Betschart Ready to Rewrite Swiss Record Books
Tuesday, September 18, 2018 - 08:38 By Eric Olanowski
TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 18) - Ramon BETSCHART (SUI) will take the mat Tuesday night with an opportunity to rewrite the Swiss Greco-Roman wrestling books when he competes for his country’s first junior world gold medal.
His historic Trnava run comes a year after Betschart left Tampere, Finland with a 15th place finish at the 2017 World Championships. “I don’t regret anything from those championships, and not much has changed in my life over the past year. I attribute this year’s success to the recent rules changes. Particularly the par terre rule changes.”
Prior to his Monday semifinal win, Switzerland's highest Greco-Roman finish came from Thomas ROETHISBERGER at the 1992 World Championships when he finished in fourth place.
“I didn’t know the history behind my semifinals match,” said Betschart. “Walking to the mat, I wasn’t thinking about making history, only concentrating on my match. I was just focused on the match and nothing else. But if it was me or another Swiss wrestler, I would have been happy.”
After his semifinals win, flanked by his Swiss teammates, Betschart said “This is an amazing feeling. It’s pure happiness. I really have no word for how I feel. I just hope I get the gold medal tomorrow.”
Waking up Tuesday morning, nothing is going to change for Betchart. “Preparation-wise, I’m not going to change anything. Normal preparation and focusing on my warmup is going to be key.”
Betschart will take on the 2018 Asian junior champion Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) in the 87kg gold-medal bout.
“I know I will wrestle Mohammadhadi Saravi in tomorrow’s finals. But I don’t think much about my opponent. I have my way, the Swiss way, and that’s all I think about.”
If Betschart scores the gold medal on Tuesday night, he’ll join his uncle Hugo DIETSCHE (SUI) in rewriting the Swiss Greco-Roman record books. Dietsche won Switzerland’s first Olympic medal in 36 years when he finished with the bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games. That 1984 bronze medal still stands as Switzerland’s last Greco-Roman Olympic medal.
Justyna SITKO (POL), center, defended her gold medal at 90kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)
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