![Grigoriy Gamarnik in later years](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Grigoriy_Gamarnik_in_later_years.jpg)
Grigory Aleksandrovich Gamarnik (russian: Григорий Александрович Гамарник; April 22, 1929 – April 18, 2018) was a world champion wrestler and the first
Greco-Roman
The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
wrestling world champion from Ukraine.
Biography
Gamarnik was Jewish, and was born in
Zinovievsk (today's Kropyvnytskyi), Ukraine, in the Soviet Union.
He was trained by USSR wrestling trainers German Sandler and
Armenak Yaltyryan
Armenak "Aram" Yaltyryan (russian: Ялтырян, uk, Ялтирян, 13 May 1914 – 18 December 1999) was a Soviet lightweight wrestler. He won a silver medal at the 1947 European Championships and placed fourth at the 1952 Summer Olympics. .
Wrestling career
In 1948, he won second place in light middleweight class wrestling, at the
All-Union Youth Contests in the USSR.
Gamarnik was world lightweight (67 kg)
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 ...
champion at the
1955 World Wrestling Championships in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
, Germany, beating out silver medalist
Kyösti Lehtonen of Finland and bronze medalist
Gustav Freij
Karl Gustav Herbert Freij (17 March 1922 – 4 August 1973) was a Swedish wrestler. He competed in the Greco-Roman lightweight (−67 kg) category at the 1948, 1952 and 1960 Olympics and finished in first, second and third place, respectiv ...
of Sweden.
He came in second in the
1958 World Wrestling Championships in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary, in welterweight (73 kg) Greco-Roman wrestling, behind gold medalist
Kazim Ayvaz of Turkey and ahead of bronze medalist Valeriu Bularca of Romania.
He came in fifth in the
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...
in Rome, Italy, in men's welterweight Greco-Roman wrestling.
Gamarnik was also a USSR wrestling champion in 1953, and in 1956–58.
Retirement
After retiring from competitions, Gamarnik was the Ukrainian National Coach from 1970 to 1991. He also served as a President of Greco-Roman Federation, was a FILA International referee since 1979, officiated at the Moscow Olympic Games (1980), and was one of the organizers of the FILA World Cup in 1983 in Kiev, Ukraine.
For his many years of commitment, Grigory Gamarnik was awarded the FILA Gold Star (1983) by then president Milan Ercegan.
Grigory Gamarnik was inducted into 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 around ...
in 2020.
See also
*
List of select Jewish wrestlers
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamarnik, Grigory
1929 births
2018 deaths
Olympic wrestlers of the Soviet Union
Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Soviet male sport wrestlers
Ukrainian male sport wrestlers
Jewish wrestlers
Soviet Jews
Jewish Ukrainian sportspeople
Sportspeople from Kropyvnytskyi
World Wrestling Championships medalists
National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport alumni