Olympic champion Nicolae Martinescu of Romania has died. He was 73.
Martinescu won gold in the Greco-Roman heavyweight class at the 1972 Munich Games and light-heavyweight bronze at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
“All our thoughts are for his family and the Romanian Wrestling Federation,” wrestling governing body FILA said in a statement.
It described Martinescu as a “very talented wrestler,” but it did not give details of Martinescu’s death.
Martinescu was born in Br?ila, Romania, in 1940, and ultimately nabbed two world championship silver medals as well as the European heavyweight championship in 1966.
Greco-Roman wrestling has been a staple of the Olympic Games since its inception in 1896. However, in February, FILA announced that both Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling would be removed from the Olympic Games starting in 2020.
When the announcement was made, vocal UFC fighter Chael Sonnen, who himself was a two-time All-American wrestler with the University of Oregon, blasted the move.
“Wrestling has cannibalized itself from 10 spots on the world and olympic team, to nine, to eight, to seven. Look guys, it’s basic science, the number one rule in Biology, you either evolve, or you become extinct,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
