For Frank Stäbler, the European Championship in Rome was actually the start of his spectacular last Olympic mission. But then the exceptional wrestler showed all his class and won gold confidently. Now the big hardships for the experienced are just beginning.
Rome (AP) - exceptional wrestler Frank Stäbler has outgrown himself in the gladiator city of Rome and won gold again at his last European Championship.
The 30-year-old won the Greek-Roman final up to 72 kilograms against the Georgian Iuri Lomadze. With this feat of strength after a previously flawless tournament, the Baden-Württemberg citizen gained a lot of confidence for his last big mission: a medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After the three-time world champion had won all of his three co-duels prematurely the day before by superiority, he was also in the title fight against Lomadze in front of several dozen Stäbler fans. Even before the trip to Italy, he had been looking forward to a medal photo "with a smile in front of the Colosseum" - this program item is due on Thursday.
Stäbler, who has to train because of a bizarre hall dispute in his home town of Musberg in the former chicken coop of his father's farm, secured the second European title after 2012 and the eighth international medal overall. At world championships he won gold in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and bronze in 2013 and 2019. There is also an EM bronze medal. The nerve-wracking athlete has never lost a big final or semi-final.
Only precious metals at Olympia are still missing. And with this EM gold medal, he can motivate himself for the upcoming vacation and then for the physically extreme preparatory torture. Because the 72-kilogram weight class is not Olympic, unlike in Rome, he has to compete in Tokyo in August in the category up to 67 kilograms. Stäbler normally weighs 75 kilograms.
Until his last big competition in Japan, it is therefore a matter of losing several kilograms. This happens first of all on a sophisticated diet and in the last few days in Tokyo through almost complete food and water deprivation. "We have a master plan," Stäbler reported recently. Nevertheless, there are "quite a lot of question marks in his project. It will be exciting."
In addition to Stäbler, the wrestlers were also convincing in Rome. All four athletes who started the competition will fight for bronze on Thursday. Laura Mertens (Dormagen) and Anna Schell (Unterföhring) lost their semi-finals; Ellen Riesterer (Freiburg) and Aline Rotter-Focken (Krefeld) compete in the round of hope.
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