Reto Bucher

Reto Bucher (born September 30, 1982 in Mühlau, Aargau) is a retired amateur Swiss Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's middleweight category.[1] He finished fourth in the 74-kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and later took home a silver medal at the 2007 European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria. Before his wrestling career ended in 2009, Bucher trained as a member of the wrestling team for Ringerstaffel Freiamt in Aristau, under his personal coach Leonz Küng.[2][3]

Reto Bucher
Personal information
Full nameReto Bucher
Nationality  Switzerland
Born (1982-09-30) 30 September 1982
Mühlau, Aargau, Switzerland
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleGreco-Roman
ClubRingerstaffel Freiamt
CoachLeonz Küng (1997–2003)
Andrey Maltsev (2003–2009)
Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Representing   Switzerland
European Championships
2007 Varna74 kg

A member of the Swiss wrestling squad, Bucher entered the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens as an underdog in the men's 74 kg class, after placing third and receiving a berth from the final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.[4] He opened his match by dominating Belarusian wrestler Aliaksandr Kikiniou with a 3–2 verdict, and then rallied for a 6–2 score over China's Sai Yinjiya in the prelim pool to move into the next round.[5] Bucher edged past his Kazakh rival Danil Khalimov in the quarterfinals, before being tamed by eventual silver medalist Marko Yli-Hannuksela of Finland at 3–0, leaving him with an ankle injury.[6] Fighting against Russia's Varteres Samurgashev for the bronze medal, Bucher could not endure a pain from his injury and easily lost the match to the Russian due to a 10–0 superiority limit.[7][8]

Bucher lost again to Yli-Hannuksela for the bronze medal in the same division at the 2005 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary, until his medal drought culminated with a silver at the European Championships in 2007.[9][10] He also sought to compete for his second Swiss team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but missed out a spot from the Olympic trials.[11] In 2009, Bucher announced his official retirement from the sport because of a right knee injury sustained from the Swiss championships.[3]

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Reto Bucher". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  2. "Ringen: Sense und Willisau in der Favoritenrolle" [Wrestling: Sense and Willisau are the favorites] (in German). News.ch. 18 September 2003. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  3. "Reto Bucher zieht Konsequenzen" [Reto Bucher draws to an end] (in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  4. Abbott, Gary (22 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men's Greco-Roman". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  5. "Reto Bucher in Dreier-Vorrundengruppe" [Reto Bucher in the third preliminary pool] (in German). News.ch. 24 August 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  6. "Silver medal for Marko Yli-Hannuksela in Greco-Roman wrestling". Helsingin Sanomat. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  7. "Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 74kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  8. "Ibrahim strikes Greco gold". BBC Sport. 26 August 2004. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  9. "Reto Bucher wird WM-Fünfter" [Reto Bucher finished fifth at World Championships] (in German). News.ch. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  10. "EM-Silber für Reto Bucher" [Silver medal for Bucher at European Champs] (in German). 20 minutes (Switzerland). 20 August 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  11. "Auch Reto Bucher nicht nach Peking" [Reto Bucher will also not be in Beijing] (in German). St. Galler Tagblatt. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2014.


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