Axel Wegner

Axel Wegner (born June 3, 1963 in Demmin ) is a German marksman . The specialist in skeet was Olympic champion for the GDR in 1988. In 2008 he qualified for the German Olympic team for the fourth time after reunification.

Wegner began shooting in Loitz and was delegated to the Leipzig Sports Shooting Club after his victory at the Spartakiade in 1981. In 1983 he became Junior European Champion. In 1984 he won the Friendship Competition in Moscow, the replacement sporting event for those athletes who were not allowed to take part in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles because of the Olympic boycott. In 1985 Wegner won the GDR championship, at the world championships in 1985 he was ninth and in 1986 eighth. In 1987 Wegner won the team competition at the World Cup. Wegner experienced the peak of his career at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He received the Olympic gold medal with a margin of margin.

In 1991 Wegner was fourth in the world championship and European champion for reunified Germany. In 1992 he was European team champion, but only finished 25th at the 1992 Olympic Games . Wegner paid tribute to the reduced training times, because since the shooting range in Leipzig was closed after the fall of the Wall, Wegner had to go to Meißen for training. After the German championship title in 1993, he finished fourth again at the 1994 World Cup. In 1996 Wegner was again European team champion, but only finished 24th at the 1996 Olympic Games .

Four years later Wegner missed the Olympic qualification, but became German champion in 2000. After the European championship silver in 2002, he received bronze in 2003, but became European champion with the team. At the 2004 Olympic Games , Wegner finished 31st. In 2005, Wegner was European team champion. In 2007 Wegner took fourth place at the European Championship and won the German Championship once again. In 2008 Wegner qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he achieved 19th place with 69 out of 75 targets.

Awards

• 1983: E rnst Schneller medal in silver
• 1984: V aterländischer Merit in Gold
• 1988: Bar of honor for the Ernst Schneller Medal
• 1988: Patriotic Order of Merit of the GDR in gold
• 1989: IOC Olympic badge of honor

literature

• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .
• National Olympic Committee for Germany: Athens 2004. The German Olympic team. Frankfurt am Main 2004
• Olaf W. Reimann:  Wegner, Axel . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Beck, Hans-Joachim: Sport shooting in the GDR from the beginnings to 1990 . Ed .: Deutscher Schützenbund eV Wiesbaden 2002, p. 478 .
2. ^ New Germany, 1./2. September 1984, p. 4.
3. ↑ Neues Deutschland , 12./13. November 1988, p. 4.

Web links

• Axel Wegner in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait at the German Schützenbund
• Portrait at the Olympic base in Leipzig
• Axel Wegner in the database of the International Shooting Sport Federation (English)