Free, Ryszard

He began to engage in wrestling in 1980. In 1987 he became the champion of Poland among juniors. In the same year he won the European Championship among juniors, and in 1988 - in the age category espoir .

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he fought in the category of up to 62 kilograms ( featherweight ). The tournament participants, numbering 21 people in the category, were divided into two groups. Points were awarded for winning fights, from 4 points for a clear victory and 0 points for a clear defeat. In each group, four wrestlers with the highest scores were determined (the fight was held according to the system with elimination after two defeats ), they played the first to eighth places among themselves. The winners of the groups met in the battle for the first or second places, who took second place - for the third and fourth places and so on. The 19-year-old Polish debutant was defeated in the first two bouts and dropped out of the tournament.

In 1989, he was the sixth at the German Grand Prix among adults and won the bronze medal of the world championship in the age category espoir . In 1990, he won the bronze medals of the World and European Championships. In 1991, the World Cup was only 17th. In 1992, he was seventh at the German Grand Prix and fifth at the European Championships.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he fought in the category of up to 68 kilograms ( light weight ). Tournament participants, numbering 19 people in the category, were divided into two groups. The tournament regulations remained basically the same, only in each group five wrestlers with the highest scores were determined, who played the first to tenth places among themselves. Having won and lost two fights, Richard Volny in the group took fourth place, and then won the battle for seventh place.

In 1993, he remained fifth at the European and World Championships and 11th at the German Grand Prix. In 1994, he was again fifth at the European Championships, and fourth at the World Championships. In 1995 he won the title of European vice-champion, was fourth at the World Cup, second at the German Grand Prix. In 1996, he remained only 12th at the European Championships and as a result could not qualify for the Olympic Games. I got to the Games only on the basis of a “ wild card ” issued by FILA and received 24 hours before the deadline ^[3] .

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he fought in the category of up to 62 kilograms ( lightweight ). After the first round, the fighters were divided into two tables: winners and losers. The winners continued to fight among themselves, and the losers participated in comforting battles. After two defeats in the preliminary and classification (comforting) rounds, the wrestler dropped out of the tournament. Thus, during the tournament, the losers were eliminated twice from the table of the defeated, but it was replenished with the losers from the table of winners. Ultimately, eight of the best wrestlers were determined. The losers never met in the fight for 1-2 places, those who lost in the semifinal met with the winners of the comforting battles and the winners of these meetings fought for 3-4 places and so on. 22 athletes fought in the category. Ryszard Volny, having defeated the current Olympic champion Attila Repku in the first fight, did not experience any special problems and became the Olympic champion - an extremely rare case for those who came to the Olympiad only thanks to the “wild card”.

In 1997, he remained only 10th at the World Cup. In 1998, he was only sixth at the World Championships, only eighth at the European Championships. In 1999, he won silver at the European Championships, and at the World Championships he was only the twentieth. In 2000, he participated in four qualification pre-Olympic tournaments, won one, took silver in one; in the other two was tenth and fourteenth.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he fought in the category of up to 69 kilograms ( welterweight ). The tournament participants, numbering 19 people, were divided into six groups, in each of which the struggle was conducted according to a circular system. The winners in the groups reached the quarter finals, where they fought on the system with elimination after the defeat. The losers took places according to qualification and technical points obtained in the battles. Ryszard Volna in a group of four lost one fight, one won and one did not fight, since Belarus Belarusian Vladimir Kopylov had lost two games by that time, so the victory to the Polish wrestler was automatically counted. Took a total of 7th place.

After the Olympic Games, he did not play actively for two years. In 2003, he was 12th at the World Cup. In 2004, he performed at two qualifying qualifying tournaments, took 4th and 25th place.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he fought in the category of up to 66 kilograms ( welterweight ). The competition was attended by 20 people, the tournament regulations were the same. After losing two fights, Ryszard Volny left the tournament, taking the final 17th place.

From 1990 to 2005, he played as a professional wrestler in the German Bundesliga.

In 2005, he left his sports career, switching to coaching. Since 2007 he has been a coach of the national team.

He graduated from the Raciborz College in 1990, having received the qualification of a mechanic, and in 1997 a branch of the Warsaw Institute of Physical Education in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

In 2006, he was elected to the city council of Raciborz, becoming the chairman of the committee for education, culture, sports, leisure and social services. In 2010 he was re-elected, currently holds the post of vice chairman of the board.

Cavalier of the 5th degree of the Order of the Renaissance of Poland (1996).

He lives in Raciborz with his wife and son.

• Ryszard Wolny - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Ryszard Wolny - profile on the International Wrestling Database website