Rolf Oesterreich (athlete)

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Rolf Oesterreich (born August 24, 1949 in Leukersdorf , Chemnitz district , Saxony ) was one of the best shot putters in the world in the 1970s , who the GDR refused to accept a world record and a possible long career for political reasons.

Athletic career

Rolf Oesterreich began as a student to teach sport and geography at the Zwickau University of Education at the HSG Wissenschaft Zwickau with the shot put. From that point of view, he was classified as too small for a competitive sports career. Austria was 1.80 m tall and had an ideal competition weight of 100 kg. In 1974 he reached only 16.24 m with the conventional shot put technique.

From 1975 he tested the rotary joint technique, improved increasingly, made this technique suitable for competitions in the spring of 1976 and increased his training over distances of over 19 meters. On May 2, 1976, at his first competition in 1976, he hit 20.74 m. The SC Karl-Marx-Stadt got him. But this was prevented by the DTSB board in Berlin, also because Austria was not classified as loyal to the line. A few days later, at the insistence of the DTSB bosses, he had to leave SC Karl-Marx-Stadt. The rotary joint technique, which Austria essentially taught itself, was considered frowned upon and undesirable in the GDR at the time. Nevertheless, Rolf Oesterreich increased on May 19, 1976 to 21.45 m and GDR annual best. He was still not nominated for the Olympic Games in Montreal , although he had easily made the norm.

The hushed up world record

On September 12, 1976, one month after the Olympic Games, Austria achieved a sensational world record in Zschopau at the district championships with 22.11 m. Its width was above the then valid world record of 22.00 m set by Alexander Baryschnikow ( USSR ). However, this record was not submitted as a world record by the German Association for Athletics of the GDR (DVfL) . In the list of the German Athletics Association (DLV) of the ten best athletes in each discipline, the 22.11 m Rolf Oesterreichs are listed with the following comment: "Performance was not recognized by the then DVfL of the GDR for reasons that are no longer comprehensible today."

From then on, Austria and its previous achievements disappeared from all GDR lists "because these took place on a circular scale and were not confirmed in competitions with the GDR top-class." It was concealed that Austria was never invited to such competitions. Later, sports officials tried to get him to quit as a competitor with money and a coaching position, as it was feared that he would hit an official world record and the decision of the GDR leadership not to allow him to join the top performance would be called into question. From 1977 Rolf Oesterreich worked at SC Karl-Marx-Stadt as a trainer.

The second attempt

A little later, SC Karl-Marx-Stadt reactivated Rolf Oesterreich as an athlete. On May 17, 1978, Austria met again over 21 meters in Karl-Marx-Stadt , but with the width of 21.30 m was not admitted to the GDR athletics championships and could therefore not qualify for the European championships in Prague . This time he was accused of failing to confirm the performance over a longer period of time, "because all of the central starts that were previously required were omitted and the results achieved did not take place under central control."

The long struggle for recognition of the world record

Since the fall of the Wall in 1989, Rolf Oesterreich has been fighting in vain for recognition of his world record. But he achieved at least a partial success in 1993. Since then, the distance has been marked with asterisks in the best lists of the German Society for Athletics Documentation (DGLD), which are officially classified, but still not as an official world record.

job

Rolf Oesterreich lived and worked for many years as a secondary school teacher in Neukirchen / Erzgeb. and retired in 2012. In addition, he also helped many prominent athletes as a trainer and consultant, e. B. Mathias Schmidt , Astrid Kumbernuss and Peter Sack , but also athletes from Austria and Switzerland during the technical training and the training method of the rotary joint. As a pensioner, he still works as a trainer and lecturer for the rotary joint.

literature

The story of Rolf Oesterreich is one of three authentic GDR stories in the novel "Best Intentions" by Thomas Brussig (2017).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johanna Lutteroth: The secret world record
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Richter, sports editor Neues Deutschland on July 15, 1976 in a letter in reply to a reader
  3. ↑ Note on the reverse of Rolf Oesterreich's original competition card from the competition on May 17, 1978 in Karl-Marx-Stadt
personal data
SURNAME Austria, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German athlete
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Leukersdorf , Soviet occupation zone