Helmut Berndt (athlete)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst Helmut Berndt (born June 17, 1915 in Reichenberg ; † April 30, 1990 in Seesen ) was a German athlete , winter sportsman and sports official .

biography

Ernst Helmut Berndt originally came from the Sudetenland . Even before the Second World War he was active there, initially as a track and field athlete. In 1935 and 1936 he was Sudeten German and Czechoslovakian champions over 400 meter hurdles and represented Czechoslovakia at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

As a displaced person , he settled in Lower Saxony after the war . As a track and field athlete, he became a member of MTV Seesen . Later he switched to winter sports and chose the sport of luge and, within this sport, the single sled. Because of his good performance, he was used in national competitions and in the German national luge team in international competitions. In 1958 he became German champion in single sled. He then took part in the Luge World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1960 and at the age of 40 became world champion in the single and thus the winner of the gold medal .

Berndt also volunteered as a sports official. From 1942 to 1945 he was an athletics specialist in what was then Reichsgau Sudetenland . After the war, Berndt was chairman of the Lower Saxony Bobsleigh and Toboggan Association from 1953 to 1987. From 1955 he was treasurer of the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (International Luge Association) for five years and from 1960 to 1962 and from 1974 to 1980 he was vice-president of the German Bobsleigh and Toboggan Association .

Honors

For winning the gold medal at the 1960 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Berndt was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf by Federal President Heinrich Lübke in 1961. In 1988 he received the Lower Saxony Sports Medal . In addition, Berndt was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Lower Saxony Institute for Sports History in 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Hall of Fame: Dr. Helmut Berndt. Lower Saxony Institute for Sports History V., 2008, accessed January 7, 2020 .
  2. ^ Ernst (Helmut) Berndt in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
  3. ^ Sports report of the federal government of September 26, 1973, printed matter 7/1040.
personal data
SURNAME Berndt, Helmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berndt, Ernst; Berndt, Ernst Helmut (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German athlete, winter athlete and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichenberg
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1990
Place of death Seesen