August Neo

August Neo, who was equally strong in both styles of wrestling, was one of the top light-heavyweight wrestlers of the world in the 1930s despite never winning a major international title. Nonetheless he is on a very short list of wrestlers who have won an Olympic medal at both styles of wrestling in the same year. Neo took up wrestling in 1928 and first competed internationally at the 1931 European Greco-Roman Championships, where he was fourth. Neo missed the 1932 Olympics, and possible medals, because Estonia did not send an Olympic team to the 1932 Olympics due to the Great Depression. Thus Neo won his first international tournament medal, a middleweight silver, at the 1934 European Greco-Roman Championships. In 1935 he won bronze medalss in light-heavyweight at both the European Greco-Roman and Freestyle Championships and, at the 1936 Olympics, won silver in freestyle and bronze in Greco-Roman. After the Olympics, Neo won silver at the 1937 European Greco-Roman Championships and bronze at the 1939 edition. Domestically Neo won 12 Estonian titles: in 1934 in Greco-Roman middleweight, in 1935-37 and 1939 in Greco-Roman light-heavyweight, and in 1929, 1931-34, and 1936-37 in freestyle light-heavyweight. Neo retired from sports during World War II and emigrated to Sweden. In Estonia Neo had worked as a car driver, continuing to work as a driver in Sweden, and he later owned a car repair garage.