Hermann Goerner

Hermann Görner (born April 13, 1891 in Hänichen near Leipzig ; † June 29, 1956 in Wunstorf near Hanover ) was a German weightlifter and professional strength athlete.

Career

Görner grew up in Leipzig and started doing strength exercises and weightlifting at the age of 10. He joined the 1st Leipzig Athletes Club from 1892 and later the SC Atlas Leipzig . In 1911 he founded the Atlas Trio with his brother Otto and Otto Brauer , which was later renamed the Strongfort Trio (after Lionel Strongfort , a German strength athlete and body building trainer). This trio performed as acrobats in the Saxon region.

Before he became a professional athlete in 1920, Hermann Görner took part in several weightlifting championships. In 1911 he is said to have finished second at a European heavyweight championship in Leipzig. However, there are only vague sources about this event. But his 3rd place at the German heavyweight championship in 1913 in Kassel is secured . He took 3rd place in the pentathlon with 520 kg behind Paul Trappen from Trier (552.5 kg) and Karl Mörke from Cologne (550 kg). He achieved the following individual performances: one-armed tearing: 77.5 kg, one-armed pushing: 92.5 kg, two-armed pushing: 100 kg, two-armed tearing: 105 kg and two-arm pushing: 145 kg.

In 1913 he took 4th place behind Josef Grafl u at the World Heavyweight Championships in Breslau . Berthold Tandler , both Austria and Jan Krause , Russia .

During the First World War , Hermann Görner was seriously wounded and lost an eye .

In 1919 Hermann Görner finally took second place at the German championship in Munich in the pentathlon with 510 kg behind Karl Mörke, who became world champion in 1920 , and in front of Josef Straßberger from Munich, who was to become Olympic champion in 1928 . On April 4, 1920 there was a comparison match between Görner and Mörke in the pentathlon in the Leipzig Congress Hall at the zoo. Both athletes had prepared themselves excellently for this prestigious duel and achieved phenomenal performances for the time. Hermann Görner won this fight and achieved the following achievements: one-armed snatch: 90 kg, one-armed pushing: 112.5 kg, two-armed pushing: 110 kg, both-armed pulling: 125 kg and two-armed pushing: 160 kg, total performance: 597.5 kg, in addition, there was a two-handed deadlift in which he reached 300 kg. Karl Mörke achieved the following performances: one-armed snatch: 75 kg, one-armed pushing: 100 kg, two-armed pushing: 120 kg, two-armed pulling: 110 kg and two-arm pushing: 155 kg, total performance: 560 kg. He deadlifted 240 kg. The total performance of Hermann Görner in the pentathlon of 597.5 kg was a world best at that time. In the following years this performance was not achieved by any other athlete in the world. The last major pentathlon competition took place in 1934 at the German Fighting Games in Nuremberg , won by Paul Wahl from Möhringen , who scored 545 kg. Since no more pentathlon competitions have been held since 1934, Hermann Görner's best performance in the world is likely to continue today (2020).

As an amateur, Hermann Görner set a German record in two-armed tearing with 123 kg, which was only exceeded by Paul Wahl in 1934. In two-armed pushing with free repositioning, he achieved a German record on April 26, 1911 with 152 kg. On October 26, 1919, he achieved 160 kg in a two-armed push and on November 16, 1919 165 kg. Both lifts were above the then valid German record of Hermann Gäßler , who hit 157.5 kg on April 12, 1912. Hermann Görner's last two records in pushing were not recognized by the German Amateur Heavy Athletics Association (DASV v. 1891) because Hermann Görner's Atlas Leipzig was part of the German Workers' Athlete Association from February 6, 1919 to March 31, 1920 belonged to. In Germany, 165 kg was only achieved again in 1936 by Heinz Schattner , Berlin (later TSV 1860 Munich) and only exceeded in 1939 by Olympic champion Josef Manger , Freising , with 168 kg.

Hermann Görner as a professional athlete

Hermann Görner became a professional athlete in 1921 and initially appeared in Germany as a strength athlete. Engagements in Great Britain and especially in South Africa soon followed . In South Africa he also met his wife Elisie Jwifel, whom he built into his program. He appeared in variety theaters and especially in circuses.

He showed many special strength exercises and impressive shows, such as wrestling with a small elephant or carrying a bridge construction on his back, over which a passenger car with six people drove.

Hermann Görner achieved the following achievements during his amateur and professional time, which can be compared with the achievements of today's weightlifters and powerlifters:

Competitive weightlifting exercises

• 104 kg, one-armed tearing right,
• 90 kg, one-armed tearing left,
• 120 kg, one-armed push right with free transfer,
• 100 kg, one-armed pushing left with free transfer,
• 135 kg, two-armed tearing,
• 110 kg, both armed pushing with free transfer,
• 177 kg, pushing with both arms with free transfer ( Charles Rigoulot held the official world record with 182.5 kg)

Free power performance

• 330 kg, one-armed lifting from the floor from the cross on the right (October 8, 1920 in Leipzig). This achievement was and is (as of 2012) still a world record,
• 250.5 kg, one-armed lifting from the floor from the cross on the left,
• 376.5 kg, lifting from the floor with both arms from the cross in a double grip (on August 18, 1933 in Leipzig). This achievement was a world record,
• 360 kg, two-armed lifting from the floor from the cross in the grip (on October 29, 1920 in Leipzig). This achievement was a world record in picking up,
• 200 kg, two-arm repositioning at two tempos,
• 139.75 kg, free one-armed transfer right,
• 110 kg, tearing in both arms in the final position (without kneeling)

Circus numbers (debts)

• 875.5 kg, pole with 11 men hanging on it, carried 5 paces across the shoulders (February 20, 1920 in Leipzig)
• 655 kg, concert grand piano carried 16 m on the back in transport box (June 2, 1921 in Leipzig)
• 1,870.2 kg, post with 24 men seated on it, held in prone position on upright feet for 15 seconds (October 12, 1927 in London)
• 1,770 kg, car with 6 people that drives over a bridge, held upright with the shoulders (in Leipzig, Berlin and for the last time in Hamburg on June 18, 1922)
• 190.05 kg in four round weights brought with both arms by swinging and swinging from the ground to the high track (July 25, 1920 in Dresden)
• Holding 100 kg in two round weights and thus running 100 meters in 18.4 seconds (June 2, 1912 in Leipzig)

Next life

In 1929 Hermann Görner injured his right hand. As a result, he could no longer train specifically and no longer perform many exercises. But until the end of 1939 he still performed as a strength athlete in circuses. During the National Socialist rule he is said to have been briefly imprisoned in a concentration camp . After 1945 he lived impoverished and largely forgotten in Germany near Wunstorf near Hanover. His wife died there in 1949.

Today Hermann Görner's achievements are fully recognized again, especially in Great Britain and the United States, and he himself is celebrated as a great pioneer of powerlifting .

Dimensions

Hermann Görner weighed around 120 kg and was 1.83 m tall. His chest circumference was approx. 135 cm, the upper arm circumference 48 cm, thigh circumference 70 cm and the lower leg circumference 46 cm.

swell

• Trade journal Athletik Numbers 9/1931, page 2, 7/1950, page 5 and 9/1967, p. 22.

Web links

• Reports about Hermann Görner in Engl. language
• Werner Kolter: Early bodybuilders. My great uncle, the strongest man in the world. In: one day on Spiegel-Online from October 5, 2014