Martin Schmidt (cycling trainer)

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Martin "Matze" Schmidt (born October 21, 1894 in Wriezen ; † June 8, 1964 in Berlin ) was a German cycling trainer.

When Matze Schmidt was one year old, his family moved from the Oderbruch to Rixdorf near Berlin . After finishing school he did an apprenticeship as a lathe operator . In 1910 he was a co-founder of the RRC Favorit Neukölln cycling club . In his personal memories, he wrote that many members of this association had not returned from the First World War and that the survivors had turned to other associations. Schmidt himself joined Askania 08 in 1919 and Möwe Britz in 1921 .

Schmidt was not very successful as a racing cyclist, which is why he soon took on the role of a supervisor who provided food and massages for his fellow athletes. After a serious fall in 1922, he ended his career as a racing driver and found a job in the bicycle wholesaler Richard Siebert und Söhne, which was the general agency for Opel . From 1925 Schmidt was the manager of the Opel racing team and as such was on the road on all major tours. Overall, he looked after cyclists in around 100 six-day races , 40 major tours, 15 world championships and three Olympic Games, including the German team around Kurt Stöpel in the 1932 Tour de France . In doing so, he took over all the tasks that are nowadays handled by a whole crew. He was "the soul and the boss of Janze".

In 1935, Matze Schmidt became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), as he later explained, in order to become a Reich trainer and to be able to take over the preparation and supervision of the cyclists for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . There he looked after the cyclists Toni Merkens , Ernst Ihbe and Charly Lorenz .

After the Second World War , Schmidt initially stopped his cycling activities. His only son had died in the war, and Schmidt raised his grandson. In 1949 his best friend, the racing driver Paul Kroll , had a fatal accident at the Berlin six-day race on the cycling track in the hall at the radio tower . In 1950 Matze Schmidt opened a bicycle shop in Berlin-Steglitz . Together with Walter Rütt , he ran a free cycling school to counter the increasing number of bicycle accidents on the streets.

1952 Matze Schmidt was again active as a coach and looked after the German cycling team at the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 and in Melbourne in 1956 , after which he finally resigned as a coach. When he was buried in the Britz cemetery in June 1964 , the rush was so great that the street in front of the cemetery had to be cordoned off. The funeral service was even reported in the daily news.

literature

  • Ingeburg Schwibbe: 'I look after the best in the world.' The trainer Martin Schmidt. In: Kringeldreher and Strampelbrüder. Cycling in Neukölln. Published by the Neukölln District Office. Berlin 1997, pp. 26-28.
  • Martin Schmidt talks about the "tour" . In: The bone shaker. Magazine for lovers of historical bicycles . No. 33 , 2005, pp. 18-20 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ingeburg Schwibbe: 'I look after the best in the world.' The trainer Martin Schmidt. 1997, p. 26.
  2. ↑ Ingeburg Schwibbe: 'I look after the best in the world.' The trainer Martin Schmidt. 1997, p. 26 f.
  3. ↑ Come on , Matze. In: Der Spiegel. 31/1949, July 28, 1949.
  4. ↑ Ingeburg Schwibbe: 'I look after the best in the world.' The trainer Martin Schmidt. 1997, p. 28 f.
  5. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , June 10, 1964, p. 8.
  6. ↑ a b Ingeburg Schwibbe: 'I look after the best in the world.' The trainer Martin Schmidt. 1997, p. 28.
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Matze (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cycling trainer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Spices
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1964
Place of death Berlin