhi, he disappointed. He lost in free style his two fights against Hari Ram Singh from India and Tatsuo Sasaki from Japan and landed on the 12th Place.

At the European Championships in 1968 in Västerås, he started for the first time at an international championship in Greco- Roman style. He succeeded there though a victory over Jimmy Martinetti from Switzerland, but after a draw against Piotr Starczynski from Poland, he was defeated by Rudolf Vespers from Rostock and only came in 13th place in the welterweight division. Far better it ran for him at the European Championships 1968 in Skopje in free style. He won among others, there but over the Soviet world -class athletes Guliko Sagaradse, lost the battle for the European title against Daniel Robin from France.

At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City Károly Bajkó also started in two styles. Surprisingly, he cashed in the welterweight division in Greco- Roman style with victories over Pentti Salo from Finland and Daniel Alba of Mexico, a draw against Rudolf Vespers and a defeat against Daniel Robin the bronze medal. In free style he got along not so good, because after two wins and two defeats, he left and came only on the 11th Place.

1969 in free style at middleweight again European vice-champion Károly Bajkó in Sofia. After three victories, he rang it a draw against the strong Iorga, Vasile from Romania and Ivan Iliew from Bulgaria and was defeated by Yuri Schakmuradow. He achieved the same result at the European Championships in Berlin in 1970, but in the light heavyweight division. In the decisive battle for the medals he wrestled it against Peter Döring from Leipzig draw and lost to the Soviet wrestler Boris Gurevich.

Then he scored at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 His last major success. He won there after wins over Makoto Konada, Japan, Étienne Martinetti from Switzerland, Mehmet Güclü from Turkey and Ernst Knoll from the Federal Republic of Germany, a draw against Reza Hoseinikhormai from Iran and a defeat against Gennady Strakhov from the Soviet Union again a bronze medal.

Károly Bajkó launched until 1974 at the international championships, but could not get good rankings more. During his career, but is particularly noteworthy that he won a medal in Greco-Roman style and free style at two Olympic Games. After the start of specialization in the wrestlers to just one style, which began around 1960, this was achieved only very few wrestlers.

After ending his playing career, worked for many years as a wrestler Károly Bajkó coach at Vasas Budapest. He died at the age of almost 53 years.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, F = free style, GR = Greek -Roman style, We = welterweight, Mi = middleweight, Hs = light heavyweight, then up to 78 kg, 82 kg and 90 kg body weight )

Hungarian Championships

Károly Bajkó was nine times Hungarian champion in both styles.

Swell

• Journal Athletics from 1964 to 1974
• Website www.iat.uni -leipzig.de,
• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships, FILA, 1976,
• Website www.webspawner.com