Grigory Gamarnik Explained

Grigory Gamarnik
Native Name:	Григорий Гамарник
Native Name Lang:	ru
Birth Name:	Grigory Aleksandrovich Gamarnik
Birth Date:	April 22, 1929
Birth Place:	Zinovievsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Death Place:	Brooklyn, United States
Nationality:	Ukrainian
Citizenship:	USSR
Occupation:	Wrestler
Known For:	World champion in 67 kg. Greco-Roman wrestling (1955)
Height:	5 ft 7 in (171 cm)

Grigory Aleksandrovich Gamarnik (Russian: Григорий Александрович Гамарник; Ukrainian: Григорій Олександрович Гамарник|Hryhorii Oleksandrovych Hamarnyk; April 22, 1929 – April 18, 2018) was a world champion wrestler and the first Greco-Roman wrestling world champion from Ukraine.^{[1] [2]}

Biography

Gamarnik was Jewish, and was born in Zinovievsk (today's Kropyvnytskyi), Ukraine, in the Soviet Union.^[3] He was trained by USSR wrestling trainers German Sandler and Armenak Yaltyryan.

Wrestling career

In 1948, he won second place in light middleweight class wrestling, at the All-Union Youth Contests in the USSR.^[4]

Gamarnik was world lightweight (67 kg) Greco-Roman wrestling champion at the 1955 World Wrestling Championships in Karlsruhe, Germany, beating out silver medalist Kyösti Lehtonen of Finland and bronze medalist Gustav Freij of Sweden.^{[5] [6] [7]} He came in second in the 1958 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in welterweight (73 kg) Greco-Roman wrestling, behind gold medalist Kazim Ayvaz of Turkey and ahead of bronze medalist Valeriu Bularca of Romania.

He came in fifth in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, in men's welterweight Greco-Roman wrestling. Gamarnik was also a USSR wrestling champion in 1953, and in 1956–58.^[8]

Retirement

After retiring from competitions, Gamarnik was the Ukrainian National Coach from 1970 to 1991. He also served as a President of Greco-Roman Federation, was a FILA International referee since 1979, officiated at the Moscow Olympic Games (1980), and was one of the organizers of the FILA World Cup in 1983 in Kiev, Ukraine.For his many years of commitment, Grigory Gamarnik was awarded the FILA Gold Star (1983) by then president Milan Ercegan.

Grigory Gamarnik was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2020. ^[9]

See also

• List of select Jewish wrestlers

Notes and References

1. no . Grigory Gamarnik . November 9, 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20130202190605/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ga/grigory-gamarnik-1.html . February 2, 2013.
2. Hryhoriy Hamarnik . November 9, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110812210711/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/hryhoriy-hamarnik-1.html . August 12, 2011.
3. Web site: Jews in Sport in the USSR . Uri Miller . Yivo Encyclopedia . November 9, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150429023935/http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Sport/Jews_in_Sport_in_the_USSR . April 29, 2015 .
4. Book: Biographic directory of the USSR . Institut zur Erforschung der UdSSR . 1958 . V. S. Mert︠s︡alov . November 9, 2011.
5. Book: Who's who in the USSR . Institut zur Erforschung der UdSSR . 1961 . November 9, 2011.
6. Web site: Ralph Hickok . Sports History – World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championships . HickokSports.com . October 2, 2011 . November 9, 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20130125030922/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/wgrwrestlingchamps.shtml . January 25, 2013 .
7. Web site: Garmanik, Grigori . International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles . November 9, 2011.
8. Book: The Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry: Biographies . Jason Aronson . 0-7657-9981-2 . Herman Branover . Isaiah Berlin . Zeev Wagner . 1998 . November 9, 2011.
9. Web site: Internation Jewish Sports Hall of Fame . Jewishsport.net.