MenuThe best Czech wrestler of all time, Gustav Frištenský, is inextricably linked to the Litovel brewery. He was born on May 18, 1879 in Kamhajk in the Křečhoř district near Kolín and from his youth was renowned for his physical strength, which he cultivated by working in the field – rolling, ploughing, and leading horse and oxen teams. At the age of fourteen, he began to learn the blacksmith craft, but due to an injury in a blacksmith's workshop he began studying to be a butcher. Even as an apprentice, he set out into the world to gain experience, and started working with the butcher Moritz Soffer in Brno. He started attending the local Sokol athletic club and joined the Hellas athletic club, where he was unbeatable in the club competitions in 1899.
Four years later he became the amateur European champion in Rotterdam in Greco-Roman wrestling. Upon his return he was forced to leave his job, and decided to wrestle professionally.
He met his wife Miroslava Ellederová in 1906, when she gave him a bouquet of roses at the Litovel competition. She was the daughter of the first Litovel brewer, Josef Elleder, with whom he lived in the brewery’s administrative building from his wedding in 1908 until 1917. He also trained in the brewery garden. The couple then moved to a villa that was adjacent to the brewery. To this day, there are rings hanging in front of their door, which every visitor has to hold onto. The power of the wrestler Frištenský inspired the special Litovel beer Gustav, a thirteen-degree unfiltered semi-dark beer. In the museum you can also see his beer tankard.
