OCR Text |
Show I OLYMPIC CHAMPION IS . SALT LAKE RESIDENT J. Heil of This City, Once Considered Premier at Graeco-Romah Wrestling, Will Enter in Coming State Amateul Tournament 14 FORMER world's champion f (Graoco-Roman) wrcsller is J" ' now a, resident, of Salt Lake City, quietly' studying the tatcb-as-catcb-can Raiuo witb a view oi' returning to the mat- 3. Heil, a native of Rotterdam and- dinner din-ner of tbc amateur championship at the Olympic games, held iu 1Q0S in that city, is tho man, and' few of tho Dos-erot Dos-erot L'ymoasium member,, where he works out daily, rccogmzo ui tho quiet and sturdy athlete ouc whoso name wa familiar to all athletes of Luropcj a few voars aio. Hell, who will ho 93 years ot ago on March 13, has been in tho wrcatliug Tame aiuco 1900, although for tljo.P"1 three vcurs he has done very little work outside of instruction and uur. iuu the year and a half spent in this country has rugaged iu uo matches. lie slartod wrostliuj: in his uativo town ut tho ape of 20. Ho belougcd to various I'lubs and established fnta a rcputa-Lion rcputa-Lion at tbo meets held there every few mouths, by defeat in? ,wilb paso the IiotU'rdstiu youths wbo' entered.' Tho medal.s that ho won in tlu-ae matches number "cr fifty. Wins Olympic Title. Mr, Noil's first claim to fame was when he von thu championship of Holland Hol-land from a field of twonty in January, Janu-ary, UK'S. Here ho met soma of tho btt men ibis -pimo over produced and mou with- uasft. At tho Belgium tournament tour-nament in March or 190S ho defeated Joosteu, who had been considered unbeatable, un-beatable, aimexiuc the title of that . countrv as a rchiilt. Later in the same aprlnji'ho ontered the annual Olympic at Rotterdam, to which representatives from Germany and Bclcimn uad Holland Hol-land are sent. More than thirty experts ex-perts at tho Grucco-Tvoman game competed com-peted for tho greatest prize of the vcar, but Hoil. who had not been accounted ac-counted a chance iu . the great meet, upset the dope, dofcatincj the stars with the tamo case ho ha. previously displayed. Hi? performances during this year ?ai him k right to a match for tbe Faropcan title which practically means thn world's championship. To this cod hi) entered too Gorman chani-mouship chani-mouship tonruumi'ut at Berlin during the itiler of 100S, iu which Dirk von Ber, t that time champion, was en-trrcd. en-trrcd. In this content Heil defeated the champion, beat Joosteu a second time, aud won from Conslaut lc Bouch'e, the Trench title holder. Loses to Dane. Tn none of these matches did his opponents op-ponents secure a fall, and when the finals arrived it seemed that nc had an easy win coming from Zimmerman, a Dane, who bad earned his right to the final by beating several of . the lesser lights in tho tournament. Heil went after af-ter his man. who proved good on the defense, and kept hira fighting holds for two honr and. forty minutes. At tho ond of this period Heil secured a fall, xvhich would have terminated tbo match, but in throning his opponent be was forced to leave tbe mat and. the shoulders of tho fallen man were eighteen eight-een inches from tho mat's edge. On this technicality the fall was disallowed disal-lowed and the men continued as before. During the long period of grappling Zimmerman .had neen on the defensive, and IIeilt who had. forced the jpacc, was fatigued by tho strain. Consequently the 'Dane after another half houxr6 wo'rlc, in which the difference in; condition condi-tion showed, succeeded in thro-vying the .Dutchman. Until this match Heil had not lost a contost sirico -winning tho championship champion-ship of TTOlland. the previous spring, and in tho intervening timo be- bad defeated, de-feated, all tho stars of Europe. Aftor. tho Berlin games be returned to Rotterdam, Rot-terdam, where ho accepted a position as instructor in tho Hercules . Athletic club of thai city. Will Enter Tourney. Early iu 1.911 ho came to Salt ljake, where, he is folJowiug his former profession, pro-fession, while mastering tho catch-as-catch-can game. For a -while ho acted as trainer to Charlie Miller to gain instruction in-struction in tho new game, and Mike ifokol has mado him a similar offer. At present he is a member of the DeEcret gymnasium, where Bon Harker is shaping shap-ing him into form, for tho amateur tournament tour-nament to be held hero this winter, and in which ho will be the Dcseret's hopo for light-heavy weight honors. He has boou in training for about six -wcelcs, ,ntid is fast becoming master of the intricacies in-tricacies of the American mat game, which is entirely different from tho Graceo-Tfomau style. llcii stauds 5 feet SJ inchos, and weighs, at present, 6S pounds, and in condition 162 pounds. Ho is compactly built with muscular development equal to Dcmctral, who is several inches taller tall-er and twenty pounds heavier than the Dutchman. If successful in tho tournament here, Heil contemplates turning professional, as he thinks he cau make good at tho new game. Tho Qracco-Roman -wrestling so prevalent prev-alent in European countrios, ia known only "by name to a majority of American Ameri-can sportdom, due to the tact that an exhibition of this style has soldom been staged here. The grapples in snch a contest aro barred from usinc; any log holds, grabbing of fingers, or stranglo holds; in 6hort aro forbiddon to use any hold that micht terminate in injury in-jury to ono of tho principals. This stylo is based on ''fair -wrestling" and as far as -possiblo mado a matter of strength discounting punishing holds. |