published25. August 2022, 04:29
foreign wrestlerThis US cop swaps pepper spray for slacks
Grant Widmer is one of six wrestlers from abroad who are allowed to take part in the federal competition in Pratteln. The father of the 29-year-old got the crown at ESAF 50 years ago.
The 29-year-old has competed in six wrestling festivals this season on the US West Coast…
Private
… and won them all.
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Grant Widmer is one of six international wrestlers participating in the ESAF.
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The American’s grandparents once emigrated from Switzerland.
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The father of the 29-year-old won a wreath in 1972 at the Federal.
Professionally, he hunts criminals and traffic offenders – he is a police officer in California. As a cop in San Jose, he has two weeks vacation a year, which he has now taken and is in Switzerland. The American Grant Widmer is one of six foreign wrestlers (four Americans and two Canadians) to take part in the ESAF in Pratteln. It’s a great honor for the 29-year-old. His father Don Widmer was already given this honor: And Don even got the wreath 50 years ago in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
His father has told Grant that wrestling has changed a lot since then. The wrestlers have become bigger, stronger and faster. That’s why Widmer doesn’t see the best chances in Pratteln. A wreath would be a huge thing for him, but he doesn’t speculate on it. “I can’t go there expecting to win a wreath. I’m doing it to honor my father and to show that we can swing in the US and love it.” He wants to swing as hard as he can at the ESAF – whether he wins or loses is beside the point for him.
Gained nine kilograms of muscle mass
Although Widmer started wrestling at the age of six or seven, his father took him to training at the time. After that, the sport was just a hobby for him, he trained irregularly once a week. When he was in college, he played American football and gave up swinging. When he became a police officer, he also stopped playing football. Because: In the US, if you suffer an injury outside of work, you will be fired. Widmer, whose grandparents once emigrated from Switzerland first to France, then to Canada and finally to the USA, did not want to take this risk, he wanted to integrate into his job.
Only a year ago he started wrestling once more and has intensified the training for this year. Widmer gained around nine kilograms of muscle mass, now weighs around 114 kg and is 1.92 m tall. He eats eight meals a day and eats ten eggs a day for breakfast. As far as his size is concerned, he is one of the model athletes in wrestling. He competed in six wrestling festivals on the US West Coast this season – and won them all. There are ten to twelve wrestling festivals a year on the west coast. That’s because there are a lot of expatriate Swiss people living in the USA who didn’t want to do without this sport.
Widmer and three other Americans have now been selected for the ESAF. “We are very honored that four of us are allowed to take part. Here in Switzerland you have to qualify, we don’t have to. We hope that we can represent wrestling in the USA well here and show that we train seriously and love the sport, »says Widmer.
Co-favorite Reichmuth can compete
Pirmin Reichmuth from Central Switzerland has confirmed his definitive participation in the ESAF 2022. This was following he injured his right biceps tendon on the Brünig-Schwinget and his participation was questionable. “After intensive stress tests and successful final training sessions, the Zuger decided to work in Pratteln,” said his management. The 27-year-old has repeatedly struggled with injuries in recent years, with multiple cruciate ligament tears throwing him back once more and once more. If he is fit, he is one of the favorites for the king’s title. (product)
274 wrestlers are at the start at the ESAF, they all receive a prize that they can choose in the temple of gifts. What would Widmer choose? A bell with the federal lettering on it. “If these are already gone, then something else that says federal. So that I can show it to my children.” After the Confederation, Widmer travels to Switzerland for a week, visits Zermatt once more with his wife and parents. Because Widmer already traveled to Switzerland in 2016, when he was on backpacker holidays through Europe.
After two weeks in his grandparents’ homeland, Widmer travels back to Manteca in California and ensures law and order. And he has to explain to the Americans once more what Schwingen – in English Swiss Wrestling – is. Because: His compatriots often think it’s like sumo wrestling. Widmer can now ensure that his name is also known in Switzerland, the home of wrestling.
