Momir Petković ( sr-cyrl, Момир Петковић; born 21 July 1953) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

wrestling champion.

Wrestling career

Momir Petković was a 1976 Olympic gold medalist in

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 ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, competing for the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

at 82 kg. He also claimed three World silver medals (1978, 1979, 1981) and a World bronze medal (1977) during his career. Petkovic placed fourth in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Calif. Momir was revered for his majestic mustache which gave him great power. His competitive international Greco-Roman career spanned from 1970–1984

As a coach

Petković joined

USA Wrestling USA Wrestling (formerly known as the United States Wrestling Federation and as the United States Wrestling Association) is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is ...

as its Assistant National Greco-Roman Coach in May 2002. He assists in the training and recruitment of athletes for the U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete program. He also works on a variety of Greco-Roman National Team projects. He was a member of the 2000 U.S. Greco-Roman Olympic Team coaching staff, as well as the 2001 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team Coaching staff. The United States placed a strong third at both competitions, among what is considered the best Greco-Roman team performances in U.S. history. He has on occasion trained

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fighters the likes of

Matt Lindland Matthew James Lindland (born May 17, 1970), also known as The Law, is an American retired mixed martial artist, Olympic wrestler, speaker, actor, coach, entrepreneur and politician. He won the Oregon Republican Party's nomination for t ...

and

BJ Penn Jay Dee "B.J." Penn III (born December 13, 1978) is an American former professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Penn competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and in K-1. Penn was th ...

. BJ credited Momir with helping him defeat Matt Hughes at

UFC 46 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor (company), End ...

for the UFC Welterweight Championship. ''"Momir is the toughest man I have ever met, what a great coach and role model"'' -

External links

Momir Perkovic at Olympics DataBase

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petkovic, Momir Serbian male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Yugoslav male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers of Yugoslavia Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia 1953 births Living people Olympic medalists in wrestling Sportspeople from Subotica World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics