Mitsuo Ikeda

Mitsuo Ikeda (Japanese池田 三 男, Mitsuo Ikeda, born March 14, 1935 in Mashike, Hokkaidō, † 12 September 2002) was a Japanese freestyle wrestler and Olympic champion in the welterweight division in 1956 in Melbourne.

Career

Mitsuo Ikeda was born in Hokkaido began in high school with the rings. Later he attended Chuo University in Tokyo, where he developed into a world-class wrestler in free style. In 1953 he was at the age of 18 years of Japanese champion in free style at welterweight. For the World Championships 1954 in free style in Tokyo, he could not qualify, because Yutaka Kaneko defeated him in the Japanese Championship. But in 1956 he was able to turn the tables and be placed before Kaneko, after which he was sent to the Olympic Games in Melbourne.

In Melbourne Mitsuo showed excellent fights and was, even though he lacked any international experience, with four wins Olympic gold medalist. In the decisive battles he defeated to Ibrahim Zengin from Turkey and Vakhtang Balavadze from the USSR respectively on points.

In the years to 1960 Mitsuo lost at the Japanese championships then repeatedly against Kaneko, so he came over to any further operations in international championships. He finished his then Ringer career, graduated in Physical Education from and was then coach in Tokyo.

International success

1956 Gold Medal, The Olympic Games in Melbourne, Freestyle, welterweight, with wins over William Fischer, United States, D. Singh, India, Vakhtang Balavadze, USSR and Ibrahim Zengin, Turkey