Ricky Bruch

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Björn Rickard "Ricky" Bruch (born July 2, 1946 in Örgryte , Gothenburg , Västra Götalands län ; † May 30, 2011 in Ystad , Skåne län ) was a Swedish athlete , actor and author . He appeared as a discus thrower in the late 1960s, but he did not reach the zenith of his skills until the 1980s. He won three international medals.

Life

The 1.99 m tall and at competition times 135 kg heavy athlete grew up in Skåne and spent most of his life in Malmö . He started alternately for several clubs, including Malmö IA , IFK Helsingborg and Österhaninge IF .

Rickard Bruch did not mince words in public and was decried as eccentric by officials, but extremely popular with the public.

As an actor, he has appeared in numerous entertainment films , including Ronja the Robber's Daughter , the film adaptation of Astrid Lindgren 's children's book of the same name. He published an autobiography with the title Gladiatorns kamp ( Eng . "The fight of the gladiator") and the volume of poetry Själ och kropp: Dikter ( Eng . "Body and mind. Poems").

Bruch died of pancreatic cancer .

Career

Rickard Bruch won thirteen national championships in discus and shot put:

year 1967 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1983
Width (m) 56.66 61.44 58.68 / 18.68 64.40 / 19.35 62.28 63.84 61.94 58.98 59.26 58.52 62.18

With the ball he achieved a best performance of 20.08 m (1973).

His first international appearance were the XVI. 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City , where he was about 5 ½ m behind the winner Al Oerter in eighth place (59.28 m).

He owed his first medal to the generosity of the Greek judges. At the European Championships in Athens in 1969 , all three of his qualifying throws were invalidated. In response to his protest, he was finally admitted to the preliminary battle as the 13th thrower. The number 13 should bring him luck: his best distance of 61.08 m meant winning the silver medal. Only Hartmut Losch from the GDR threw on that day (gold with 61.82 m).

When he returned to his native Malmö , he used his brilliant form at the time to throw 68.04 m on September 21, 1969. He replaced the Czech Ludvík Daněk as the European record holder .

In the following years Rickard Bruch became the great opponent of Jay Silvester . Both he and the American vied for the glory of becoming the world's first 70-meter thrower. In 1970, Bruch and New Year's Eve met a total of 15 times. Bruch won 6 times, New Year's Eve 9 times, although the American had the misfortune that his three 70 m throws, achieved in 1971, were not recognized because of strong winds or formal errors. But Bruch didn't fare any better either. His joy at the 70.12 m thrown in Malmö on April 17, 1971 was short-lived, because the discus was weighed and found to be too light - by a whole 7.5 grams. Annoyed by this bad luck and spurred on by the unrecognized throw over 70.38 m on New Year's Eve in May of the same year, Bruch played no less than 22 competitions in June 1971 with the intention of landing another 70 m throw. This overload caused him to have a circulatory collapse and a nervous breakdown, and he was unable to exercise for weeks. It was not until the European Championships in Helsinki in 1971 that it was halfway restored, but remained several meters below its potential and came in 11th with a width of almost 60 m.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he finished third behind Ludvík Daněk (gold with 64.40 m) and Jay Silvester (silver with 63.50 m).

Rickard Bruch had to wait 13 years for his first 70 m throw: He only made a successful comeback in 1984, when he was in Malmö between September and November with widths of 70.48 m, 71.00 m and 71.26 m surpassed the dream mark three times - but not the first: the world record was now 71.86 m, held by Yuri Dumchev . The second spring of the now 38-year-old came to an abrupt end when Bruch fell out with the coach of the Swedish national team.

Arch-rival Jay Silvester also missed his goal: On May 1, 1976, his compatriot Mac Wilkins was allowed to register as the first 70-meter thrower . After all, New Year's Eve reached the XVIII. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal , the final fight (eighth with 61.98 m), while Bruch already failed in qualification.

In the meantime more than 20 athletes have thrown the discus further than 70 m. The world record has stood at 74.08 m since 1986, achieved by Jürgen Schult from the GDR .

Bruch later admitted to having doped during his sports career and advocated the medically controlled release of anabolic steroids .

Successes and placements

Records

  • European record with 68.04 m on September 21, 1969 in Malmö
  • Setting of the world record of 68.40 m held by Jay Silvester on July 5, 1972 in Stockholm
  • 22 × Swedish record: 15 times in discus and 7 times in shot put. His 71.26 m, achieved in 1984, were only exceeded by 3 centimeters in 2017 by Daniel Ståhl .

Filmography (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Singler, Gerhard Treutlein: Doping in top sport. Sports science analyzes of national and international performance development . Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89899-192-6 , pp. 157/158

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Break, Ricky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruch, Bjorn Rickard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish athlete, actor and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Örgryte , Gothenburg , Västra Götalands län
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 2011
Place of death Ystad , Skåne County