Giovanni Raicevich (10 June 1881 – 1 November 1957) was an Italian professional wrestler.

Career

He belonged to a family of champions of

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling (Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mod ...

, who were famous, but low-key; his brothers were Roberto Massimo and Emilio Ruggerio Raicevich. Giovanni Raicevich, began his activities by opening a

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, aided by his brothers. In 1902 they traveled to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

where all three became Italian champions in three different categories. Although they were from Austro Hungary they pursued their careers in Italy. After the First World War Trieste became part of Italy. In 1905 he won the International Tournaments of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

and

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

in addition to the European Championship. In 1906 he won the South America championship. In 1907 he became world champion by beating the French champion Laurent le Beaucairois. He repeated the success on 16 February 1909 at the Teatro Dal Verme in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, against the French

Paul Pons Paul Pons (June 23, 1864–April 13, 1915), stage name ''le Colosse'' ("The Colossus"), was a French wrestler. He won the first title as world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1898 (as opposed to the first Olympic victory, won two years ...

, one of the best wrestlers of all time. He was also champion of Italy in the specialty without interruption from 1907 to 1929 when he left the unbeaten competitive sport after his triumph against the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

Hans Kavan. Despite his height of only 1.72 meters (with a weight ranging from 82 kg in 1902 to 110 kg in the 1912), he fought against people who were of higher stature and was always the winner. His physical strength won him parts

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...

chromatography in several films in the series''

Maciste Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. He is usually depicted as a Hercu ...

'', including ''L'uomo della foresta'' of 1922 directed by Roman director

Ubaldo Maria Del Colle Ubaldo Maria Del Colle (27 June 1883 – 24 August 1958) was an Italian actor and film director. He directed more than one hundred films from 1911 to 1952. Selected filmography *'' L'Odissea'' (dir. Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan and ...

. In 1915 during the First World War, he served in the Army and fought on the Italian side at Piave and Isonzo. He spent his retirement living with the 5000 lire per month pension from

CONI The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

. He died in Rome, at the age of seventy-six, on 1 November 1957.

Awards

Commander of '

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...

(1934)

Notes

References

*Livio Toschi. Giovanni Raicevich : il re della forza : nella vita e sui tappeti di lotta si batte per Trieste italiana. Da: Rassegna storica del risorgimento, 90, 2003, n. 1, pp. 87–96. Istituto per la storia del risorgimento italiano, 2003. *Dino Cafagna. L’UOMO PIÙ FORTE DEL MONDO (LA LEGGENDA DI GIOVANNI RAICEVICH DA TRIESTE). L'unico libro (al mondo) completo sulla vita di Giovanni Raicevich, 200 pp., 180 fotografie a lui appartenute. Ed. Luglio, Trieste, 2015.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raicevich, Giovanni 1881 births 1957 deaths Italian male professional wrestlers People associated with physical culture Professional wrestling trainers Italian male actors Sportspeople from Trieste People from Austrian Littoral Italian people of Serbian descent Italian military personnel of World War I

Career

Awards

See also

Notes

References

External links