Marek Švec (; born 17 February 1973 in

Havlíčkův Brod Havlíčkův Brod (, until 1945 Německý Brod; ) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban mon ...

) is an amateur Greco-Roman wrestler from the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He is a three-time Olympian, and also, a multiple-time medalist at both the

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

and

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. He also won the bronze medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Wrestling career

Švec, a native of

from the former

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, started wrestling when he was a teenager, and was later admitted to PSK Olymp Praha, one of the most prominent wrestling clubs in the capital

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, under his coach Ervin Varga. He eventually made his international debut in wrestling by competing in the heavyweight division at the 1994 European Championships, where he finished in fourteenth place. At the onset of his career, Svec struggled to manage his performance in front of the field, as he frequently placed below top-ten places in most of his qualifying tournaments. In 1998, Svec achieved his first success in wrestling, when he won the silver medal, against Russia's Gogi Koguashvili at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

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. Following his major triumph, he improved further with skill, strategy, and training to qualify for the World and European Championships; however, he suffered numerous setbacks during the competition by placing farther from the medal podium. In 2004, Svec recaptured his success in the men's heavyweight division, after winning the bronze medal at the European Championships in

Haparanda Haparanda (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Haaparanta'', ) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda has a population of 9,166 inhabitants (2024). Haparanda is ...

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. After long years of defeat and struggles in the competition, Švec finally managed to repeat his silver medal at the 2006 World Championships in

Guangzhou, China Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, losing out to

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's Heiki Nabi by a technical score of 1–3. He also added bronze medals at the European Championships in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and in

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, and at the

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Olympic Games

In addition to his numerous achievements at both the World and European championships, Švec was one of two Greco-Roman wrestlers from the

, along with David Vála, to compete at three Olympic games. He made his official debut at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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, where he achieved his first top-ten finish by placing eighth for the 90-kg category in men's Greco-Roman wrestling. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, Svec, however, suffered numerous setbacks during the preliminary pool in the men's 97-kg category. He lost to Garrett Lowney of the United States, without receiving any technical score, and Russia's Gogi Koguashvili, who previously defeated him at the World Championships two years before. With two losses and few technical points received in the preliminary pool, Svec dropped to last place, and eighteenth in the overall rankings. Švec made an eight-year comeback at his third Olympics in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, after winning a silver medal at the World Championships. He qualified for the men's 96-kg category, where he first defeated Kaloyan Dinchev of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in the first preliminary round, and upset Georgia's Ramaz Nozadze, silver medalist from

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, in the quarterfinal round, both with a classification point score of 3–1. Svec eventually fought against Russia's Aslanbek Khushtov in the semi-final round, but the latter received a technical fall to end a match, with an automatic score of 0–5. Having lost in the semi-final round, Švec qualified for the bronze medal bout, but was defeated by Kazakhstan's Asset Mambetov, who earned more points than him in the second period of the match, with a three-point counter takedown, and two-point reverse exposure. Švec originally finished fifth in the overall rankings, tying his place with Han Tae-Young of

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. Asset Mambetov of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

originally finished third, however in November 2016, it was announced that he tested positive for

stanozolol Stanozolol (Abbreviation, abbrev. Stz), sold under many brand names, is a synthetic androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is used to treat hereditary angioedema. It was developed by American ph ...

. The medals were reawarded by FILA following this decision and Švec was awarded his bronze medal in 2017.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svec, Marek 1973 births Living people Czech male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for the Czech Republic Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Championships medalists Sportspeople from Havlíčkův Brod 21st-century Czech sportsmen