Christopher RINKE

Chris Rinke was heavily involved in wrestling as a student at Simon Fraser University and rose to international prominence by winning gold in the freestyle middleweight event at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. His next stop was the 1983 Pan American Games, where he captured bronze, and then went on to finish 15th at that year’s World Championships. He became the first Canadian to win gold at the West German Freiburg International wrestling tournament in 1984 and, as Canadian champion, was also selected to represent his country at the Summer Olympics, where he defeated Stefan Kurpas of Great Britain, Luciano Ortelli of Italy, and Ken Reinsfield of New Zealand, but lost twice to Mark Schultz of the United States. This put him in a bronze medal match against Reiner Trik of West Germany, which he won. He retained his Canadian title in 1985 (one of six that he would hold over his career) and then defended his Commonwealth crown in 1986. Expected to medal at the World Championships that year, he suffered a knee injury in his third bout and was eliminated, but eventually recovered and was selected for the 1988 Summer Olympics. There he lost his opening match against Han Myeong-U of South Korea, the eventual gold medalist, but defeated Pierre-Didier Jollien of Switzerland and Ahmed Afghan of Iran before losing to eventual bronze medalist Jozef Lohyňa of Czechoslovakia and being eliminated. He retired from active competition in 1990 and has been inducted into the Simon Fraser University (1987) and Canadian Amateur Wrestling (2001) Halls of Fame.