Petros Galaktopoulos

Olympic Medals

1S 1B

Wrestling

Bronze medal, October 26, 1968, Petros Galaktopoulos, cat. 70kg. Mexico 1968.

In the 70kg. category of Greco-Roman wrestling, 26 athletes participated and among them was Petros Galaktopoulos, who believed that he could climb the podium in Mexico City. He scored a total of five wins, one draw and one loss to win the bronze medal. He won successively against Tovar Gonzalez (Mexico), Klaus Paul (A. Germany), Borgas Galatinho (Portugal), Su Hoo (S. Korea) and reached the decisive match against the famous Soviet wrestler Gennady Sapunov. The tension of the Greek wrestler increased immeasurably, he knew that in case of victory the way to a medal was clear. Galaktopoulos fought with incredible strength and won 11:7 on points, a result that surprised many. With a draw in the next match against Yugoslav Stefan Horvat, Petros had a medal in his pocket as the match ended in a draw. However, he lost the first place in the match against Japan’s Munji Munemura after an amazing match, which was decided by 2:1 points. The Japanese player won the gold medal and Galaktopoulos the bronze. The ranking: Munemura (Japan) Horvat (Yugoslavia) Galaktopoulos (Greece) Rost (A. Germany) Tapio (Finland) Holzer (USA) Sapunov (S. Union) Steer (Hungary).

Silver medal, September 10, 1972, Petros Galaktopoulos, cat. 74kg. Munich 1972.

The Greek wrestler traveled to Munich with the ambition to win a better place than the bronze medal he had won four years earlier in Mexico City. This time in the class up to 74 kg, in which 21 athletes participated. His psychology was very good and so he started the competition successfully. He defeated the Belgian Bens, the Austrian Berger, the Finn Tapio and was tied 3:3 on points with the famous Soviet Igumenov. It was the key match, as it turned out, as he paved the way to a medal, helped by his walk-through in the first round. His opponent in the final was Czechoslovakian Vicheslav Maha, who had lost to Bulgarian Kolef in his first match but went on to win five in a row. Maha had lost easily to Galaktopoulos three months earlier and generally did not have a good tradition with him. However, Maha unexpectedly prevailed 5-3 on points, and the Greek champion took the silver medal, the second Olympic medal of his career. The ranking Maha (Czech Republic) Galaktopoulos (Greece) Karlsson (Sweden) Kolef (Bulgaria) Ketzmann (Jug.) Robben (France) Paul (A. Germany) Schroeter (W. Germany).

They said..

“The events with the Palestinian raid on our Olympic village affected all athletes. Especially me, because after that I was considered dark-skinned and the policemen drove me crazy during the controls. At the same time, I had a problem with my weight and was on a strict diet. I started well in the Games, fought wonderfully against the Soviet and thought I would win gold, but in the final I made many mistakes. I lost a match that I was sure I would win”

September 10, 1972

“I remember that the chef de mission, Orestis Gerasimidis, ordered that anyone returning late to the Olympic Village after 11 p.m. must return to Greece. We, who were young at that time, were not easy to keep. One night we went out with two or three athletes and did not come back until 3 am. We were caught red-handed, Gerasimidis had disappeared, and after swearing that we had not done anything bad on the way out, everything turned out fine. I was terrified at the time…
Before the game against Sapunov, I saw a snake in my dream and thought it was a good sign. Then the coach Petmezas came and told me that I will beat the Soviet athlete, he had an intuition. That’s what happened. But then I gave up two fights within 15 minutes, and my strength had clearly diminished

October 26, 1968