Italian wrestler (born 1962)
Vincenzo Maenza
|
Born
| (
1962-05-02
)
2 May 1962
(age 62)
Imola
,
Italy
|
---|
Height
| 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
|
---|
Weight
| 48 kg (106 lb)
|
---|
|
Sport
| Wrestling
|
---|
Event
| Greco-Roman
|
---|
Club
| CISA Faenza
|
---|
|
Vincenzo Maenza
(born 2 May 1962) is an
Italian
Greco-Roman
wrestler. He won two gold medals and a silver medal at the
1984
,
1988
, and
1992
Olympic Games
.
Career
[
edit
]
Nicknamed
"Pollicino"
(Thumbelin) for his small size, Vincenzo Maenza is considered the best wrestler in the Italian history. In fact, he is the first and only Italian wrestler who has won three Olympic medals, and he was also the first and only who was able to win two gold medals.
When was a child, Vincenzo weighed only 60 lbs and was affected by
scoliosis
. He started to wrestle at 12 years old at the CISA AUDAX wrestling club in
Faenza
.
He began to compete in 1976. Soon he became National Champion several times and in 1979 won the silver medal at the Mediterranean Games in
Split
. The next year he competed in the
Summer Olympics in Moscow
and placed 7th.
After he won the bronze medal at Junior European Championship and the gold medal at the Junior World Championship, in 1984 Vincenzo became Olympic champion for the first time at the
1984 Summer Olympics
in
Los Angeles
. In the final, he defeated German wrestler
Markus Scherer
in 1:59 with an awesome 12-0 score.
The 1987 was a golden year for the Italian wrestler. He became European Champion and silver medalist at World Championship. A year later, at the
1988 Summer Olympics
in
Seoul
, Vincenzo won the gold medal for the second time, after defeated the strong Bulgarian wrestler
Bratan Tsenov
in the semifinal match and
Andrzej Gł?b
of Poland in the final match. In 1992, at the
1992 Summer Olympics
in
Barcelona
, he arrived at the final match and won the silver medal, after was defeated by the Soviet wrestler
Oleg Kutscherenko
, who was ten years younger than he.
At the end of his career, Vincenzo Maenza's awards included: 3 Olympic Medals (two golds and one silver), 1 time European champion and 2 times bronze medalist, 1 time silver medalist and 2 times bronze medalist at the World Championships, 2 times gold medalist and 1 time bronze medalist at the Mediterranean Games.
In 2005, Vincenzo Maenza was inducted in the FILA International Wrestling Hall Of Fame.
Today, Vincenzo lives in Faenza with his family.
Athletic achievements
[
edit
]
- 1978 - 2nd at MEC Tournament in the Netherlands
- 1979 - Mediterranean Games (Split) silver medalist
- 1981 - European Championship (Bursa) bronze medalist
- 1982 - World Championship (Caracas) gold medalist
- 1983 - Mediterranean Games (Casablanca) gold medalist
- 1984 - Summer Olympic Games (Los Angeles) gold medalist
- 1984 - 1st at CEE Athens Cup
- 1984 - European Championship (Sweden) bronze medalist
- 1985 - World Super Championship (Tokyo) gold medalist
- 1986 - European Championship (Athens) bronze medalist
- 1987 - European Championship (Tampere) gold medalist
- 1987 - Mediterranean Games (Syria) gold medalist
- 1987 - World Championship (France) silver medalist
- 1988 - Summer Olympic Games (Seoul) gold medalist
- 1989 - 2nd at World Festival (Colorado)
- 1991 - Mediterranean Games bronze medalist
- 1992 - Summer Olympic Games (Barcelona) silver medalist
Medal of Honor and Sport Merit
Quotes
[
edit
]
He said about wrestling:
...because all the other sports, like soccer, are played for pleasure. Wrestling not. Or love it, or hate it. Wrestling needs a superhuman conviction to do well and succeed. Of motivations that are inside you[...] it's your challenge against your disquiet, against your nightmares, against your inside enemy.
Trivia
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
First 100 names
| |
---|
2015 inductees
| |
---|
2016 inductees
| |
---|
2018 inductees
| |
---|
2019 inductees
| |
---|
2021 inductees
| |
---|
2023 inductees
| |
---|