Bernhard Gruner

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Bernhard Gruner (1972)

Bernhard Gruner (born April 4, 1949 in Seyda ) is a former cyclist from the GDR . He celebrated his greatest successes in the 4000 m team pursuit . Here he was once GDR champion, once GDR runner-up, took part twice in world championships and once in the Summer Olympics.

youth

Gruner started cycling at BSG Chemie Piesteritz in 1964 . His first trainer was Wolfgang Strupp. In youth A (16 to 18 years old) he started for SC Leipzig . In this age group he became German champion of the GDR in the single road race in June 1967. 123 youngsters had tackled this race in Gelenau over 126 kilometers. With eight kilometers to go, Bernhard Gruner, Windisch and Wolfgang Wesemann pulled away from a leading group. Gruner finally won the race in a sprint. In the same year Gruner started at the German Youth Championships of the GDR on the track. In the 500-meter sprint , he improved his personal best by six tenths of a second to 35.9 seconds, taking the title one-tenth of a second ahead of his club colleague Detlef Lieffertz. Gruner also won a silver medal with Lieffertz in the tandem race and another silver medal with Beyer, Duscher and Lieffertz in the 4,000 m team time trial.

Men

In July 1969, in the international match against the Netherlands in Karl-Marx-Stadt , the 1.89 m tall Gruner made his debut in the GDR's rail country selection. His first race was the 1000 meter time trial . He drove 1: 12.3 minutes and had to admit defeat Wim Koopman by three tenths of a second. The magazine Der Radsportler wrote: The extreme banked curves were poison for the long, 20-year-old from Leipzig. In this international match and the two following ones against Italy and the USSR , Bernhard Gruner drove together with Thomas Huschke , Heinz Richter and Bernd Schreiber in the 4,000-meter team pursuit , and they won all three races. Against Italy they set a new German record for the GDR with a time of 4: 29.4 minutes as well as the world's best performance for cement railways. At the end of the respective comparisons, the GDR won 8: 7 against the Netherlands, 8.5: 6.5 against Italy and lost 8.5: 9.5 against the USSR.

In August 1969, Gruner started at the World Track Championships in Brno in the 4,000 m team pursuit competition. In the same line-up as in the previous international matches (Gruner, Huschke, H. Richter, Schreiber), the GDR team reached fifth place in the qualification in 4: 37.13 minutes. In the quarter-finals, the four then met the USSR. Despite an increase to 4: 32.73 minutes, with Gruner eliminated three laps before the end, the GDR team lost 81 hundredths of a second against the USSR and thus missed the semi-finals.

In the first international match of the GDR national railway team in 1970 against Hungary in Budapest , Gruner started in the 1000 m sprint. On the "slow", time-honored 412 m slope , he only achieved fourth place out of four starters with a time of 1: 13.0 minutes. In the end, the GDR clearly won the comparison with 9.5: 5.5.

At the Track World Cup in Leicester in 1970 , Gruner was again in the squad for the 4000 m team pursuit. With Heinz Richter , Herbert Richter and Thomas Huschke he contested the qualification and qualified with the GDR team for the quarter-finals. From the quarter-finals, however, Gruner was replaced by Manfred Ulbricht . In the end, the four-man won the World Cup silver.

Bernhard Gruner started for the SC DHfK Leipzig all the time in the men's division . In 1971 he won the silver medal in the 4000 m team pursuit with his teammates Manfred Dähne , Gunter Hoffmann and Klaus-Dieter Greil at the GDR rail championship in Leipzig. In the final, the DHfK four lost to TSC Berlin with Klaus-Jürgen Grünke , Thomas Huschke, Keßler and Uwe Unterwalder by just two hundredths of a second.

In 1972 Gruner took part in the Summer Olympics in Munich as a member of the 4,000 m team . In addition to his teammates Thomas Huschke, Heinz Richter, Herbert Richter and Uwe Unterwalder, however, he did not get beyond the role of the substitute and thus did not play in the four rounds of the GDR foursome.

In mid-September 1972 Gruner started again at the GDR championship in the team pursuit. This time he won the title against SC Karl-Marx-Stadt for the SC DHfK Leipzig in the composition Greil, Gruner, Hoffmann and Horst Tischoff with a final time of 4: 45.0 minutes. In the semifinals, she caught up with SC Dynamo Berlin in the eighth round.

In addition to track competitions, Gruner also drove road races . Among other things, he started once (1971) on the GDR tour . He was one of 15 individual drivers, so he did not drive in a team, and took 48th place overall. In 1974 Gruner competed in the Grand Prix de l'Humanité stage race . On the first stage over 48 kilometers he finished second, in the overall standings after three stages he was 25th, 16:20 minutes behind.

After the 1978 season, Bernhard Gruner ended his active career.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Der Radsportler, August 4th, 1972, page 1, "Broken neck and leg" for our 1972 Olympic fighters! , Publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  2. ↑ Der Radsportler, edition of June 16, 1967, page 4, youth with fighting spirit , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  3. ↑ Der Radsportler, issue of August 18, 1967, page 4 f., Heinz Kahnt with a new record , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  4. ↑ a b Der Radsportler, edition of June 11, 1969, page 3, hard-won 8: 7 against the Netherlands , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  5. ↑ a b Der Radsportler, issue of July 25, 1969, page 8, Azzurri lost one hope , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  6. ↑ Der Radsportler, edition of August 1, 1969, page 8 f., Knappe defeat against USSR , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  7. ↑ Der Radsportler, issue of August 29, 1969, page 4 f., The triumphal march of our tandem , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  8. ↑ Der Radsportler, June 1, 1970, page 3, clear international victory in Budapest , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  9. ↑ Der Radsportler, 4th August 1970, page 9, For the first time a GDR foursome advanced to the World Cup final , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  10. ↑ Der Radsportler, September 3rd issue 1971, page 2, The GDR Track Championships 1971 for men at a glance , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  11. ↑ Der Radsportler, September 2, 1972, page 1, narrowly defeated by 3.11 seconds , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  12. ↑ Volker Kluge, The Olympic Games from 1896-1980, page 321, Sportverlag Berlin 1981
  13. ↑ Der Radsportler, September 4, 1972, page 2, All new masters except Schmelzer , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
  14. ↑ Der Radsportler, May 5, 1974, page 2, Andreas Neuer Vierter in Paris , publisher: German Cycling Association of the GDR
personal data
SURNAME Gruner, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Seyda