Lajos Rácz

Lajos Rácz ( born July 1, 1952 in Székesfehérvár ) is a former Hungarian wrestler. He was world champion in 1979 and Olympic silver medalist in 1980 in Greco-Roman flyweight.

Career

Lajos Rácz worked as a teenager, first with the gymnastics, before he joined the 1966 rings. As it turned out soon, this was a right decision, because for the young man, this was the right sport. When Sports Club " Honvéd Szondi SE" he was led by coach Lajos Nagy in the Hungarian top class the wrestler in the Greco - Roman style. The leap into the world's elite, he then managed with the help of the Hungarian national team coach Csaba Hegedus.

At the international wrestling mat for the first time he made with a second place in the flyweight attention to themselves at the Junior European Championships in 1970 in the Swedish Huskvarna. In 1972 he gave at the European Championships in Katowice his debut with the senior citizens. He won two fights and it came flyweight on the 6th Place.

In the next two years dominated in Hungary flyweight József Doncsecz. However, this then moved to the bantamweight, so that was in the flyweight from the autumn of 1974 Lajos the undisputed best Hungarian wrestler. At the World Championships in 1974 in Katowice and in 1975 in Minsk, the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the European Championships in 1976 in Leningrad occupied Lajos always very good fourth or fifth places, however, came when it came to battle for the medals to the then absolute top wrestlers such. Petar Kirov from Bulgaria, Nicu Ganga from Romania or Vitali Konstantinov from the not over Soviet Union

The breakthrough then succeeded at the European Championships in 1997 in Bursa, as he shouldered the Soviet representative Kamil Fatkulin. Although he lost again against Nicu Ganga on points, but this was beaten by Fatkulin so that Rácz became European Champion. Kamil Fatkulin however, returned the favor at the World Championships the same year in Gothenburg Lajos and became world champion, while Rácz had to turn settle for a 4th place.

Was similar, the competition scene in 1978. At the European Championships in Oslo Rácz lost only against the Soviet athletes Vakhtang Blagidse and became vice European champion. At the World Championships in Mexico City he was defeated again Nicu Ganga and, surprisingly, the Greeks Haralambos Holidis and came on the 5th Place.

There then followed the most successful year in the career of Lajos Rácz. In 1979, he was initially the third winner at the European Championships in Bucharest, then in San Diego in convincing style to become world champion at flyweight. Here he defeated among others Nicu Ganga, Kamil Fatkulin and Rolf Krauss from Germany. Then, in 1980 he succeeded in Moscow 's profit also an Olympic medal, the silver, which he lost on points in the decisive battle his old rival Kamil Fatkulin.

Two more medals at the World Cup and the European Championship in 1981 rounded off the success of Lajos and 1983, he succeeded in Budapest once again winning the European Championship with victories over the new stars of Roman Kierpacz from Poland, Mladen Mladenov of Bulgaria and Constantin Alexandru from Romania.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM =, GR = Greco-Roman style, Fl = Flyweight, then to 52 kg body weight)

Hungarian Championships

Lajos Rácz won the Hungarian Championship Flyweight, Greco-Roman style, from 1974 to 1984 eleven times in a row.

Swell

• Various editions of the journals " Athletics " from the years 1970 to 1975, and " The Ringer " from the years 1976 to 1984,
• International Wrestling Database of the University of Leipzig