Kustaa Pihlajamäki

Kustaa Pihlajamäki ( born April 7, 1902 in Nurmo, † February 10, 1944 in Helsinki) was a Finnish wrestler.

He came from a loving family ringer and had two brothers and a cousin who were also successful wrestler. The cousin, Hermanni, as Kustaa Olympic champion, which meant that there was confusion, and that both were often mistaken for one and the same person. Kustaa became a policeman and started from 1933 for the Helsinki Police Sports Club. Before that, he went for the clubs and Helsingin Kisa - Nurmon Koitto Veikot to the mat. He wrestled both styles, but scored his Olympic medals in free style. From 1924 to 1939 he was part of the best in the world. His achievements speak for themselves. He was certainly one of the most successful wrestlers in the world that ever existed, he was considered a fast, agile and of indomitable will to win. His early death shocked all who knew him as a fair sportsman. For his contributions to the sport wrestler he was taken in September 2005 in the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, European Championship EM =, F = Freestyle, gr = Greco-Roman style, Ba = bantamweight, featherweight = Fe, Le = lightweight )

National success

Kustaa Pihlajamäki won 28 Finnish championships in both styles.

Swell

• Documentation of International Wrestling Championships FILA, 1976
• International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig
• Various editions of the journal " Athletics " from the years 1929 to 1936
• Various editions of the journal " weight training " from the years 1937 to 1941