Ivar Johansson
Police officer who won Olympic gold in both styles
- Born
- January 31, 1903, Norrköping, Sweden
- Died
- August 4, 1979 (aged 76)
- Nationality
Sweden- Style
- Two-style champion
- Weight
- 72 kg, 79 kg
- Active
- 1928–1939
The medals
3 Olympic golds (2 Greco-Roman, 1 freestyle)
The story
var Johansson built his strength doing farm work near Norrköping before joining the city's police force and, later, coaching wrestling. At the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics he lost his opening freestyle bout, then won every remaining match by fall to take the middleweight title. Soon after, he cut about five kilograms by fasting and sweating in a sauna, dropped to Greco-Roman welterweight and won that gold too. He won a third gold, in Greco-Roman middleweight, at Berlin in 1936, a total matched by only a handful of wrestlers since. He never entered a world championship, but won nine European titles between 1931 and 1939, six in Greco-Roman and three in freestyle. Sweden's annual Ivars Guldsko wrestling award carries his name.
- Olympic champion, Greco-Roman welterweight (1932)
- Olympic champion, freestyle middleweight (1932)
- Olympic champion, Greco-Roman middleweight (1936)
- European champion 9 times (6 Greco-Roman, 3 freestyle; 1931–1939)
- Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal (1932)
- Sweden's annual 'Ivars Guldsko' wrestling award is named after him
Defining matches
- 1932LOSSvs Kyösti Luukko (first freestyle bout; went on to win gold)
- 1932Olympic gold Los Angeles (freestyle middleweight)
- 1932Olympic gold Los Angeles (Greco-Roman welterweight, days later)
- 1936Olympic gold Berlin (Greco-Roman middleweight)
Learn to score in both styles: drill a freestyle leg attack and a Greco upper-body throw from the same underhook tie, so you have an answer wherever the match goes. Johansson won Olympic gold in both styles at the same Games.
1980–1996
