John Balfanz

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John Balfanz Ski jumping
Full name John Carlyle Balfanz
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday June 23, 1940
place of birth Minneapolis ,  USAUnited StatesUnited States 
date of death November 11, 1991
Place of death Littleton ,  USAUnited StatesUnited States 
Career
society Minneapolis Ski Club
National squad since 1960
Pers. Best 130.15 meters
Ski jumping world cup / A class jumping
 Four Hills Tournament 4. ( 1962/63 )
 

John Carlyle Balfanz (born June 23, 1940 in Minneapolis , † November 11, 1991 in Littleton , Colorado ) was an American ski jumper .

Career

Ski jumping career

Balfanz got on skis for the first time at the age of six and began actively to ski jumping. Just a year later, he won his first competition. At the age of 15 he won the Central American Junior Championships. From 1957 to 1959 he enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed in Fort Carson and later in Karlsruhe . Therefore, he could not qualify for the 1960 Winter Olympics .

At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Zakopane in 1962 , he reached 60th place on the normal hill and 32nd place on the large hill. In December 1962, he started the Four Hills Tournament 1962/63 with a seventh place in Oberstdorf . In the end, after finishing sixth and fifth and a third place in Bischofshofen, he finished fourth in the overall ranking. Because of this success, Balfanz was fourth in the ski jumping world rankings in the 1962/63 season . He was unable to build on this success for the 1963/64 tour , but nevertheless reached eighth place in the overall ranking and thus qualified for the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck . After a 10th place on the normal hill, he was able to reach 41st place on the large hill. At the Four Hills Tournament 1964/65 Balfanz only started in Oberstdorf and only reached 33rd place there. In 1965 he jumped 99 meters on the Pine Mountain Jump in Iron Mountain , Michigan, a US record. For the Four Hills Tournament in 1965/66 Balfanz started again in all jumping competitions, but he was denied a top placement. Despite the failure, he was part of the squad for the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo in 1966 , where he reached 26th place on the normal hill and 16th on the large hill.

At the Four Hills Tournament in 1967/68 , Balfanz only landed in the lower ranks and remained without a place in the overall standings. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he also achieved mediocre placements with 33rd place on the normal hill and 42nd place on the large hill. Because he sustained a serious injury at the Olympic Games, he then had to end his career.

End of career and suicide

After his career, he was still the best American ski jumper to date and was therefore inducted into the US National Ski Hall of Fame in 1980 and into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame in 1989 . In 1988 Balfanz began his fight against the Walmart retail group . During a trade fair in Denver , he accused Walmart of endangering people's lives through increased price pressure. At that time, Balfanz was regional sales manager at the glove manufacturer Wells Lamont Corp. However, he lost that job after the Denver incident. An Adams County court awarded Balfanz $ 750,000 in compensation, but a judge ordered a retrial. Balfanz never received the money. In October 1991 the house of Balfanz and his wife was auctioned and Balfanz and his wife were asked to leave the house on the day after Christmas. On November 11, 1991, Balfanz walked into Walmart on Quebec Street in Littleton , Colorado , and presented the seller with a six-page letter instructing him to read it. He then shot himself in the head with a pistol. Balfanz was dead instantly.

successes

Four Hills Tournament placements

season space Points
1962/63 4th 801
1963/64 8th. 825

Hill records

place country Expanse set up on Record up
Iron Mountain United StatesUnited States United States 99.0 m
( HS : 130 m)		 1965 1968

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1962 Nordic World Championships - Special Jumping 60m Hill ( English ) skijump-db.net. Archived from the original on May 10, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  2. ↑ 1962 Nordic World Championships - Special Jumping 90m Hill ( English ) skijump-db.net. Archived from the original on May 10, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  3. ^ Ski Jumping at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games: Men's Normal Hill, Individual ( English ) Sports-Reference.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ Ski Jumping at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games: Men's Large Hill, Individual ( English ) Sports-Reference.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ 1966 Nordic World Championships - Special Jumping 70m Hill ( English ) skijump-db.net. Archived from the original on September 13, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ 1966 Nordic World Championships - Special Jumping 90m Hill ( English ) skijump-db.net. Archived from the original on November 15, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  7. ^ Ski Jumping at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games: Men's Normal Hill, Individual ( English ) Sports-Reference.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  8. ^ Ski Jumping at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games: Men's Large Hill, Individual ( English ) Sports-Reference.org. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  9. ↑ John Balfanz (deceased) ( English ) US National Ski Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ Despondent former ski jumper kills self . In: Ellensburg Daily Record . November 13, 1991, p. 6 .. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Balfanz, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balfanz, John Carlyle (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ski jumper
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Minneapolis , Minnesota , United States
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1991
Place of death Littleton , Colorado , United States