Hubert Opperman

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Hubert Opperman (1965)
Road cycling
Oppermann during the Tour de France 1928
Oppermann during the Tour de France 1928
To person
Nickname boxer
Date of birth May 29, 1904
date of death April 24, 1996
nation AustraliaAustralia Australia
discipline Road / train
End of career 1939
Last updated: May 12, 2019
Statue of Opperman in his native Rochester

Sir Hubert Ferdinand "Oppy" Opperman (born May 29, 1904 in Rochester , Victoria , † April 24, 1996 in Knox City , Melbourne ) was an Australian cyclist and politician . He is considered to be one of the greatest sports stars on the fifth continent.

Cycling

Hubert Opperman started cycling at the age of eight when he was a telegram messenger for the post office. At the age of 17 he finished third in a cycling race and won a Malvern Star bike . The owner was so impressed with Opperman that he offered him a job. As a result, Malvern Star became one of Australia's most popular brands because of Opperman's success.

Opperman set over 100 distance records and was Australian road champion four times in 1924, 1926, 1927 and 1929. In 1928 he was voted Europe's athlete of the year by the readers of the French cycling magazine L'Auto and relegated the then French tennis champion Henri Cochet to second place. Oppermann was a specialist in extremely long distance drives. He won the longest race in Australia from Kalgoorlie to Perth over 600 kilometers in 1933. A year later, he won the traditional race from north of the island to the south over 1390 kilometers in Great Britain, setting several course records. In 1936 he won the Brisbaine - Sydney race over 1045 kilometers non-stop. Shortly before the end of his career, he set a 24-hour world record in Paris without a pacemaker and drove 783 kilometers.

In 1928 he had won the Bol d'Or , a 24-hour race in the Velodrome in Paris , and that despite attempts by his rivals to sabotage, so that he finally had to finish the race on his translator's bike. In 1931 he won the Paris-Brest-Paris cycle race over 1166 kilometers in a record time of 48 hours and 23 minutes.

He also took part in six-day races and twice in the Tour de France . In 1928 he was ranked 18th and 1931 12th. During his career, he set a total of 49 Australian records on the track and the road in various disciplines.

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II , Opperman ended his racing career to join the army. However, at the insistence of his wife, he did not give up cycling until he was 90.

politics

In 1949 Hubert Opperman was elected to the Australian Parliament and remained an MP for 17 years. In 1955 he also became a member of the government and subsequently held various ministerial posts. In 1967 he retired from politics and became Australia's first High Commissioner in Malta , where he lived for five years.

Honors

Opperman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953 and Knight Bachelor in 1968. In 1991 he attended the Paris-Brest-Paris centenary celebrations and was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Paris.

The Opperman All Day Trial is held annually in Australia . The Australian "Cyclist of the Year" is awarded the Sir Hubert Opperman Trophy .

The town of Knox City, where Opperman spent the last years of his life, dedicated and named several trails in the village after races that Opperman won. Every year in March, the Oppy Family Run Ride takes place as part of the Knox Festival .

successes

1924
1925
  • AustraliaAustralia Australian Champion - Standing Race
1926
1928
1929
1930
1931
1934

Publications

  • Hubert Ferdinand Opperman: Pedals, Politics and People. Haldane, Sydney 1977, ISBN 0-909918-09-0 .

literature

  • Daniel Oakman: Oppy: The Life of Sir Hubert Opperman . 2018, ISBN 978-1-925556-24-7 .
  • Sandra Lynette Fitzpatrick: Hubert Opperman: A Cycling Sensation Called Oppy . Reed Library-Cardigan Street, 1996, ISBN 978-1-86391-665-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 21/1964 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1964, p. 10-11 .
  2. ^ Association of German cyclists (ed.): Radsport . No. 39/1967 . Deutscher Sportverlag Kurt Stoof, Cologne 1967, p. 17 .


personal data
SURNAME Opperman, Hubert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Opperman, Sir Hubert Ferdinand; Oppy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian cyclist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochester , Victoria , Australia
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1996
Place of death Knox City , Melbourne , Australia