Karl Ziegler (cycling trainer)

Karl Ziegler (born December 1, 1919 in Mannheim ; † May 29, 2019 there ) was a German cycling coach .

As a teenager, Karl Ziegler practiced several sports - including soccer, ice skating and boxing - until he decided to go cycling. His real dream was to become a soccer goalkeeper, but the petite brick was too small for that. In 1944 he was used as a half-striker at Karlsruher FV after he was released as a guest player from VfR Mannheim . In 1938 he was Baden champion in the sprint and again in 1946, in addition he was Baden road champion.

After the Second World War , Ziegler trained as a soccer coach and opened a bicycle shop in Mannheim's Neckarstadt in 1950 . He is considered to be the discoverer of the racing drivers Rudi and Willi Altig . He looked after Rudi Altig when he won the world championship in 1959 .

In 1961, Karl Ziegler was appointed national coach by the Association of German Cyclists (BDR). The four-wheeler with Klaus May and Bernd Rohr from Ziegler's hometown club RRC Endspurt Mannheim won gold at the 1962 World Championships . After that, however, he was given leave of absence by the BDR because he complained about the association's lack of support.

From 1969 to 1971 he took over the German road and cross rider teams as the successor to Otto Ziege . In 1976 he was again national coach. After the boycott of the Olympic Games in Moscow , he suffered a collapse and ended his work as a national coach.

In December 2009, Ziegler celebrated his 90th birthday in good health. The member of the RRC Mannheim final spurt rode another 50 kilometers every day. Ziegler was a recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit . He died on May 29, 2019 in his hometown of Mannheim at the age of 99.

literature

• Karl-Heinz Schwarz-Pich: Karl Ziegler and the great time of the RRC Mannheim Final spurt Mannheim. 2003, ISBN 3-89784-233-5
• Ralf Schröder: Lexicon cycling. Göttingen 2005, p. 415 f.

Web links

• Karl-Heinz Schwarz-Pich: Karl Ziegler celebrated his 90th birthday. In: rrc-endspurt.de. December 2, 2009, archived from the original on May 11, 2013 . 
• Thorsten Hof: foster father of a whole generation. In: Mannheimer Morgen. December 1, 2009, archived from the original on February 11, 2013 (reproduced on rrc-endspurt.de). 
• Karl Ziegler: Doping in Sport - Experience from Practice. on cycling4fans.de . Lecture in Bad Boll , December 1967 ( pdf , 1.4 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mannheim: Former national cycling trainer Karl Ziegler is dead. In: Die Rheinpfalz . May 29, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Steffen Herberger: International & national players: Karl Ziegler - national cycling coach at KFV. In: Website of the Karlsruhe FV. December 15, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Agnes Polewka: “ Felt big as a small man”. In: Mannheimer Morgen . August 28, 2012, archived from the original on February 22, 2016 ; accessed on May 29, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Der Brockhaus, Mannheim: 400 years of the city of squares - the lexicon . Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-7653-0181-7 , p. 368.