Obituary

Hall of Fame Greco-Roman Wrestler Andersson Passes Away

Monday, September 10, 2018 - 14:51 By United World Wrestling Press

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Hall of Fame Greco-Roman wrestler Frank Andersson of Sweden, a 1984 Olympic bronze medalist and three-time world champion, passed away on Sunday after complications from heart surgery. He was 62.

Andersson was born in Trollhatten, Sweden, in May 1956. He competed mostly in Greco-Roman, but also had success in freestyle. Andersson represented Sweden at three Olympic Games, competing at 90kg. At the Montreal Games in 1976, he placed fifth in Greco, and seventh in the freestyle competition. In 1980, Andersson placed fourth in Greco at the Moscow Games. In his final Olympic competition, Andersson eared a bronze medal in 1984 at the Los Angeles Games. 

In addition to his Olympic medals, Andersson won five world medals, including world gold medals in 1977, 1979 and 1982. He was a world silver medalist in 1978 and 1981. He was also very successful at the European Championships, claiming gold medals in 1976, 1978, 1979, and 1981, and silver medals in 1977, 1980, and 1982.

Following his amateur wrestling career, Andersson embarked on a professional wrestling career, then starred in several TV shows. 

In 2006, Andersson was welcomed into the World Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame.
 

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Ozaki earns Women’s Wrestler of the Year honors

Wednesday, December 28, 2022 - 15:51 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 28) -- United World Wrestling has announced Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) as the Women’s Wrestler of the Year. 

At the mere age of 19 years, Ozaki joined a rare list of wrestlers with all four world titles.

This year was undoubtedly Ozaki’s year as she won U20, U23 and senior world golds this season.

Ozaki won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships but stormed back with a gold-medal-winning performance in 2022 in Belgrade. On her way to the gold, she defeated defending world champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) and silver medalist Kayla MIRACLE (USA).

Domestically, Ozaki needed to defeat Olympic champion Yukako KAWAI (JPN) to make the world team. She did that in May 2022 and then remained undefeated on the season until suffering a season-ending loss by Sakura MOTOKI in the final at the All-Japan Championships on December 25.

In April, she won her first Asian Championships title by beating Tynybekova, added the U20 world title in August, and completed the set by winning the U23 world gold in October. She won the U17 world title in 2019 in Sofia.

The year-ending rankings were also a reflection of her dominance as she finished on the top at 62kg with 55000 ranking points, out-placing other veterans of the sport.