Mikael Ljungberg
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling | ||
Representing Sweden | ||
Olympic Games | ||
2000 Sydney | 97 kg | |
1996 Atlanta | 97 kg |
Mikael Ljungberg (13 June 1970 – 17 November 2004) was a Swedish wrestler from Gothenburg. He competed for Örgryte IS's wrestling section.
Ljungberg was one of the most successful Swedish wrestlers ever. He won World Championship gold medals in 1993 and 1995, European Championship gold medals in 1995 and 1999, and an Olympic gold medal in 2000.
In the summer of 2004, the Complete Book of the Olympics 2004 edition wrongly reported Mikael Ljungberg had been suspended in 1994 for using a banned performance-enhancing drug. This was silently corrected in the 2008 edition of the same book.
On 17 November 2004, while receiving care for depression at the psychiatric ward of the Mölndal hospital outside Gothenburg, he committed suicide by hanging himself. His brother reported in interviews afterwards that Mikael was a sensitive person who took setbacks seriously. Also, it was reported that his life after his professional career came to an end had been difficult for him; his mother had died in 2002, the same year as he went through a divorce.[1]
Just before his death he was appointed manager of the sport section for the Swedish Wrestling Federation, an office he would have entered on 1 January 2005.
References
- Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Greco-Roman Wrestling: Heavyweight". In The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London, UK: Aurum Press Limited. p. 1159.
- ^ Buscall, Jon (18 November 2004). "Olympic gold medallist commits suicide". The Local. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
External links
- Mikael Ljungberg at the International Wrestling Database
- Mikael Ljungberg at Olympics.com
- Mikael Ljungberg at Olympedia
- Mikael Ljungberg at the Swedish Olympic Committee (in Swedish)
- Mikael Ljungberg Memorial Fund
- v
- t
- e
- 1908 Richárd Weisz (HUN)
- 1912 Yrjö Saarela (FIN)
- 1920 Adolf Lindfors (FIN)
- 1924 Henri Deglane (FRA)
- 1928 Rudolf Svensson (SWE)
- 1932 Carl Westergren (SWE)
- 1936 Kristjan Palusalu (EST)
- 1948 Ahmet Kireççi (TUR)
- 1952 Johannes Kotkas (URS)
- 1956 Anatoly Parfyonov (URS)
- 1960 Ivan Bogdan (URS)
- 1964 István Kozma (HUN)
- 1968 István Kozma (HUN)
- 1972 Nicolae Martinescu (ROM)
- 1976 Nikolay Balboshin (URS)
- 1980 Georgi Raykov (BUL)
- 1984 Vasile Andrei (ROM)
- 1988 Andrzej Wroński (POL)
- 1992 Héctor Milián (CUB)
- 1996 Andrzej Wroński (POL)
- 2000 Mikael Ljungberg (SWE)
- 2004 Karam Gaber (EGY)
- 2008 Aslanbek Khushtov (RUS)
- 2012 Ghasem Rezaei (IRI)
- 2016 Artur Aleksanyan (ARM)
- 2020 Musa Evloev (ROC)
- 1912–1928: +82.5 kg
- 1932–1960: +87 kg
- 1964–1968: +97 kg
- 1972–1996: 100 kg
- 2000: 97 kg
- 2004–2012: 96 kg
- 2016: 98 kg
- 2020–present: 97 kg