Jürgen Straub

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the Swiss psychologist, social scientist and cultural scientist, see Jürgen Straub (psychologist) .

Jürgen Straub (May 1978)

Jürgen Straub (* 3. November 1953 in Weitersroda ) is a former GDR - athlete and Olympic medalist, who in the 1980 's to the world's top middle distance runners belonged.

Career

He was a member of the ASK Vorwärts Potsdam , his trainer was Bernd Dießner . With a height of 1.82 m, he had a competition weight of 62 kg.

Olympic silver medal 1980

With his second place in the 1,500 meter run at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , Jürgen Straub caused a sensation: The British Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett , who had dominated the middle distance for several years, were the clear favorites for victory, but Straub was able to win push between them in the final spurt (behind Coe in front of Ovett). Because no other runner could decide to take the lead, Straub had led for a long time. 300 meters from the finish, he took up the sprint that Ovett could no longer follow. The run became one of the highlights of the Olympic Games that year and has been described in great detail in newspapers and books since then. For winning the silver medal, Straub was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze.

Jürgen Straub fought a year-long duel with the West German Thomas Wessinghage, which, however, did not materialize in 1980 because of the boycott of the Olympic Games by the Federal Republic of Germany at the Olympics.

Shortly after his Olympic success, Jürgen Straub ended his athletic career due to hip problems due to joint wear. He became a qualified sports teacher and trainer at his former sports club. After the end of the GDR he lost his job. He worked briefly for a sporting goods manufacturer and worked in the insurance industry. In his private life he married the sports teacher Cornelia Straub, with whom he had two children, Alexander and Juliane .

Jürgen Straub is also the chief organizer of the Prussian Mile , which is held every year in Potsdam. He is currently the leading sports and physiotherapist in the rehabilitation and health sports club (recabic-TRAINING) within the outpatient rehabilitation department of the specialist orthopedic hospital, Oberlinklinik, in Potsdam-Babelsberg.

More Achievements

• 1975: 3000 meter obstacle course: 8: 19.8 min on June 26th in Oslo. In this race, Straub pulled the Swede Anders Gärderud to a new world record of 8: 10.4 minutes
• 1977: World Cup third in the 1500 meter run with a GDR record (3: 37.5 min) behind Steve Ovett and Thomas Wessinghage
• 1978: GDR record in the 1500 meter run in 3: 36.1 min (East Berlin)
• 1979: 1500 meter runs: Victory at the European Cup in Turin (3: 40.7 min); World Cup third (3: 46.30 min); 3: 33.68 min on August 31, 1979 in Potsdam (GDR record); 800 meter run: European Cup winner (1: 47.1 min)

literature

• Coe, Sebastian; Miller, David: Running free (German), 1988, ISBN 3-89124-055-4 (including description of the 1980 Olympic 1500 meter run)

Web links

Commons : Jürgen Straub  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , August 22, 1980, p. 3