Hans-Peter Thomas

Hans-Peter Thomas (born January 16, 1936 in Magdeburg ; † March 13, 2018 there ) was a German boxing trainer and former amateur boxer.

Thomas was one of the best amateur boxing coaches in the world. During his coaching career, Hans-Peter Thomas led and looked after 162 participants at continental and world championships as well as continental and Olympic Games . These athletes won a total of 15 gold, 25 silver and 40 bronze medals.

Amateur and coaching career

Hans-Peter Thomas was associated with boxing from his youth. In his 10-year active boxer career between 1949 and 1959, he carried out a total of 180 competitions and won 139 amateur fights. Of his 40 international battles, he made 32 victorious, some of them also in the national team of the GDR. Outstanding was his victory against the Soviet Olympic champion of 1956 and three-time European champion Vladimir "Volodja" Nikolayevich Jengibarjan .

After completing his sports studies with a state examination, he was equipped with practical skills and abilities as well as knowledge of training methodology for his coaching career, which began in 1959.

In the years 1960 to 1964 Hans-Peter Thomas succeeded in making SC Aufbau Magdeburg the best sports club in the GDR with a youth / junior department of the German Boxing Association of the GDR (DBV).

In 1964, Hans-Peter Thomas was appointed head trainer of the "Experimental Course" at ASK Berlin by DBV . On September 1, 1965, Hans-Peter Thomas took over responsibility for the development of young talent and for the progress of the junior national team as the association coach of the DBV of the GDR. After long and hard work, he had built a very successful national team of juniors, the individual members of which later grew into world-famous boxers.

Hans-Peter Thomas was appointed head coach of the Federation and the national team of the GDR in 1970. He held this position until March 31, 1978. During this busy but also successful time, the boxers he supervised achieved remarkable results: In 74 international matches (30 in the GDR, 44 abroad) against 21 countries in Europe, Africa and America, 52 team wins and 5 draws with 17 defeats were achieved. In 32 international tournaments in the GDR and abroad, in which he participated and led the athletes, they won 121 final places, including 56 tournament wins and 65 silver medals.

At 4 European championships from 1971 to 1977, the GDR's national boxing team won a total of 4 titles, 10 silver and 6 bronze medals as well as 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in the national rankings of the 27 participating countries. At the 1st World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana / Cuba, they achieved 3 × bronze and 3rd place in the nation ranking.

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , Hans-Peter Thomas led Peter Tiepold to the bronze medal, in 1976 in Montreal / Canada Jochen Bachfeld to the Olympic victory and Richard Novakowski to the silver medal. The team took 3rd place in the national ranking. As an association trainer, Hans-Peter Thomas was able to significantly influence the development of internationally known amateur boxers such as the European champions Ottomar Sachse , Ulrich Beyer , Stefan Förster , Richard Novakowski and vice-European champions Bernd Wittenburg , Jürgen Fanghänel , Karl-Heinz Krüger and Christian Zornow.

As chairman of the youth commission (1965–1970) and the coaching council of the boxing association of the GDR (1970–1978), Hans-Peter Thomas was responsible for the development of the training method concepts of these years. Under his direction, 45 practical and theoretical training courses for trainers and trainers of all categories were carried out in the districts and sports clubs of the GDR. For several years he was responsible for the training methodical and practical boxing training of students at the DHfK Leipzig (German University for Physical Culture) Magdeburg branch (3 years), the Potsdam University of Education (2 years) and the Magdeburg University of Education (2 years). In 1979 and 1980, Hans-Peter Thomas supported the DHfK “Martial Arts” department with theoretical and practical lessons in the implementation of courses for developing countries. As an association trainer, Hans-Peter Thomas took on the management and implementation of 80 training and preparation courses for athletes in the GDR and abroad (4 × USSR, 1 × Cuba, 5 × Hungary, 6 × Bulgaria, 1 × Algeria, 3 × Poland and 2 × in Romania). In 1974 and 1982, Hans-Peter Thomas was commissioned by the management of the DTSB to carry out trainer courses in Uganda (36 participants from 21 African countries) and in the Netherlands. These experiences should have a decisive influence on his later professional future.

From April 1, 1978 to April 30, 1986, Hans-Peter Thomas was trainer and head coach of TSC Berlin . During this time he was able to develop the athletes Herbert Bauch into bronze medalist at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Werner Kohler into Vice European Champion 1978 in Cologne and Manfred Trauten into third place at the European Championship. In 1985 Hans-Peter Thomas prepared the national teams from Zambia and Cameroon for the championships in Central Africa.

