Emil Beck (fencing trainer)

Emil Beck (born July 20, 1935 in Tauberbischofsheim ; † March 12, 2006 there ) was a German fencing trainer .

Life

biography

The Tauberbischofsheim fencing club, set up by "founding father" Emil Beck, with an Olympic base and Emil Beck Hall in 2016

The trained hairdresser began fencing in the mid-1950s. Fencing scenes from a cinema newsreel from the film The Three Musketeers had impressed the youth. Thereupon it came on 12 October 1954 Emil Beck's initiative at the "Gasthaus zum Schwanen" in Tauberbischofsheim establishing meeting of a fencing division in TSV Tauberbischofsheim . With great passion for this sport, he finally created the independent fencing club Tauberbischofsheim on October 14, 1967 in the "Raststätte Block" at an official founding meeting , which soon advanced to the world-famous fencing performance center, which in the 1970s became an Olympic "goldsmith".

As a trainer of fencing greats like Matthias Behr , Alexander Pusch and Anja Fichtel , he became one of the most successful fencing trainers in the world. Olympic, world and European championship titles have been won under his care since 1973 (first world championship title for an athlete from Tauberbischofsheim). At the height of his work, Anja Fichtel, Sabine Bau and Zita Funkenhauser won gold, silver and bronze at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul in women's florets. Such a triumph could not be repeated in the history of German fencing.

With Karl Adam (rowing) and Gustav Kilian (track bike), Beck was one of the big three among the self-taught coaches in German sport. By 1999 Beck, who was responsible for epee and men's foil from 1970 to 1986 and was head coach for all fencing weapons from 1986, had won 20 Olympic and 91 world championship medals as national coach.

Beck has lived in the “House of Athletes” in his hometown since the new building in 1997. Matthias Behr was his successor for a short time as team boss of the German national fencing team when Beck had to resign after the quarrels at the Tauberbischofsheim Olympic base . Some time after Beck retired from the sport, he hit the headlines again when allegations of embezzlement of one million euros surfaced. In 2004 there were charges of breach of trust and the suppression of documents. The trial could not be completed during his lifetime. On March 12, 2006, Beck died of heart failure.

“You can't rate his achievements for our sport highly enough - all the more tragic was his end,” said the former fencer and current IOC President Thomas Bach and added that Beck had to deal with critics for a long time before it became visible that Beck revolutionized the entire fencing training, the technique, the entire fencing sport and released it from its elitist isolation. "Fencing", says Bach, "became accessible to all social classes".

The “Emil Beck Memorial Prize” of FC Tauberbischofsheim, which was awarded for the first time in 2008 and with which the club honors personalities who have made a special contribution to the sport of fencing, was named after Beck. On the occasion of the 80th birthday of the honorary citizen of Tauberbischofsheim, who died in 2006, the final hall of the fencing center was renamed "Emil-Beck-Halle" on July 20, 2015 and a memorial stele was placed in front of the hall. The main speaker was IOC President Thomas Bach.

His son Frank Beck was also active in fencing.

aftermath

Through his life's work at the Fecht-Club Tauberbischofsheim, Emil Beck made a significant contribution to the fact that the sport of fencing in Germany and the city of Tauberbischofsheim became more widely known. A few quotes from well-known personalities about Beck make this clear:

“He was a charismatic person who left no one indifferent. His lifetime achievement is outstanding, he has positively changed the sport of fencing and his hometown and that will have an effect for a long time to come. "

- Thomas Bach

"Tauberbischofsheim would never have this level of awareness without Emil Beck."

- Matthias Behr

The Honorary President of the German Fencing Federation (DFeB), Gordon Rapp , recognized Beck's commitment as:

“Unique in the world. Without Emil Beck, fencing in Germany would not have this status in Germany or internationally. "

- Gordon Rapp

Honors

Awards

• Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon 1976
• Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class 1985
• "Honorary plaque" of the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (International Fencing Federation)
• Honorary citizen of Tauberbischofsheim , awarded on June 23, 1989
• Awarded the national foil fencing team in the 1977 team of the year election .

Beck as namesake

• "Emil Beck Memorial Prize"
• "Emil Beck Hall"

Works

• Emil Beck (author): "Tauberbischofsheimer fencing lessons for beginners and advanced." Philippka-Sportverlag , Münster 1987, ISBN 978-3870390150 .
• Emil Beck (author): “Richtig Fechten.” BLV-Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3405137342 .
• Emil Beck (Author): “Fencing. Foil, sword, saber. ” Falken-Verlag, Niedernhausen im Taunus 1995, ISBN 978-3806804492 .
• Emil Beck (Ed.), Berndt Barth (Author): "Fechttraining." Meyer-Verlag, Aachen 2004, ISBN 978-3898991162 .

literature

• Richard Möll: The fencing legend from Tauberbischofsheim. A programmed path to success . Elztal: Verlag Laub 1987, pp. 107-114 ( Chapter 6. Emil Beck - The "Medaillenschmied" from Taubertal ).

Web links

items

• Olympiadörfer series - Part 6 - Soul instead of Emil - The Tauberbischofsheim fencing center. Süddeutsche Zeitung, accessed on May 5, 2015 . 
• Zorro in white. Archived from the original on October 26, 2007 ; Retrieved March 23, 2013 . 
• Emil's ghost train. DER SPIEGEL 44/1999, accessed on October 31, 2015 . 
• When Emil whistles. . . DER SPIEGEL 42/1989, accessed on October 31, 2015 . 

Videos

• City of Tauberbischofsheim honors fencing legend Emil Beck - by Fränkische Nachrichten (3:58 min). Fränkische Nachrichten, YouTube, accessed December 20, 2016 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fecht-Club Tauberbischofsheim eV: History of the Fecht-Club Tauberbischofsheim ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Online at www.fechtentbb.de. Retrieved April 29, 2015. 
2. ^ "The great Olympia Lexicon", Sport-Bild from June 19, 1996, p. 36
3. ↑ ^{a b c} FAZ: Former national coach Beck died. Online at www.faz.net. March 13, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
4. ^ Spiegel Online: Fencing: Public prosecutor's office is investigating Emil Beck. Online at www.spiegel.de. April 2, 2001. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
5. ↑ German Fencing Association awarded with sports badge. Flagship sport of German Olympic teams. Memories of Emil Beck. DOSB, accessed on May 5, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Proud that Samsung has received an award. (No longer available online.) In: Südwest Presse Online . Tauber-Zeitung , Bad Mergentheim, December 18, 2009, formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 23, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
7. ↑ ^{a b} Reinhold Würth receives Emil Beck Memorial Prize. Main-Post , October 6, 2011, accessed on March 23, 2013 (only excerpts freely available). 
8. ↑ Fencing: The final hall in the Olympic base has been named after the legendary fencing trainer Emil Beck since yesterday / IOC President Dr. Bach and Beck's son René unveil a stele / a visionary with specific objectives. Fränkische Nachrichten , July 21, 2015, accessed on October 31, 2015 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} NTV: Emil Beck is dead . Online at www.ntv.de. March 13, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
10. ^ Spiegel Online: When Emil whistles ... Online at www.spiegel.de. October 16, 1989. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
11. ^ Fränkische Nachrichten: Pestalozzi-Halle becomes Emil-Beck-Halle . Online at www.fnweb.de. March 27, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.