Gerd Hessler

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Gerd Hessler Cross-country skiing
nation Germany Democratic Republic 1949GDR German Democratic Republic
birthday 13th September 1948 (age 71)
place of birth Tannenbergsthal / Vogtl. ,  GermanyGermany 1946Germany 1945 to 1949 
size 169 cm
Weight 64 kg
Career
society SC Dynamo Klingenthal
National squad since 1969
status resigned
Medal table
World Cup medals 1 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
National medals 11 × gold 9 × silver 3 × bronze
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
silver 1970 Vysoké Tatry Season
gold 1974 Falun Season
GDR ski championships
gold 1969 Oberwiesenthal Season
silver 1969 Oberwiesenthal 30 km
silver 1970 Brotterode Season
bronze 1970 Brotterode 30 km
gold 1971 Johanngeorgenstadt Season
silver 1971 Johanngeorgenstadt 30 km
silver 1973 Schmiedefeld Season
silver 1973 Schmiedefeld 30 km
silver 1973 Schmiedefeld 50 km
gold 1974 Klingenthal Season
bronze 1974 Klingenthal 15 km
gold 1975 Oberwiesenthal Season
gold 1975 Oberwiesenthal 40 km
gold 1976 Lauscha Season
gold 1976 Lauscha 15 km
silver 1976 Lauscha 30 km
silver 1976 Lauscha 50 km
gold 1977 Oberwiesenthal Season
gold 1977 Oberwiesenthal 30 km
gold 1978 Schmiedefeld Season
bronze 1978 Zinnwald 50 km
gold 1979 Oberhof Season
silver 1979 Oberhof 30 km
 

Gerd Heßler (born September 13, 1948 in Tannenbergsthal / Vogtl. ) Is a former German cross-country skier . His greatest success was winning the world title with the 1974 season.

Career

Heßler, who started for SC Dynamo Klingenthal , celebrated his first junior successes at national level in the 1960s. For the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble he was nominated as a substitute, but was not used. In 1969 he was accepted into the national team of the GDR and at the GDR ski championships in 1969 in Oberwiesenthal , he won the runner-up title in the opening race over 30 km behind his club colleague Gert-Dietmar Klause . In the season he won the title together with Rainer Groß , Jürgen Wolf and Gert-Dietmar Klause. The day before he finished sixth over the 15 km distance.

A year later, at the GDR ski championships in 1970 in Brotterode , Heßler won bronze over the 30 km, before finishing fourth over 15 km. He finished fifth over 50 km before taking silver with the relay. A week later, Heßler and the national team went to the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1970 in the High Tatras. In the individual disciplines it was not enough for him to win a medal. In the 4 × 10 km relay race, he and Axel Lesser , Gerhard Grimmer and Gert-Dietmar Klause won the silver medal behind the Soviet team.

The GDR ski championships in 1971 in Johanngeorgenstadt began for Heßler with winning the silver medal over the 30 km individual distance. Over 15 and 50 km he narrowly missed the medal ranks before he secured his second national title with the relay. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo , he finished 25th over the 15 km and 18th place over 30 km. With the season he also missed the medal and ended up sixth. In January and February 1973, Heßler secured three silver medals over 30 km, 50 km and with the relay at the 1973 GDR ski championships in Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig .

At the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1974 , Heßler secured his first and only world championship title with the relay after silver in 1970. In the 15 km individual race, Heßler did not get past 15th place. Even before the world championship he won medals again in his home town of Klingenthal , in addition to winning the 2nd Kammlauf, in the GDR ski championships in 1974 . After winning bronze over 15 km behind Grimmer and Klause, he secured the title over 4 × 10 km again together with Dieter Meinel , Volker Kunzmann and Gert-Dietmar Klause. A year later in Oberwiesenthal, Heßler secured not only the relay gold but also an individual medal and won the long-distance race, which was shortened to 40 km due to poor weather conditions. Heßler also celebrated successes at the dress rehearsal before the Olympics, the GDR ski championships in 1976 in Lauscha . For the first time he won a medal in all four cross-country competitions.

At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , Heßler was unable to prove his good performance from previous years and only finished 28th over 15 and 30 km. In the relay race over 4 × 10 km, Heßler was the starting runner and completed his part in second and handed over to the second runner Axel Lesser in a promising position. In one descent he collided with a woman and had to give up the race with injuries and severe pain. The incident later sparked discussions, especially in the GDR, since, according to Lesser and other athletes, it was a Russian supervisor, but the GDR sports management spoke - probably for political reasons - of a tourist from Austria or West Germany.

One year after the incident at the Olympic Games, Heßler achieved further national successes at the GDR ski championships in 1977 in Oberwiesenthal. He won again with the Klingenthal relay and also secured gold over the 30 km route. In 1978 in Schmiedefeld he secured another gold medal in the relay as well as the bronze medal over the 50 km, which was held in Zinnwald . In the winter of 1978/79 Heßler played his last active winter and won at his last GDR ski championships in 1979 in Oberhof , he won again silver over 30 km. He also secured relay gold one more time.

Private

Heßler married the cross-country skier Monika Debertshäuser , but the marriage was divorced again. After his active career, Heßler began to work as a trainer in Klingenthal and, after his coaching career ended in 1991, opened his own insurance agency in his house on the Aschberg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 29, 1969 p. 8
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of February 1, 1969 p. 4
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 31, 1969. p. 5
  4. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 6, 1970 p. 5
  5. ^ New Germany of February 8, 1970. p. 7
  6. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 12, 1970 p. 7
  7. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 9, 1970 p. 7
  8. ^ Hermann Hansen, Knut Sveen: VM på ski '97. Alt om ski-VM 1925-1997. Adresseavisens Forlag, Trondheim 1996, ISBN 82-7164-044-5 .
  9. ↑ Neues Deutschland from February 20, 1971 p. 8
  10. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 23, 1971 p. 5
  11. ↑ Neues Deutschland from February 2, 1973 p. 8
  12. ↑ Neues Deutschland, January 8, 1973 p. 7
  13. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 5, 1973 p. 7
  14. ↑ a b c The masterpiece of the cross-country skiing relay - Free Press. In: Freiepresse.de. February 20, 2014, accessed September 15, 2015 .
  15. ↑ International Ridge Run - The Results. In: weltcup-klingenthal.de. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 3, 1974. p. 8
  17. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 4, 1974 p. 7
  18. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 30, 1974, p. 6.
  19. ^ Gunnar Meinhardt : Axel Lesser and the riddle about the clash of Innsbruck. In: welt.de . February 7, 2006, accessed September 16, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Ski legend Grimmer puzzles over the tragedy of the season for the 70th time. In: Thuringian General. April 6, 2013, accessed September 15, 2015 .
  21. ↑ Marlen Keß: The accident and the mysterious woman. In: tagesspiegel.de . February 22, 2010, accessed September 16, 2015 .
  22. ↑ Neues Deutschland from February 14, 1977. p. 8
  23. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 11, 1977 p. 5
  24. ↑ Neues Deutschland, February 8, 1978, p. 8.
  25. ↑ Neues Deutschland from December 24, 1977, p. 4.
  26. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 26, 1979, p. 5
  27. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 29, 1979, p. 7
  28. ^ Monika Debertshäuser in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original ), accessed on September 15, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Hessler, Gerd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cross-country skier
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Tannenbergsthal , Germany