Tapio Sipilä

Tapio Sipilä (* November 26, 1958 in Kiiminki ) is a former Finnish wrestler and world champion in 1983 in the Greco-Roman wrestling in lightweight.

Career

Tapio Sipilä began as a teenager in the Muhos Ringer Club Muhoksen Voitto with the rings. He specialized in doing the Greco-Roman. Style and was already considered the newcomers to the best Finnish wrestlers its relevant age group. In 1973, he took both the Finnish youth as well as in the Finnish Junior Championships each 3rd place in the under-52 kg body weight. Until 1988 Tapio Sipilä then started every year at the Finnish Championships and won with the seniors ( over age 18 ) five times the title. That there were not more, mainly because that he, the ( up to 68 kg body weight) was launched on the international wrestling mat always in lightweight, often a weight class took up higher in the Finnish Championships to go to the exhausting detraining out of the way and welterweight (up to 74 kg body weight) very strong opponents vorfand.

Tapio Sipilä belonged to his club Muhoksen Voitto the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation ( TUL). On the basis of an agreement between this Association and the Finnish civil Wrestling Federation, which is affiliated to FILA, could the wrestlers of the Sports Federation TUL, if they had athletic qualified to start without any problems at major international championships FILA. Master of Sports Federation TUL was Tapio Sipilä 1979-1988 a total of nine times.

Tapio Sipilä began his international career with a 4th place finish at the Junior European Championships ( espoir ) in Poznań in lightweight. In the senior, he was the first time in 1978 at the World Championships in Mexico City at the start. However, in light weight he had to pay there still belonging teaching money because he lost his two fights against Howard Stupp from Canada and Heinz -Helmut Wehling from the GDR and landed on the 12th Place. But already in his second start in an international championship in the seniors of the European Championship 1980 in Prievidza won Tapio Sipilä a medal, a bronze. He defeated among others, thereby the two German representatives Erich Klaus and Peter Thaetner each on points. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, he met the same on the top wrestler Suren Nalbandian from the Soviet Union and Stefan Rusu from Romania, against which he lost, and thus came only to 13th place.

1981 was for him then an even better year, because he won at the European Championships in Gothenburg in lightweight bronze, where this time he was defeated in the semifinals against Klaus Erich and at the World Championships in Oslo, he even landed on the 2nd place. In the final he lost it against Gennady Yermilov from the USSR.

After a somewhat weaker in 1982, he arrived at the World Championships in Katowice but at least the 5th place, was in 1983 the most successful in the career of Tapio Sipilä. First, he finished in the spring at the European Championships in Budapest 3rd place and then he was in the autumn of this year in Kiev World Champion in front of Mohamed Bana from Iran and Gennadi Yermilov.

In 1984 Tapio Sipilä added at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles his successes nor a silver medal in the lightweight added. In the final he lost while the Yugoslav surprise husband Vlado Lisjak.

In 1985 Tapio Sipilä pausing on the international wrestling mat. But in the years 1986 to 1988, he was once again very successful, as evidenced by winning the vice world champion title in 1986 in Budapest, the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and the third place in the European championship 1987 in Tampere.

1989 Tapio Sipilä stepped back from the international wrestling mat. The father of two sons, was active in the following years as coach at Muhosken Voitto and as a functionary in the Sports Federation TUL.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, European Championship EM =, GR = Greek and Roman. Style, Le = Lightweight, We = welterweight, middleweight Mi =, then until 68 kg, 74 kg and 82 kg body weight)

Finnish Championships

Swell

• Journal The wrestler, numbers: 9/ 1978, 5, 5/ 1980, pp. 7/8, 6/1980, page 6, 4/ 1981, p 7, 9/1981, pages 5/6, 9/ 1982, 10, 9/ 1983, page 9, 10/ 1983, pages 3 to 6, 9/ 1984, p 10, 5/ 1986, pp. 8/9, 11/ 1986, pages 6/7, 6/ 1987, pages 7 to 9, 6/ 1988, pages 4-6, 10/ 1988, pages 10 to 12
• Website of the Institute for Applied Training Science of the University of Leipzig
• Website of the Finnish Sports Federation TUL www.tulpaini.fi