Josy Barthel

athletics
gold	1952	1500 m

Joseph "Josy" Barthel (born April 24, 1927 in Mamer , Luxembourg ; † July 7, 1992 in Luxembourg ) was a Luxembourg athlete and Olympic champion as well as a politician of the Democratic Party (DP).

Life

Athletic career and Olympic champion in 1952

Josy Barthel's first great success as an athlete he celebrated with the gold medal in the 800-meter run at the 1947 Military World Championships in Berlin . At the next military world championships in Brussels , he won the 800-meter run and the 1500-meter run .

At the XIV Olympic Games in London in 1948 , he reached the final in the 1500 meter run, but was only able to achieve 9th place. Then he won the student world championships in 1949 over 1500 meters and in 1951 over 800 meters and 1500 meters.

At the XV. At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki he started out as a blatant outsider for the international press, but after his victories in the preliminary and semi-finals he was suddenly a candidate for a medal and it was to be the absolute highlight of his sporting career. With a phenomenal final sprint, he won the 1500 meter run in 3: 45.2 minutes ahead of the American Bob McMillen (silver) and the German Werner Lueg (bronze). At that time, that time meant an Olympic record .

Barthel also took part in the XVI. Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 , but could not win a medal. Then he ended his sporting career. From 1946 to 1956 he was also Luxembourg champion eleven times in a row. He trained consistently according to Woldemar Gerschler with a large number of repetitions in interval training Freiburg imprint. Barthel was (after Joseph Alzin 1920) the second Luxemburgish man to win an Olympic medal.

Sports official and minister

In 1962 he became President of the Luxembourg Athletics Association (Fédération Luxembourgeoise d'Athlétisme) and from 1973 to 1977 he was President of the Luxembourg Olympic Committee COSL ( Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois ) .

Josy Barthel, who was a member of the Democratic Party DP ( Democratic Party ) , was then appointed to the Thorn government on September 16, 1977 and was Minister for Transport and Energy and Minister for Environment and Tourism (Ministre des Transports et de l'Énergie, Ministre de l'Environnement et du Tourisme) . In the fifth Werner government that followed , he served from July 16, 1979 to July 20, 1984 as Minister of the Environment, Minister of Transport, Communication and Information and Minister of Energy (Ministre de l'Environnement, Ministre des Transports, des Communications et de l 'Informatique, Ministre de l'Énergie) .

In his honor, the national stadium in Luxembourg, home of the Luxembourg national football team, was renamed the Josy Barthel Stadium . The grammar school that opened in Mamer in September 2003 was also named after him .

See also

• List of Olympic medalists from Luxembourg

Web links

• Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg depuis 1848

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Luxemburger Tagblatt ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated December 26, 2012  
2. ^ Arnd Krüger (1998). Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in the training systems for middle and long distance runners (1850-1997), in: N. GISSEL (Hrsg.): Sportliche achievement im Wandel. Hamburg: Czwalina, pp. 41 - 56.
3. ^ Government of Thorn
4. ^ Government of Werner V
5. ↑ Lycée technique Josy Barthel ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.