Manfred Rieger (weightlifter)

In September 1967 Manfred Rieger was the first GDR lifter to exceed the 500 kilogram mark in a three-way battle

Manfred Rieger (born April 25, 1941 in Zittau ) is a former German weightlifter .

Career

Manfred Rieger was one of three weightlifters from Zittau who began weightlifting at BSG Motor Zittau under coach Heinz Kahl at the end of the 1950s and made it into the world's elite in just a few years. The other two were Werner Dittrich and Karl Arnold . Manfred Rieger was the heaviest of these athletes. He always started in the heavyweight or super heavyweight division. In these classes, with a body weight of around 115 kg, he was always one of the lightest lifters.

He used the failure technique when snapping and moving, all the more remarkable were his best performances with 575 kg in three-way combat, 192.5 kg pushing, 170 kg snatching and 212.5 kg pushing. It has been proven that with the squatting technique, which is used without exception today, slightly better lines can be achieved than with the failure. As a junior, Manfred Rieger already achieved 380 kg in the Olympic three-way fight in 1960, was runner-up in the GDR in 1962 with 417.5 kg behind Kurt Stemplinger from Leipzig and won the GDR championship title for the first time in 1963 with 442.5 kg, this time ahead of Stemplinger. In 1964, 1968 and 1972 he started at the Olympic Games. After the 1972 Games in Munich , he ended his career. A powerful successor had grown up in Gerd Bonk .

International successes / all-around

(OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, S = heavy or super heavyweight)

• 1964, 11th place , OS in Tokyo , S, with 475 kg, winner: Leonid Schabotinski , USSR , 572.5 kg, ahead of Yuri Vlasow , USSR, 570 kg;
• 1966, 2nd place , Baltic Cup, S, with 485 kg, behind Stanislaw Batishchev , USSR, 510 kg and in front of Günter Wu, FRG, 457.5 kg;
• 1966, 5th place ( 3rd place ) WM + EM in Berlin , S, with 492.5 kg, behind Schabotinski, 567.5 kg, Bob Bednarski , USA , 537.5 kg, Batischew, 530 kg and Boromaud, Iran , 502.5 kg;
• 1968, 3rd place , EM in Leningrad , S, with 525 kg, behind Schabotinski, 570 kg, Serge Reding , Belgium , 527.5 kg and in front of Kalevi Lahdenranta , Finland , 515 kg;
• 1968, 4th place , OS in Mexico City , S, with 532.5 kg, behind Schabotinski, 572.5 kg, Reding, 555 kg, Joe Dube , USA, 555 kg and in front of Rudolf Mang , FRG, 525 kg;
• 1969, 3rd place , Baltic Cup in Zinnowitz , S, with 517.5 kg, behind Batishchev, 552.5 kg, Lahdenranta, 520 kg and in front of Ove Johansson, Sweden , 517.5 kg;
• 1969, 4th place ( 3rd place ), WM + EM in Sofia , S, with 537.5 kg, behind Dube, 577.5 kg, Reding, 570 kg, Batishchev, 570 kg and in front of Mang, 535 kg;
• 1970, 3rd place , Grand Prix of the USSR in Minsk , S, with 530 kg, behind Vasily Alexejew , USSR, 600 kg and Batishchev, 587.5 kg;
• 1970, 3rd place , EM in Szombathely , S, with 565 kg, behind Alexejew, 612.5 kg, Lahdenranta, 577.5 kg and in front of Johansson, 530 kg;
• 1970, 5th place , World Championships in Columbus / USA , S, with 555 kg, behind Alexejew, 612.5 kg, Reding, 590 kg, Lahdenranta, 577.5 kg and Dube, 577.5 kg;
• 1972, 5th place , OS in Munich , S with 557.5 kg, behind Alexejew, 640 kg, Mang, 610 kg, Gerd Bonk , GDR, 572.5 kg, and Leppa, Finland, 572.5 kg

Medals individual disciplines

(awarded since 1969)

• World Championship bronze medal: 1970, tear, 165 kg
• EM silver medal: 1970, pushing, 192.5 kg;
• European Championship bronze medals: 1969, push, 205 kg - 1970, snatch, 162.5 kg - 1970, push, 210 kg

GDR championships

Manfred Rieger was seven times GDR champion in the all-around competition and from 1969 to 1972 still won eight GDR championship titles in the individual disciplines of pushing, tearing and pushing.

Web links

• Manfred Rieger in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )