Nickolaus Hirschl

Nickolaus (also "Nikolaus") "Mickey" (also "Micki") Hirschl (March 20, 1906 – October 10, 1991) was an Austrian Olympic-medal-winning wrestler. He was also a European heavyweight wrestling champion, and for 10 years held the title of Austrian heavyweight wrestling champion. He was also an Austrian shot put and discus junior champion, Austrian heavyweight weightlifting junior champion, and for seven years the Austrian pentathlon champion.[1][2][3]

Nickolaus "Mickey" Hirschl
BornMarch 20, 1906
Vienna, Austria
DiedOctober 10, 1991(1991-10-10) (aged 85)
Known for
  • Austrian Shot put and Discus Junior Champion
  • Austrian Heavyweight Weightlifting Junior Champion
  • Austrian Pentathlon Champion (1923–30)
  • Austrian Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (10 years)
  • European Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (1932)
  • Olympic bronze medals in Heavyweight Freestyle and Heavyweight Greco-Roman Wrestling (1932)
AwardsInternational Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1993)
Olympic medal record
Representing  Austria
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Bronze medal – third place 1932 Wrestling Greco-Roman wrestling
Men's Freestyle wrestling
Bronze medal – third place 1932 Wrestling Freestyle wrestling
Maccabiah Games
Gold medal – first place1932 PalestineGreco-Roman wrestling

Early life

Hirschl was Jewish, and was born in Vienna, Austria.[1][2][4][5] His parents were kosher butchers, and his father was president of a synagogue.[6]

Sports career

At 15 years of age, he won the Austrian junior championship in shot put and discus.[2] At 16 years of age, he won the Austrian junior championship in heavyweight weightlifting.[2]

At 17 years of age, he became the pentathlon champion of Austria, winning the title in 1923. He held it for seven years.[1][2][7]

At the age of 18, he won the Austrian heavyweight wrestling championship.[1][2] He was the Austrian champion for the following 10 years.[1][2] In 1932, Hirschl won the gold medal in the European Wrestling Championships heavyweight championship.[2] He wrestled for the Hakoah Vienna wrestling team, which won 127 international titles from 1929 to 1934.[1][2][8][9]

At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, he won a bronze medal in heavyweight freestyle, and a bronze medal in heavyweight Greco-Roman.[1]

At the 1932 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine, he won a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in the heavyweight category.[10]

In 1936, he boycotted the Olympics which were to be held in Berlin, Nazi Germany, refusing to participate due to the racial policies of the Nazis.[1][2]

Life after sports career

Hirschl left Austria to escape the Nazis before the start of World War II. Most of his family was killed in the Holocaust.[11]

He first moved to pre-Israel Palestine. He joined the British Commandos, and served fighting the Germans in North Africa.[11][12] After the war, he married and moved to Australia in 1947, where he ran a meat business.[11][13]

He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.[2]

See also

References
  1. Paul Taylor (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: the clash between sport and politics: with a complete review of Jewish Olympic medalists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900871. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  2. "Nikolaus "Mickey" Hirschl". Jewishsports.net. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  3. Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 9780881259698. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  4. "Jewish Olympic Medalists". Jewishsports.net. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  5. "Nikolaus Hirschl Biography and Olympic Results". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  6. "Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance". Doew.at. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  7. Joe Hoffman (3 January 1993). "French Swim Champ in Jewish Sports Hall". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  8. Paul Yogi Mayer (2000). Jüdische Olympiasieger: Sport, ein Sprungbrett für Minoritäten. Agon Sportverlag. ISBN 9783897841734. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  9. Matthias Wabl. "HaKoah; Vienna's Jewish Sports Club, Smashed by Nazis, Gets New Life". Hakoah.at. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  10. "Maccabiah Games before World War II". sport-record.de.
  11. Sherman, Milt (1 October 1985), "Wrestling Greats – Nicholas "Micky" Hirschl; Return To Los Angeles", Wrestling USA Magazine, archived from the original on 12 October 2010, retrieved 4 February 2016
  12. Mark Palmer (18 December 2008). "Wrestling Spoken Here". Intermatwrestle.com. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  13. "Nickolaus Hirschl," Olympics.com.

Further reading
  • Persson, Gunnar; translated by Mirja ItkonenHakoah: tähdet paossa (Hakoah – Exiled Stars), Like, 2006. ISBN 978-952-471-727-4
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