Robert Aleksander Oksa (13 February 1893 – 30 May 1967) was a Finnish-born

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 ...

and wrestling coach. He was the head coach of the Estonian and Swedish national teams in the 1920s–1950s.

Life

Oksa was a railroad worker who won three Finnish championship titles in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1915–1917. During the 1917 General Strike, Oksa joined the

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

militia and in the 1918

Civil War of Finland The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

he fought for the

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

. In April 1918, Oksa was captured by the German troops and sent to the

Tammisaari prison camp The Tammisaari camp was a concentration camp and prison in Dragsvik, Ekenäs in Finland. It was set for the Reds captured by the Whites in the 1918 Finnish Civil War. The concentration camp operated from May 1918 to 15 September 1918 when the majo ...

, but he managed to escape and fled to Sweden. Oksa also shortly lived in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

where he was acquainted with the members of the exile

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned ...

. In 1923–1924, Oksa was the head coach of the Estonian national wrestling team. One of his personal trainees was the 1924 Olympic bronze medalist Roman Steinberg. In 1924, Oksa returned Finland and worked as the head coach of the

Finnish Workers' Sports Federation The Finnish Workers' Sports Federation ( fi, Suomen Työväen Urheiluliitto, ''TUL'', sv, Arbetarnas Idrottsförbund i Finland, ''AIF'') is a Finnish amateur sports organization founded in 1919. In addition to the competitive sports, TUL focuses o ...

. In July 1926, Oksa was hired by the Swedish Wrestling Federation. During his coaching period, the Swedish wrestlers won 21 Olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1952. According to the 1952 gold medalist

Viking Palm Bror Viking Palm (13 October 1923 – 19 January 2009) was a Swedish light-heavyweight freestyle wrestler. He competed at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a gold medal in 1952, finishing fourth in 1960. In 1960 his bronze medal match aga ...

, Oksa raised Swedish wrestling into glory out of nothing. Oksa was granted the Swedish citizenship in 1944.

Other

In 1915, the prominent Finnish sculptor

Wäinö Aaltonen Wäinö Valdemar Aaltonen (8 March 1894 – 30 May 1966) was a Finnish artist and sculptor. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary describes him as "one of the leading Finnish sculptors". He was born to a tailor in the village of Karinainen, Finla ...

made a body sculpture of Oksa. After the Civil War, Aaltonen used it as a model for the White Guard memorial erected in

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikke ...

. Since Oksa had fought for the Reds, his head was replaced by the head of the poet

Aaro Hellaakoski Aaro Hellaakoski (June 22, 1893 – November 23, 1952) was a Finnish poet whose work includes some of the earliest examples of modernism in Finnish literature. Hellaakoski was born in Oulu. By profession he was a geographer conducting studies in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oksa, Robert 1893 births 1967 deaths Finnish male sport wrestlers Finnish wrestling coaches Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Sportspeople from Turku