Margit Schumann

Margit Schumann (left) as a trainer, 1984

Margit Schumann (born September 14, 1952 in Waltershausen ; † April 11, 2017 in Oberhof ) was a German luge athlete .

Margit Schumann started tobogganing on the Spießbergbahn in Friedrichroda in 1966 . After five years of training, she made the leap into the GDR junior national team in 1971 , where she unexpectedly won the title of European champion. At the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo , she won the bronze medal in the women's individual luge, behind teammates Anna-Maria Müller and Ute Rührold . In the winter of 1972/73 she achieved a triple success for the first time by winning the GDR championship title as well as the European and world championship title, which she repeated in 1974 and 1975. Margit Schumann won the gold medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck . In 1977 Margit Schumann won her fourth world title. She ended her career with a sixth place at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and then devoted herself to her sports studies at the DHfK Leipzig in order to become a coach as a toboggan specialist. She started in Oberhof as a junior coach before taking over the GDR selection. Most recently Margit Schumann worked in the rank of major in the NVA . She took over the Bundeswehr as a personnel clerk at the Oberhof sports promotion group . Later, the army put them in Kreiswehrersatzamt Zella-Mehlis with the rank of captain in psychological service one. From 2008 she was exempted.

Schumann was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in 1976 and in gold in 1980. In 2004 she was inducted into the FIL Hall of Fame .

From 2005 Margit Schumann was married to Harro Esmarch (1930–2014), long-time press officer of the International Luge Federation (FIL). Josef Fendt carried out the civil wedding in his capacity at the time as manager of the market town of Berchtesgaden .

literature

• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .
• Klaus Gallinat:  Schumann, Margit . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Margit Schumann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Margit Schumann in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Olympic champion Margit Schumann has passed away . International Luge Federation, April 12, 2017, accessed on April 12, 2017.
2. ↑ Despite the successful series: Margit Schumann left three wishes open , welt.de , September 13, 2012
3. ^ Klaus Angermann : FIL and BSD mourn Harro Esmarch . German Olympic Sports Confederation , April 7, 2014, accessed on April 12, 2017.