Dirk Theismann

Dirk Theismann (born June 8, 1963 in Hamm ) is a former German water polo player who won an Olympic bronze medal and was European champion in 1989.

Theismann competed for SC Rote Erde Hamm until 1987 and then moved to Berlin to join Wasserfreunde Spandau, with whom he won his first German championship title in 1987, and in 1988 he won the European Cup with the Spandauers. After his career, Theismann returned to Hamm and was temporarily the club chairman of Rote Erde. The left-hander was the German player with the hardest throw for years.

At the European Championships in 1983 Theismann was part of the German national team for the first time and finished fifth. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the German team was one of the favorites because of the Olympic boycott of the USSR and Hungary. By winning the bronze medal behind the Yugoslavs and the American hosts, they managed to win the only Olympic medal since 1945. This was followed by bronze at the European Championships in 1985 and sixth place at the 1986 World Championships. Both at the 1987 European Championships and at the 1988 Olympic Games , the German team narrowly missed the medal ranks with fourth place. In 1989 the German team won the European Championship, with Peter Röhle , Thomas Huber , Rainer Osselmann , Frank Otto , Hagen Stamm and Dirk Theismann still playing six players from the 1984 Olympic squad . When he took part in the Olympic Games in Barcelona for the third time in 1992 , Theismann only returned to the squad at short notice, and the German team came in seventh.

literature

• National Olympic Committee for Germany: Los Angeles 1984. The Olympic team of the Federal Republic of Germany. Frankfurt am Main 1984
• National Olympic Committee for Germany: Seoul 1988. The Olympic team of the Federal Republic of Germany. Frankfurt am Main 1988

Web links

• European water polo champion
• Dirk Theismann in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Brief portrait