Carl Westergren
Malmö bus driver, Olympic champion in three divisions
- Born
- October 13, 1895, Malmö, Sweden
- Died
- August 5, 1958 (aged 62)
- Nationality
Sweden- Weight
- 75 kg, 82.5 kg, +87 kg
- Active
- 1917–1933
The medals
3 Olympic golds; 1922 world title
The story
arl Westergren, known as Calle, drove buses in Malmö and wrestled for the local club IK Sparta. He competed at four Olympic Games and won Greco-Roman gold at three of them, each in a different weight class: middleweight in 1920, light-heavyweight in 1924 and heavyweight in 1932, when he was 36. The one blemish came in Amsterdam in 1928, when Finland's Onni Pellinen pinned him in the first round and he withdrew. Between Games he won the 1922 world middleweight title, three European titles in three different classes and 13 Swedish championships. His three Olympic titles stood as a shared record for wrestlers for decades. Away from the mat he later ran a car rental business, was involved in trotting races and kept racing pigeons.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion (1920 middleweight, 1924 light-heavyweight, 1932 heavyweight)
- World champion, middleweight (1922)
- European champion (1925, 1930, 1931)
- 13 Swedish titles (1917–1933)
- International Wrestling Hall of Fame, first class of inductees (2003)
Defining matches
- 1920Olympic gold Antwerp (middleweight)
- 1924Olympic gold Paris (light-heavyweight)
- 1928LOSSvs Onni Pellinen (pinned in the first round, withdrew)
- 1932Olympic gold Los Angeles (heavyweight, aged 36)
Build fundamentals that travel across weight classes: position, grips and hip placement do not depend on size. Westergren won Olympic titles as a middleweight and as a heavyweight, so drill your basics against both bigger and smaller partners.
1990–2000
1998–2012
