Helmut Opschruf

Helmut Opschruf (born July 21, 1909 in Trier ; † March 30, 1992 there ) was a German weightlifter .

Career

Helmut Opschruf only started lifting weights at the age of 16. He belonged to the ASV Trier from 1895 . He was mainly trained by Paul Trappen .

Although Helmut Opschruf was active as a weightlifter until the 1960s, his outstanding achievements and successes were limited to the years 1935 and 1936.

In 1934 he appeared for the first time when he took 6th place at the German Fighting Games in Nuremberg in the middleweight pentathlon with 467.5 kg.

On March 10, 1935, on the occasion of a team fight for the so-called Gaume Championship in Trier in the middleweight division with 146 kg, he set a new world record in two-armed thrusting. The old world record was held by Rudolf Ismayr , the 1932 Olympic champion. In this fight Helmut Opschruf also achieved an excellent performance in the Olympic three-way fight with 342.5 kg.

In the spring of 1936 Helmut Opschruf improved his own world record in two-armed pushing twice. He lifted 147.5 kg on April 19, 1936 in Benneckenstein / Harz and 150.5 kg on May 28, 1936 in Düsseldorf. At the German championship in Essen in 1936 he took second place in the OD with 357.5 kg (100-112.5-145) behind Adolf Wagner from Essen, who weighed 362.5 kg (105-115-142.5) came and even before Rudolf Ismayr from Freising, who achieved 355 kg (110-107.5-137.5).

At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 Helmut Opschruf was not used in the middleweight division, but in the next higher weight class, the light heavyweight division. In this weight class, of course, his chances were lower from the start than in the middleweight division, because he was too light for the light heavyweight division. In Berlin he achieved an OD 355 kg (97.5-110-147.5) and with this performance took an excellent 4th place despite his weight disadvantage. He almost won the bronze medal with his performance, because the German light heavyweight champion Eugen Deutsch from Augsburg acted extremely nervous at this competition in the tear after an attempt with 110 kg that was rated as "invalid" by the international jury and also managed this load in the second attempt Not. Nevertheless, Eugen Deutsch increased to 115 kg in the third attempt and failed again. He was thus in the tear without a valid attempt and should have been eliminated. In response to a protest by the German team management, Eugen Deutsch's first attempt with 110 kg was declared "valid" by the President of the International Weightlifting Association who was actually not responsible for it. Eugen Deutsch then won the silver medal with 365 kg (105-110-150) and Helmut Opschruf had to settle for 4th place.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1936	4th	OS in Berlin	Semi-difficult	with 355 kg (97.5-110-147.5), behind Louis Hostin , France, 372.5 kg (110-117.5-145), Eugen Deutsch, Germany, 365 kg (105-110-150) and Ibrahim Wasif, Egypt, 360 kg (100-110-150)

German championships

year	space	Weight class	Results
1934	6th	medium	with 467.5 kg in the pentathlon; Winner: Rudolf Ismayr, Freising, 510 kg, ahead of Hans Gottschalk, Essen, 495 kg
1936	2.	medium	with 357.5 kg (100-112.5-145) in the OD, behind Adolf Wagner, Essen, 362.5 kg (105-115-142.5) and in front of Rudolf Ismayr, 355 kg (110-107.5- 137.5)

World records

• 146 kg in two-armed pushing on March 10, 1935 in Trier
• 147.5 kg in two-armed pushing on April 19, 1936 in Benneckenstein
• 150.5 kg when pushing with both arms on May 28, 1936 in Düsseldorf

Explanations

• OS = Olympic Games
• OD = Olympic three-way fight, consisting of two-armed pushing, two-armed tearing and two-armed pushing
• FK = pentathlon, consisting of one-armed snatch and one-armed pushing and the exercises of the OD
• Medium weight, weight class up to 75 kg, light weight up to 82.5 kg body weight

literature

• Athletics magazine
• Brochure "Lifting is part of life", published by the Federal Association of German Weightlifters, 1991

Web links

• Helmut Opschruf in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Helmut Opschruf at "Liftup"