Yvon Riemer (born 5 October 1970) is a retired Greco-Roman wrestler from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He medalled four times at the

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, winning gold in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, and competed at the 1992 and

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

as a welterweight (-74 and -76 kg), finishing in 5th and 15th place, respectively. He was also a three time French national champion (1990, 1994, 2001).

Career

Born in Strasbourg to a family of wrestlers, he began training as a wrestler under his father, Jean-Pierre, in 1980. From 1985 to 1990, he won 11 national and three European youth championships in both disciplines (Greco-Roman and freestyle. At the 1989 World Espoir (under-20) Championships in

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, Riemer won his first international gold in the Greco-Roman -74 kg category. He made his senior international debut at the

1991 Mediterranean Games The XI Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1991 Mediterranean Games, were the 11th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Athens, Greece, from 28 June to 12 July 1991, where 2,762 athletes (2,176 men and 586 women) from 18 countries p ...

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, where he won gold as a welterweight. That same year, he won bronze at the World Championships in

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. The winner of the tournament, Mnatsakan Iskandaryan, would later become his greatest rival in many international competitions. He was chosen to represent his country at the 1992 Olympics in

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, where the 21-year-old surprisingly placed 5th in the -74 kg category. He was eliminated by Iskandaryan. He won silver at the 1992 European Championships, also losing to Iskandaryan in the final. A bronze at the 1993 World Championships was his highest point of success for a while. A combination of injury and a lack of training led to him finishing 12th and 16th at the European and World championships, respectively, in 1994. In 1995, after missing the European Championships because of injury, he finally became world champion by defeating Kazakh wrestler Bakhtiar Baiseitov by points in the -74 kg finals in

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. He also defeated Iskandaryan for the first time. 1996, however, marked a return of injuries. He finished 7th at the European championships, and was not able to compete at the Worlds or the Olympics. He made yet another triumphant return in 1997, scoring another gold in the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

and finishing third in Europe. He barely missed the podium at the

, losing to Cuban

Filiberto Azcuy Filiberto Azcuy Aguilera (born October 13, 1972) is a Cuban wrestler (Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes ...

by points in a fight for bronze. His last major success was a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships in

, where he lost 11:0 in 2 minutes and 41 seconds to

Nazmi Avluca Nazmi Avluca (; born November 14, 1976, in Kargı, Çorum Province), is a Turkish sports wrestler, who has won several titles at international competitions including four European and two FILA Wrestling World Championships in the Men's Greco-R ...

in the finals. The deciding factor was when Avluca threw Riemer over his shoulder 13 seconds into the match, earning 8 points, and taking advantage of Riemer's history of shoulder injuries. He failed to medal at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

or 2001 Worlds, finishing 27th and 23rd, respectively. He also made one last effort at the

in Sydney, losing both of his matches and finishing 15th. He retired in 2001 and became a coach for the French national wrestling team.

Personal life

Riemer is married to Sophie Pluquet, who also won a gold medal at the

1995 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1995 World Wrestling Championships. Men's Freestyle Competition were held in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Men's Greco-Roman Competition were held in Prague, Czech Republic and Women's Competition were ...

in women's freestyle (-53 kg). They have one son.

References

External links

International Wrestling Database profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riemer, Yvon Living people 1970 births Sportspeople from Strasbourg French male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers of France Wrestlers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century French people