On May 1, 1986, the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation of the GDR (DTSB) appointed Hans-Peter Thomas as coach for abroad. The DTSB sent Hans-Peter Thomas to Pakistan in 1986 to prepare the national team and to take part in the Asian Games in Seoul / Korea. The then President of Pakistan Mohammed Zia-Ul-Haq and the later President of the International Boxing Association (IBA), Prof. Anwar Chowdhry, paid tribute to his successful work. After his return from Pakistan, Hans-Peter Thomas worked for the new AIBA office in Berlin under the direction of Secretary General Karl-Heinz Wehr. Hans-Peter Thomas wrote an extensive textbook for the AIBA on the design of the methodical instructions in the courses of "Olympic Solidarity" in order to make "Olympic Boxing" effective for all AIBA member countries. The textbook was written in English and then translated into French and Spanish. This was followed by 2 missions for the AIBA in the sense of Olympic solidarity in Niamey / Niger and Kinshasa / Kongo (former Zaire).

In 1988 Hans-Peter Thomas prepared the athletes of the Kuwait Boxing Association for the Olympic Games in Seoul / Korea. This was followed by around 2½ years as national coach of Kuwait , which was ended in August 1990 when the Iraqi army attacked Kuwait. Hans-Peter Thomas was stuck in Baghdad for 100 days and was not allowed to leave Iraq . Even the AIBA did not succeed despite many attempts to free him through the National Olympic Committee and the Boxing Association of Iraq. It was not until the former German Chancellor Willy Brand - shortly before the start of the war - that 177 hostages (including 126 German nationals), including Hans-Peter Thomas, were taken from the clutches of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain .

After returning to Germany and the dissolution of the DTSB as a result of German reunification , further assignments by the AIBA to New Zealand and Sri Lanka followed in 1991 . Hans-Peter Thomas prepared the Sri Lankan national team for the South Asia Federation Games. With 3 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals, the performance expectations were exceeded by far. Attentive to these successes, followed in 1992 the preparation for and then the leadership of the national team of Tunisia during their participation in the Olympic Games in Barcelona .

In 1994 Hans-Peter Thomas created the video instructional film "Olympic-Style Boxing Nowadays" for the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA). The English-language instructional film, which was specially intended for the boxing associations of the "Third World", shows the training of "Olympic boxing" from beginners to winners of Olympic medals. The instructional video made the associations familiar with advanced training methods and helped in the development of Olympic boxing.

After further courses in Pakistan , Albania , Fiji and Malawi from 1992 to 1994, training and further education for trainers followed in Taichung / Taiwan in July 1995 . After the successful completion of the training, the National Olympic Committee and Chinese Taipei Amateur Boxing Association (CTABA) asked Hans-Peter Thomas whether he could prepare their boxers for the Asian Championships for three months as the national coach of the Public of China. The reason for the planned appointment was that the CTABA has been in existence since 1973, but none of its boxers had ever won a single medal at continental or world championships. The CTABA had taken over the organization of the 8th Asian Championships under 19 in Taiwan. That is why they were looking for an experienced international trainer who could raise the level of their boxers in a relatively short time in order to win medals. A total of 13 countries took part in the Asian Championship. The boxers from Chinese Taipei opened a new chapter in this championship when, coming out of nowhere, they made their dreams come true and, under the supervision of Hans-Peter Thomas, came in 3rd with one gold, five silver and two bronze medals advanced in the nation standings, leaving prominent boxing countries like Korea, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Mongolia and others behind. To top it off, the gold medalist, Hsieh Min Pu, was also named the tournament's best boxer.

From October 29th to 30th, 1996, Hans-Peter Thomas held his last course in Canberra / Australia in terms of Olympic solidarity.

Overall, Hans-Peter Thomas worked as a trainer abroad for practical and theoretical training on 56 courses in 27 countries on 5 continents. In addition, the boxers he supervised fought in competitions and games, international tournaments and fights 7 × in 7 African countries, 2 × in Asian countries, 3 × in American countries and 47 × in 14 European countries.

On December 31, 1996, Hans-Peter Thomas ended his career as a boxing trainer.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Volksstimme Magdeburg. Retrieved March 21, 2018 . 
2. ^ Arete Verlag: Boxing in the GDR The history of the boxing association of the GDR . 1st, first edition edition. Hildesheim 2017, ISBN 978-3-942468-80-0 .
3. ↑ On the history of amateur boxing in Germany - 1976 - The Olympic year. Superboxer.de, accessed on March 20, 2018 . 
4. ↑ On the history of amateur boxing in Germany - 1975 - a sporting year like any other. Superboxer.de, accessed on March 20, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Dominik Reinle (le): November 5th, 2010 - 20 years ago: Willy Brandt sets out on a Geisel mission . November 5, 2010 ( online [accessed March 20, 2018]).
6. ↑ Hans-Peter Thomas: Ambassador of the amateur boxing sport on five continents .
7. ↑ www.sporton.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 21, 2018 ; accessed on March 20, 2018 . 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.