Refik Memišević

Refik Memišević ( born May 14, 1956 in Bačko Novo Selo; † January 4, 2004 Subotica ) was a Yugoslav wrestler. He was world champion in 1981 and 1984 won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Career

Refik Memišević began in 1972 at the age of just 16 years in Novi Sad in Vojvodina, one of the centers of the Yugoslav struggle of those years, with the rings, before he had run track and field and played basketball. It took place in 1975 the way to the local giants " Spartaka " and received in the experienced Milan Damjanović an excellent coach. In 1973 he was Yugoslavian youth heavyweight champion and 1974 Junior Balkan Champion, also in the heavyweight division, in free style. As of 1976, he joined the style and rank as of this date only in the Greco-Roman style, which was more to him. In 1977 he started in Gothenburg for the first time at a World Cup and won as a 21 -year-old freshman equal the World Cup silver medal. In this outstanding start in the international competition scene of the seniors he was subject only to the Soviet Olympic champion and multiple world champion Nikolai Balboschin on points. Balboschin, however, was also at the next international championships always a stumbling block for Memišević. A total of five times he struggled against this, and five times he lost. It must of course be noted that Balboschin was a real exceptional athlete who was to defeat hardly.

Refik Memišević struggled to 1980 in the heavyweight division, which went up to 100 kg at the time. Because he always had greater difficulties to bring this weight, he moved in 1981 in the Super Heavyweight (over 100 kg body weight) over and it was surprisingly the same year the same world champion. In this weight class he then remained until the end of his wrestler career in 1986. In the super heavyweight he had to deal mainly in those years with Nikola Dinew and Alexandar Tomow from Bulgaria and Tomas Johansson of Sweden. The Swede Johansson, thanks also winning the Olympic silver medal in 1984 in Los Angeles. Johansson had actually won the silver medal, but had to be disqualified for doping. Memišević, who won against Romania Victor Dolipschi the bronze medal, then won the silver medal and the bronze medal Dolipschi. But he did not have the opportunity to fight against the Olympic champion Jeffrey Blatnick in the USA for the gold medal.

Memišević was also in the Federal Republic of Germany is no stranger, as he wrestled several times with good results at the Grand Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany, Aschaffenburg.

He stepped back from competitive skating in 1986 and then lived as a businessman in Novi Sad. He died in the year 2004 at the age of 48 years.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM =, GR = Greek -Roman style, S = Heavy weight, SS = Super Heavyweight, time or up to 100 kg, 100 kg of body weight)