Jeffrey Carl “Jeff” Blatnick ( born Jeffrey Carl “Jeff” Blatnick ; , - , ) - an American classic-style wrestler , Olympic champion in the Los Angeles Games (1984) , winner of the World Cup [3] [4] .
| Jeffrey Blatnik | |
|---|---|
 Jeff Blatnik on the Olympic podium. 1984 year. | |
| personal information | |
| Floor | |
| Full name | Jeffrey Karl Blatnik |
| A country | |
| Club | Adirondack wrestling association |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
| Sports career | 1973-1988 |
| Growth | 189 cm |
| Weight | over 100 kg |
Sports career
He began his wrestling career in 1973 at the Niskayuna High School in Niskiyun , New York . Initially, he performed simultaneously in the classics and freestyle wrestling, winning 69 of 81 fights. In 1975 he became the champion of New York State in freestyle wrestling in heavyweight. Since 1976, he continued his sports career. In 1977, he took third place at the World Junior Championships. Speaking for Springfield College, Massachusetts, he won two national championships and qualified for the Moscow Olympics-80 , which he missed due to a boycott from the West. In the same year he became the United States Greco-Roman heavyweight champion and won silver at the Trelleborg World Championship.
In 1982, the athlete was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease , despite the cancer, he began preparations for the Summer Games in Los Angeles (1984). After coping with the psychological stress and side effects of radiological treatment, he won the Olympic gold medal in the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament, defeating Swede Johansson who was later disqualified for doping. At the closing ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games, Blatnik was entrusted with carrying the US national flag.
| A circle | Rival | A country | Result | Base | Scrum time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | Refik Memishevich | Victory | Passive opponent (3 points) | 5:12 | |
| 2 | Panagiotis Poikilidis | Defeat | 3-4 (1 point) | ||
| Final in group “A” (meeting 1) | Refik Memishevich | Victory | Preliminaries standings (3 points) | ||
| Final in group B (meeting 2) | Panagiotis Poikilidis | Defeat | Preliminaries standings (1 point) | ||
| The final | Thomas Johansson | Victory | 2-0 |
In 1985, through chemotherapy, he successfully overcame a relapse of the disease. In 1987, he won bronze at the World Cup in American Albany .
At the end of his wrestling career, he worked for many years as director of the American Wrestling Federation. In 1994, he first acted as a commentator for MMA at the UFC 4 tournament and worked at 29 UFC tournaments, up to UFC 32. In addition, he was one of the creators of the MMA rules that are currently used all over the world and, moreover, is the author of the term Mixed Martial Arts [5]
In 1999, he was inducted into the US National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
He died on October 24, 2012 from complications after heart surgery. At that time, he was a trainer at a school in Ballstone Lake. [6]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Find a Grave - 1995. - ed. size: 165000000
- ↑ 1 2 Former UFC Commentator Jeff Blatnick Passes Away at Age 55
- ↑ International Wrestling Database (unreachable link) . Date of treatment December 25, 2013. Archived December 26, 2013.
- ↑ Jeff Blatnick Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
- ↑ Jeff Blatnick's funeral and how the term MMA came to be - MMA Fighting
- ↑ Jeff Blatnick, Gold Medal Winner in Wrestling, Dies at 55 - The New York Times
Links
- Jeffrey Blatnik - Olympic stats on Sports-Reference.com
- Jeffrey Blatnik - profile on International Wrestling Database
- https://web.archive.org/web/20051124105857/http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/blatnick.shtml
- http://www.mmafighting.com/2012/10/24/3550680/whenever-you-hear-the-term-mixed-martial-arts-you-jeff-blatnick