Wilfried Dietrich (14 October 1933 – 2 June 1992) was a German heavyweight wrestler. Between 1956 and 1972 he took part in five Olympics and six world championships, often entering both the freestyle and

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 ...

contests – a feat unmatched by any other wrestler. He won five Olympic and five world championship medals, becoming Olympic (1960), world (1961) and European champion (1967). Between 1955 and 1962 he won all his freestyle bouts. In 1968 Dietrich was selected as the Olympic flag bearer for

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

at its first appearance at summer Olympics; he won a bronze medal at those games. He failed to medal at his last Olympics in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, yet he produced the most spectacular victory of his career by throwing over his back the 182 kg American Chris Taylor in the Greco-Roman contest. Dietrich lost to Taylor in their freestyle bout.Chris Taylor: The giant Olympian
slam.canoe.com In 2008 he was inducted into the

Germany's Sports Hall of Fame The Germany's Sports Hall of Fame (german: Hall of Fame des deutschen Sports) is the national sports hall of fame in Germany, initiated 2006. The inductions are made by Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe, Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and Verband Deu ...

and in 2014 to the

International Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dietrich, Wilfried 1933 births 1992 deaths Olympic wrestlers of the United Team of Germany Olympic wrestlers of West Germany Wrestlers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1972 Summer Olympics German male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic silver medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for West Germany Olympic medalists in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century German people World Wrestling Champions