Christian Erb

Christian Erb (born February 14, 1959 ) is a former Swiss athlete who specializes in discus throwing and the shot put .

Life

Erb grew up as the youngest son of Hugo Erb jun. in Winterthur and went to school at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz . At a young age he practiced several sports such as boxing, football and bobsleigh before focusing on athletics.

In 1983 he was the first Swiss champion in discus throwing. Overall, he was ten times Swiss champion in discus and three times Swiss champion in the shot put. In 1986 in Martigny he improved the Swiss record by two centimeters to 57.98 m. In the following years he improved this record ten times and was the first Swiss who threw the discus on July 9, 1988 with 60.22 m over the 60-meter mark. With the currently still valid record of 64.04 m, which he achieved in the north of Germany on September 18, 1988, he is still the current record holder to this day.

In the early 1980s, he introduced the little-known twist-and-shoot technique in Switzerland. In 1992 he took part in the Barcelona Olympics, using a twisting technique adapted to his body size, which practiced a 1¾ turn, compared to the commonly used one-and-a-half turn. In a pre-competition for the Olympics, he reached an impressive 63.98 m. An old injury to his foot visibly hindered him and he only achieved 23rd place, which was disappointing for him. In 1991 he qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo. He injured his adductors there and had to forego his use due to injury.

1994 still active and successful, he suffered because of a car accident a paraplegic and has since paraplegics . He then trained various athletes, including the current shot put world record holder Randy Barnes . For ten years, Erb organized the world-class meeting on the Rhine in Rüdlingen , which became known as the international throwing meeting, which attracted attention every year with top results. In addition to the disciplines of the shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and javelin throw , historical throwing disciplines were also included again in the program. Among others, the ISTF led 50-kilo as organizers world championships in stone throwing by.

On August 14, 1996, on the occasion of the Weltklasse Zürich meeting, Erb received the Olympic medal from the hands of then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch for his services in sport .

Erb started for LV Winterthur throughout his career . He trained mainly autodidactically. During his active time, Erb weighed between 90 and 100 kg and is 1.82 m tall.

successes

• 1983: Swiss champion discus
• 1985: Swiss champion discus
• 1986: Swiss champion discus, Swiss record 57.98 m
• 1987: Swiss champion discus
• 1988: Swiss champions discus, indoor Swiss champions ball,
• 1989: Swiss champion discus
• 1990: Swiss champions discus + ball, indoor Swiss champions ball
• 1991: Swiss champion discus
• 1992: Swiss Champion Discus, Barcelona Olympics 23rd place
• 1993: Swiss champion discus

Awards

. 1996 Olympic medalist

Personal best

• Discus throw: 64.04 m, September 18, 1988, north (Swiss record)
• Shot put: 17.68 m, May 19, 1986, Zofingen

Web links

• Christian Erb in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Stone throwing