Frank Wiegand

Frank Wiegand
Frank Wiegand at the GDR Swimming Championships in Leipzig (1968)
Personal information
Surname:	Frank Wiegand
Nation:	German Democratic Republic
Swimming style (s) :	Freestyle, layers
Birthday:	March 15, 1943
Place of birth:	Annaberg
Size:	1.80 m
Medal table

Frank Wiegand (* 15. March 1943 in Annaberg ) is a former GDR - Swimmer of the SC unit Dresden , that of 1960 bis 1968 was one of the world's best freestyle swimmers. At the Olympic Games in 1964 and 1968 he won four silver medals.

Career

Swimming career

Ute Noack and Frank Wiegand, 1962

His most successful year was 1966 : at the European Championships in Utrecht he was a three-time winner and set a new world record in the 400 meter freestyle and a new European record over 400 meters medley on August 25 with 4: 11.1 minutes . For this he was voted GDR Sportsman of the Year in the same year .

Further sporting successes

• 1959 - GDR champion for the first time on the 400 meter freestyle course
• 1960 - Olympic Games in Rome : Seventh with the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay; three GDR records
• 1962 - European Championship in Leipzig : Third in the 400 meter freestyle; Winner with the 4 × 100 meter layer relay (with Jürgen Dietze , Egon Henninger and Horst-Günter Gregor )
• 1964 - Three silver medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo : 400 meter freestyle, 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay (with Horst Löffler , Uwe Jacobsen and Hans-Joachim Klein ), 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay (with Horst-Günther Gregor, Gerhard Hetz , Hans -Joachim Klein)
• 1966 - European Championship in Utrecht: Winner of the 400 meter freestyle, 400 meter medley, 4 × 100 meter freestyle (with Udo Poser , Horst-Günter Gregor and Peter Sommer ); Silver medal over 4 × 200 meter freestyle (with Horst-Günter Gregor, Alfred Müller , Udo Poser) and over 4 × 100 meter medley (with Jürgen Dietze, Egon Henninger and Horst-Günther Gregor).
• 1967 - World record over 4 × 100 meters in 3: 56.5 minutes (Leipzig, November 7th )
• 1968 - Olympic Games in Mexico City : Silver medal over 4 × 100 meter medley (with Roland Matthes , Egon Henninger and Horst-Günter Gregor)

Further career

Frank Wiegand studied sports science and after the end of his active career became head swimming coach of the ASK Potsdam . He was later transferred and worked on the federal executive committee of the GDR trade unions FDGB . After the end of the GDR, he started his own business as a real estate agent. He lives in Zeuthen near Berlin .

Awards (selection)

• 1962 and 1964: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver
• 1968: Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold

Web links

• Frank Wiegand in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Current photo of Frank Wiegand ( memento from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (on the website of the company FW-Immobilien Wiegand)