Fred Oberlander (23 May 1911 – 6 July 1996) was an Austrian, British, and Canadian wrestler. He was born in Vienna, Austria. He won the World Championships in 1935. Oberlander was offered a chance to compete for Austria at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

in Nazi Germany, but declined. He represented Great Britain as team captain at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

. Oberlander later emigrated to Canada, where he founded the Canadian Maccabi Association. He won a silver medal in wrestling at the

1950 Maccabiah Games The 3rd Maccabiah ( he, המכביה השלישית) took place during Sukkot from September 27 to October 8, 1950, with 17 countries competing. It was the third edition of the Maccabiah Games and the first held since the independence of the State ...

, and the heavyweight wrestling title at the

1953 Maccabiah Games Eight hundred ninety athletes representing 23 countries competed in the 1953 4th Maccabiah Games, held September 20 to 29, in 18 branches of sports. Israeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi opened the Games at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv District, in f ...

and was named Outstanding Jewish World Athlete.

Hall of Fame

Oberlander was named to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Family

His son Ron served as President and CEO of Abitibi Consolidated. His son Philip followed in his father's footsteps, wrestling as a welterweight in the

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this hon ...

, but did not win a medal.

References

1911 births 1996 deaths Austrian male sport wrestlers British male sport wrestlers Canadian male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers of Great Britain Wrestlers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Vienna Austrian Jews English Jews Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jewish wrestlers Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Canada Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Canada World Wrestling Champions Maccabiah Games medalists in wrestling Competitors at the 1950 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 1953 Maccabiah Games {{UK-wrestling-bio-stub

Hall of Fame

Family

See also

References