Jigjidiin_Mönkhbat
Jigjidiin Mönkhbat
Mongolian wrestler (1941–2018)
Jigjidiin Mönkhbat (Mongolian: Жигжидийн Мөнхбат; 1 June 1941 – 9 April 2018) was a Mongolian wrestler. Jigjidiin Mönkhbat is the 1968 Olympic vice-champion in the 87 kg.
Jigjidiin Mönkhbat placing fourth in the middleweight (87 kg) division at the 1966 World Wrestling Championships, having lost the bronze medal match, however, he defeated the reigning three-time World Champion Mansour Mehdizadeh of Iran in the first match.[1][2] At the 1967 World Wrestling Championships Mönkhbat held a bronze medal after defeating Majid Aghili of Iran.[3] At the 1968 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal in the men's Freestyle Middleweight category (87 kg), behind gold medalist Boris Michail Gurevich of the Soviet Union and ahead of bronze medalist Prodan Gardzhev of Bulgaria.[4] However, Mönkhbat left the tournament as undefeated wrestler, his results in the Olympics were 4 wins, 2 draws, and 0 losses.
Mönkhbat was a State Grand Champion in Mongolian wrestling, a top rank in the sport, with six Naadam championship wins (1963–1967, 1974). His name Mönkhbat means "Eternal firm" in the Mongolian language.
He was the father of professional sumo wrestler Hakuhō Shō, who held the top rank of yokozuna in that sport before retiring. His son Hakuhō regards his six Nadaam championships as the equivalent of 36 tournament championships in sumo (as sumo tournaments are held six times a year) and used that as motivation to keep going even after passing Taihō's record of 32 championships.[5]
