Fred Oberlander (23 May 1911 – 6 July 1996)
[ ] was an Austrian,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, and
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...
. He was born in
Vienna, Austria
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. He won the World Championships in 1935. Oberlander was offered a chance to compete for Austria at the
1936 Summer Olympics 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 Sta ...
, 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 ...
and was named Outstanding Jewish World Athlete.
Hall of Fame
Oberlander was named to the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...
in 1991.
Family
His son Ron served as President and CEO of
Abitibi Consolidated
Abitibi Consolidated Inc. was a Canadian pulp and paper company based in Montreal, Quebec. Abitibi-Consolidated was formed from the merger of Abitibi-Price Inc. and Stone Consolidated Corp. on May 29, 1997; the Company merged with Bowater in 2 ...
. His son Philip followed in his father's footsteps, wrestling as a welterweight in the
1964 Tokyo Olympics, but did not win a medal.
See also
*
List of select Jewish wrestlers
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
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