Carl WESTERGREN

Carl Westergren of Sweden is the most successful Olympic wrestler in the Greco-Roman style. A four-time Olympian, he won gold medals in 1920 (middleweight), 1924 (light-heavyweight) and 1932 (unlimited) but in 1928, when he was defending his light-heavyweight title, he was surprisingly pinned in the first round by Onni Pellinen of Finland and withdrew from the competition. His total of three Olympic gold medals is a record shared with Ivar Johansson, Aleksandr Medved, and Aleksandr Karelin. Westergren was the world middleweight champion in 1922, and was also a three-time European champion in three different weight classes – 1925 as a middleweight, 1930 as a light-heavyweight, and 1931 in the unlimited class. In addition he won 13 national championships between 1917-33. He earned his living as a bus driver from Malmö, but he later ran a car rental company. Westergren also became involved in trotting races and kept racing pigeons as his hobby. In 2003 he was one of the first athletes to be inducted into the International Wrestling Hall of Fame.