Stelios Mygiakis (, born 5 May 1952) is a Greek

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 ...

wrestler. He won an Olympic gold medal and is the first Greek to become an Olympic Champion in wrestling. Mygiakis also won a gold medal at both the

European Wrestling Championships The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships ...

and

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

. He was named the 1980 Greek Male Athlete of the Year. In 1971 Mygiakis became Greek champion, was used in the featherweight division and, for the first time, participated in an international championship, the World Cup in Sofia. There Mygiakis, who was only 19 years old, lost both fights. In the 1972 European Championship in Katowice he had three wins and achieved sixth place. At the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 he had three wins again, including one over the Soviet favorite, Jemal Megrelischwili, leading to a seventh place finish. Over the next six years Mygiakis entered almost every European and World championship but never managed to win a medal. His best results were fourth place at the World Cup 1974 in Katowice, fifth place at the World Cup 1978 in Mexico City and sixth place at the European Championship 1975 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, each as a featherweight. In all these international championships the top competitors, almost without exception, came from the Eastern Bloc countries. In 1979, Mygiakis made a breakthrough. At the European Championships in Bucharest, although he lost in the second round against the Soviet wrestler Boris Kramarenko, thanks to three wins over the Turk Metin Eser, the Pole Kazimierz Lipień and Hungarian István Tóth, and fact that Kramarenko lost to Toth, he became the European champions. The climax of Migiakis's career was the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He beat, among others, Lipień and Tóth again, as well as Kramarenko, and was Olympic champion in spite of a double defeat against Lars Malmkvist from Sweden. After the Olympics, Migiakis, who had also been the Greek featherweight champion eight times, ended his career as an active wrestler.

Olympics

Mygiakis competed at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow and won a gold medal 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 ...

, the ''featherweight'' class.

References

External links

* * * 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Rethymno Greek male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Greece Wrestlers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Greece Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Competitors at the 1975 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century Greek people {{Greece-wrestling-bio-stub