José Alberto Recuero García (born 3 May 1974 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

) is a retired amateur Spanish Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's middleweight category. He represented his nation

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (1992 and 2004), and later capped his sporting career with a bronze medal in the 74-kg division at the

2005 Mediterranean Games The XVth Mediterranean Games Almería 2005 (XV Juegos del Mediterráneo 2005 in Spanish), commonly known as the 2005 Mediterranean Games, were the 15th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Almería, Spain over 10 days, from 24 June to 3 Ju ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

. Before his retirement from wrestling in 2006, Recuero trained full-time for Baron Viver Wrestling Club () in his native

under his coach Bernardo Martínez. Recuero made his official debut, as an 18-year-old teen and a member of the host nation's wrestling team, at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, where he competed in the men's welterweight category (74 kg). In the prelim pool, Recuero received a bye on the opening round, before losing out two straight matches each to Austria's Anton Marchl (3–1) and Yugoslavia's Željko Trajković (3–0). Twelve years after his last Olympics, Recuero qualified for his second Spanish squad, as a 30-year-old veteran, in the men's 74 kg class at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Earlier in the process, he finished fourth at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in

Tashkent, Uzbekistan Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

to guarantee his spot on the returning Spanish wrestling team after a 12-year hiatus. He lost his opening match 2–3 in overtime to Kazakhstan's

Danil Khalimov Danil Takhirovich Khalimov (; 6 July 1978 – 15 October 2020) was a Russian-Kazakhstani amateur Greco-Roman wrestler of Tatar descent, who competed in the men's middleweight category. Career He won two silver medals each in the 74 kg div ...

, but bounced back to pin Georgian-born Israeli wrestler

Yasha Manasherov Yasha Manasherov (; born October 29, 1980, in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR) is a retired amateur Israeli Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's middleweight category. Manasherov finished eighth in the 74-kg division at the 2003 World Wrestling ...

within a three-minute span to close the prelim pool. Finishing second in the pool and ninth overall, Recuero's performance fell short to put him further into the quarterfinals. When Spain hosted the

, Sanchez ended his career medal drought by picking up a bronze medal in the 74-kg division, much to the delight of the home crowd inside Huércal de Almería Sports Hall.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Recuero, Jose Alberto 1974 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Spain Wrestlers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Spanish male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Martial artists from Barcelona Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Competitors at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling 20th-century Spanish people 21st-century Spanish people