Kurt Jarasinski

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Kurt Jarasinski (born November 6, 1938 in Elpersbüttel ; † October 27, 2005 in Langerwehe ) was an internationally successful German show jumper in the 1960s. He celebrated his greatest success at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo by winning the team gold medal .

biography

Private

Jarasinski was one of five siblings. His father was killed in the war and his mother had to take care of the family on her own. In his early years he tried to improve the family's income by doing odd jobs with local farmers. After finishing school, Jarasinski took a position as an agricultural assistant for a farmer in the area. One of his tasks was looking after horses that were kept on his employer's farm. Here his riding talent was noticed.

Kurt Jarasinski was married and had three daughters.

Sporty

Already in 1960, at the age of 22, "Kulle", as Jarasinski was called by his friends, won the German Jumping Derby in Hamburg .

In 1961 he became a rider at the Holstein Breeding Association and thus the successor to Fritz Thiedemann , who proposed him for this post and trained and supported him in the first few years. Here he was provided with a large number of good horses and in the following years he celebrated many successes in international show jumping, including winning the King George V Gold Cup in London and his largest, the Olympic team gold medal in Tokyo in 1964 . On December 11, 1964, he received the silver bay leaf.

At the agency of Thiedemann, Jarasinski trained Japanese show jumpers from 1967 and prepared them for the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972 . Part of this task should be to ride their horses between and after the Olympic competitions and to present them at tournaments. After his mentor Thiedemann withdrew, it turned out that Jarasinski could not work professionally on his own. He neglected his duties at the association and was soon considered an alcoholic . Because of this lifestyle, his sporting career suffered and he lost his good reputation within a short time. In 1971 Kurt Jarasinski was dismissed from the Holstein Association.

Nevertheless, he received the offer to move into a riding stable with his Far Eastern students in Griesstätt in Upper Bavaria and thus continue the preparation for the Olympic Games. During this time he neglected his own career and concentrated fully on his job as a coach . But the Japanese also parted ways with him in 1972 after a catastrophic performance at the Olympic Games. Jarasinski's sporting career was now at a new low, as with this separation these horses were no longer available for him. He returned to Northern Germany without a livelihood .

With the support of good friends like Sönke Sönksen or Alwin Schockemöhle , who took him in 1973 for some time in his house and paid off part of his debts, "Kulle" got several opportunities to get his life back on track. These attempts also failed.

In the last 10 years or so until his death he worked as a trainer in the Aachen , Düren and Heinsberg area .

successes

    • 1964 in Tokyo: Gold medal team, individual ranking 8th on Torro
  • Further:
    • 2 × winner of the German Jumping Derby in Hamburg (1960 on Raffaela , 1966 on Torro )

swell

  1. Sports report of the Federal Government of September 29, 1973 to the Bundestag - Printed matter 7/1040 - page 71
  2. Kurt Jarasinski on olympic.org (English)

literature

  • Eckhard F. Schröter: The happiness of this earth ...: Life and career of German show jumpers. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1980, ISBN 3-596-23019-5