Estonian-born Edvin Vesterby moved to Sweden in 1943 and took up wrestling in 1947. Just four years later he made his international début, coming in fourth in the freestyle bantamweight division at the 1951 World Championships. The following year, in the same category, he made his first of three appearances for Sweden at the Olympics and again finished fourth, following a defeat at the hands of Shohachi Ishii, the eventual gold medalist. Shortly thereafter, he began focusing on Greco-Roman wrestling and, in 1955, was once again fourth in the bantamweight division at the World Championships, this time in the Greco-Roman style. He finally reached an international podium at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he won silver as a Greco-Roman bantamweight after losing the final match against Konstantin Vyrupayev of the Soviet Union.
Vesterby’s career continued with moderate success after these Games, but he never again reached the same heights. As a bantamweight, he was fifth and fourth in the Greco-Roman style at the 1958 World Championships and 1960 Rome Olympics respectively. He also finished 15th in the freestyle division at the latter tournament, after losing his first two bouts to eventual gold medalist Terry McCann of the United States and (East) Germany’s Fred Kämmerer. He retired from active competition in 1962.
Sweden