Jean FÃ¶ldeak was born with the first name JÃ¡nos in a Romanian village in former Hungarian territory. He was a trained mechanic and in 1924 tried to immigrate to the United States, but could not get a visa. He stayed in Hamburg, where he received German citizenship in 1927. FÃ¶ldeak won a silver medal in Los Angeles in middleweight Greco-Roman and was fourth in welterweight freestyle. He was European champion in 1931, 1933, and 1934 in welterweight freestyle and German Champion in welterweight Greco-Roman in 1929 and freestyle in 1930. He represented Germany at seven international meetings.
In 1935 FÃ¶ldeak became German head coach, and in 1936 coached the Polish wrestlers for the Olympics and from 1949-66 was a German federal coach. After World War II, FÃ¶ldeak founded a company to manufacture wrestling mats and training equipment, which is still one of the leading companies of its kind.