Helmut Bantz

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Helmut Bantz (born September 14, 1921 in Speyer ; † October 3, 2004 in Pulheim-Brauweiler ) was a German gymnast. He won the gold medal in horse jumping at the 1956 Olympic Games.

Life

Bantz grew up in Speyer. Originally he wanted to become a professional soccer player, but his father - himself chairman of the Speyer gymnastics club - persuaded him to take up gymnastics. After he was already 12th in the individual all-around at the German Gymnastics Championships in Karlsruhe on February 2, 1941 and won the individual ranking in the three-city gymnastics Berlin-Hamburg-Leipzig in November 1941 , he achieved his breakthrough as a top gymnast in 1942, cutting in the international gymnastics competition Germany-Italy-Hungary on March 15th as the best individual gymnast and won the German gymnastics championship in the individual all-around in Breslau.

During his military service he was taken prisoner by the English in 1944. As a prisoner of war, he was allowed to train the English gymnastics team at the Summer Olympics in London in 1948 . At that time Germany was not allowed to take part in the summer games. After his dismissal he returned to Germany - despite some offers from English gymnastics clubs.

Bantz first took part in the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952. Here he was seventh in the all-around competition. In 1953 he came second in the international Jahn memorial gymnastics on the Berlin Waldbühne in front of 12,000 spectators. In 1954 he took 2nd place in the horse jump and on the horizontal bar at the World Championships in Rome . In 1955 he was European champion on parallel bars in Frankfurt am Main . In 1956 he finally won the gold medal in the horse jump at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne together with the Russian Valentin Muratow .

At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 , Bantz was there, but was not used as a substitute.

Then he ended his active career. He worked from 1970 to 1986 as head gymnast in the Rheinischer Turnerbund , until 1992 he was an assessor in the executive committee. In 1992 the association made him an honorary member. Under the master coach Hennes Weisweiler , Bantz also worked as a fitness coach for Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Mönchengladbach . He was seen again and again - even afterwards - on the Bökelberg . With a total of 18 German championships, four European Championship and three World Cup medals, he was one of the most successful German gymnasts.

Bantz earned his living as a certified sports teacher. He taught for several years - until 1984 - at the German Sport University in Cologne . His students included, for example, Erich Ribbeck , Jupp Heynckes and Günter Netzer .

He has received many important honors. He received the Federal Cross of Merit , in 1986 the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia , the Walter Kolb plaque from the DTB and in 1998 the Georg von Opel Prize . In 2008 Helmut Bantz was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Sports .

Most recently, Helmut Bantz lived in Pulheim-Brauweiler . He was married (Erika) and had two daughters (Sabine and Susanne) and a son (Rainer). He had to endure serious illnesses: 1981 heart attack, 1984 back operation, 1994 leg amputation due to circulatory disorders, later he also lost his second leg. In 2004 he died after a long illness.

literature

  • Helmut Bantz: That was my way , Frankfurt am Main 1958.
  • R. Streppelhoff: From prisoner to teacher , in: Olympisches Feuer (2008) 4–5, pp. 82–85.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reference to the correct date of death October 3, 2004 by the son Rainer Bantz, Pulheim-Brauweiler, in the summer of 2017 in a personal conversation. - The date of death October 4, 2004, mentioned in unison in various press articles, relevant specialist dictionaries and other media, is incorrect and therefore needs to be revised.
  2. ↑ Deutsche Turnzeitung , Berlin February 9, 1941 (episode 6 / 86th year), p. 50.
  3. ↑ Helmut Bantz: So far was my way , Frankfurt am Main 1958, p. 25.
  4. ↑ Gymnastics. Success of Josef Stalder at the Jahn memorial gymnastics in Berlin. In: This and That - House Gazette of the Lenzburg Cantonal Prison , Volume 15, No. 11, July 18, 1953, p. 3. ( PDF )
  5. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Bantz, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gymnast
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Speyer
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 2004
Place of death Brauweiler (Pulheim)