Fritz Hünenberger

Fritz Hünenberger (born March 14, 1897 in Riehen , Canton Basel , Switzerland ; † August 30, 1976 ) was a Swiss weightlifter . He won a silver medal in the light heavyweight division at both the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp and the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris .

Career

Fritz Hünenberger began weightlifting as a young man at the Riehen strength training club . In contrast to most of the weightlifters of those years, whose performance was based on strength, he was a fast-strength athlete who soon showed outstanding performance in snatching and pushing. Especially in the one-armed disciplines that were common at the time (one-armed tearing left and right as well as one-armed pushing left and right) he achieved enormous achievements and also set world records in these. His weakness was the two-armed pushing, a pure exercise of strength. This weakness cost him even greater success than what he had already achieved.

His successful career began by winning the 1919 German championship in a pentathlon in the light heavyweight division.

In 1920 Fritz Hünenberger started again in the light heavyweight division at the Olympic Games in Antwerp. A three-way battle was fought there, consisting of one-armed snatch, one-armed pushing and two-armed pushing. He achieved 277.5 kg and won the silver medal with this performance behind Frenchman Ernest Cadine , who lifted 290 kg.

In 1921 Fritz Hünenberger defeated the French champion of that year Emil Höbaux, who only reached 336 kg, in a four-way fight in the light heavyweight division in Paris in Paris. He achieved a world record in the one-armed tear on the left with 85 kg. In the same year he was also European light heavyweight champion in Offenbach (Main) ahead of the Germans Josef Münch and First Sick. He also became Swiss middleweight champion in 1921 , scoring 480 kg in a pentathlon that consisted of one-armed tearing on the right, one-armed tearing on the left, one-armed pushing on the right, one-armed pushing on the left and two-armed pushing.

In 1922 Fritz Hünenberger took 2nd place at the German Fighting Games in Berlin in the light heavyweight pentathlon with 475 kg behind Johann Scherz from the Athleten Club Stöhr Vienna , who came to 485 kg.

In 1923 he started for VfK 1886 Mannheim in the heavyweight division and became German team champion with this club. In the final, SC Roland Hamburg was defeated.

At the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924, Fritz Hünenberger started again in the light heavyweight division. There he reached 490 kg in a pentathlon. In the course of this competition he achieved a new world record in the one-armed push on the right with 107.5 kg. After four of the five exercises, Hünenberger was just 2.5 kg ahead of the Frenchman Charles Rigoulot . Rigoulot overtook Hünenberger with an outstanding two-arm push of 140 kg. Hünenberger only achieved 125 kg in this discipline and thus won the silver medal again.

In 1925 Fritz Hünenberger became Swiss heavyweight champion in the pentathlon and achieved another world record in this competition in the one-armed push on the right in an additional attempt with 113.5 kg. At times, Fritz Hünenberger also held the world records in the one-armed snatch on the left in the heavyweight division with 87.5 kg and in the one-armed push on the left in the light heavyweight division with 95 kg. The time and place of these services are not known.

In 1926 he was again Swiss heavyweight champion in the pentathlon. Then he ended his successful career.

successes

year	space	competition	Competition type	Weight class	Results
1919	1.	German championship	Pentathlon (FK1)	Semi-difficult	with 447.5 kg, ahead of Hermann Schwind, Oggersheim, 440 kg and Anton Rieker, Eislingen, 425 kg
1920	silver	OS in Antwerp	Triathlon (DK1)	Semi-difficult	with 277.5 kg (75-90-112.5), behind Ernest Cadine , France, 290 kg (70-90-135), in front of Erik Pettersson (weightlifter), Sweden , 272.5 kg (62.5-92 , 5-112.5)
1921	1.	International match between France and Switzerland in Paris	Four-way fight (VK1)	Semi-difficult	with 360 kg (80-85-75-120), in front of Emil Höbaux, 336 kg (67.5-72.5-84.5-111.5)
1921	1.	European Championship in Offenbach (Main)	Four-way fight (VK1)	Semi-difficult	before Josef Münch, 345 kg and Ernst Sick, 342.5 kg, both Germany
1921	1.	Swiss championship	Pentathlon (FK3)	medium	with 480 kg (85-80-105-95-115), ahead of Andre Roth, Biel, 375 kg
1922	2.	German fighting games in Berlin	Pentathlon (FK2)	Semi-difficult	with 475 kg (85-105-75-90-129), behind Johann Scherz, AC Stöhr Vienna, 485 kg (75-90-100-90-130), in front of Eugen Becke, AC Hannibal Vienna, 450 kg (70- 80-87.5-87.5-125)
1923	1.	German team championship	DK1	Heavy	Victory with VfK 1886 Mannheim in the final over SC Roland Hamburg
1924	silver	OS in Paris	FK2	Semi-difficult	with 490 kg (89-107.5-80-97.5-125), behind Charles Rigoulot , France, 502.5 kg (87.5-92.5-85-102.5-140), in front of Leopold Friedrich (Weightlifter) , Austria , 490 kg (75-95-95-95-130)
1925	1.	Swiss championship	FK2	Heavy	with 515 kg (87.5-112.5-85-100-130)
1926	1.	Swiss championship	FK2	Heavy	with 512.5 kg

Explanations

• Middle weight, at that time weight class up to 75 kg, light heavy weight, up to 82.5 kg and heavyweight, over 82.5 kg body weight
• DK1 = three-way fight consisting of one-armed snatch, one-armed pushing and two-armed pushing
• VK1 = four-way fight consisting of one-armed tearing on the right, one-armed tearing on the left, two-armed pressing and two-armed pushing
• FK1 = pentathlon, individual disciplines not known,
• FK2 = pentathlon consisting of one-armed snatching, one-armed pushing, two-armed pushing, two-armed snatching and two-armed pushing
• FK3 = pentathlon consisting of one-armed tearing on the right, one-armed tearing on the left, one-armed pushing on the right, one-armed pushing on the left and two-armed pushing

literature

• Athletics . No. 47/1933, p. 2 and No. 24/1951, p. 2.
• Lifting is part of life. Anniversary publication of the German Weightlifting Association on the 100th anniversary of weightlifting in Germany, published by the Bundesverband Deutscher Weightlifter, 1991, DNB 1008300365 , p. 5 of the appendix
• Ernst August Kampmann: From the history of German strength sports. Editor of the Association of Old Athletes in Germany. 1950, OCLC 1069840160 , pp. 136 and 148
• Wiener Sporttageblatt . and Illustrated Österreichisches Sportblatt . (Vienna), digitized editions at www.anno.ac.at

Web links

• Fritz Hünenberger in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Fritz Hünenberger at TOP Olympic Lifters of the 20th Century