Dieter Speer

Dieter Speer
Full name	Dieter Speer
Association	German Democratic Republic of Germany
birthday	February 24, 1942
place of birth	Liegnitz, Germany
Career
status	resigned
Medal table
World Cup medals 1 × 0 × 2 ×
World Cup balance

Dieter Speer (born February 24, 1942 in Liegnitz ) is a former German biathlete .

Career

Speer grew up in Sangerhausen . He began his sporting career as a water polo player . He then switched to athletics and was youth champion in the 3 x 1000 meter relay . During his DHfK studies , he came into contact with cross-country skiing at the age of 19 . As a long-distance runner , he achieved best times of 15:12 minutes in the 5000 meter run and 31:50 minutes in the 10,000 meter run . In 1964 he switched to biathlon . Speer trained at SG Dynamo Zinnwald . His trainers were Max Braun and Siegfried Forker.

He was the first German to become world champion in biathlon at the 1971 World Cup in Hämeenlinna when he defeated the then outstanding Alexander Tichonow (Soviet Union) over 20 kilometers. Tichonow had a large share in Speer's success, as he had given him a high stock for his rifle in 1969 . Speer was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze for his victory at the World Championships .

Three years later Speer retaliated when he gave Tichonow his ski at the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo , when it fell during the relay race as a starting runner and his left ski broke. Speer noticed this broken ski while warming up. The Soviet relay was Olympic champion in this race, the GDR relay, however, still came in bronze. The Pierre de Coubertin fair play committee at UNESCO then awarded the first lieutenant of the People's Police with the honorary diploma.

After his active career, he got involved with SG Dynamo Zinnwald as a junior coach. After the fall of the Berlin Wall he was a personal and property protection officer at the Saxon State Chancellery . Speer now lives in Wachau and is enjoying his retirement. In his spare time he has already competed in over 20 marathons . In Black Hills , South Dakota , it ran 2:50:40 h in October 1999.

More Achievements

• 1965: 2nd place in the relay GDR championships
• 1967: 3rd place at the International Sports Week in Grenoble
• 1968: GDR champion in the relay
• 1968: GDR champion in the individual race
• 1968: 18th place at the Olympic Winter Games
• 1968: 6th place in the relay at the Winter Olympics
• 1969: GDR champion in the relay
• 1970: 4th place in the individual biathlon world championships in 1970
• 1970: 3rd place in the 1970 Biathlon World Championships
• 1970: GDR champion in the relay
• 1970: GDR champion in the individual race
• 1971: 1st place at the Biathlon World Championships in 1971
• 1971: 3rd place in the relay of the GDR championships
• 1972: 1st place in the individual at the GDR championships
• 1972: 3rd place in the relay of the GDR championships
• 1973: 3rd place in the relay at the 1973 Biathlon World Championships

literature

• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes, medals and biographies. 2nd updated edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-538-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , December 4, 1971, p. 4

Web links

• Dieter Speer in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Database Olympics