Theo Merkel

Theo Merkel
Association	BR Germany
birthday	April 16, 1934
place of birth	Ruhpolding
date of death	December 25, 2002
Career
society	SC Ruhpolding
World Cup balance
last change: February 23, 2009

Theo Merkel (born April 16, 1934 in Ruhpolding ; † December 25, 2002 ) was a German cross-country skier , combined athlete , marksman and one of the pioneers of German biathlon .

development

Active athlete

Merkel began his winter sports career as a cross-country skier and combiner . In 1951 he won the German junior championships in both disciplines. Relatively late, at the age of 27, he switched to the newly developing biathlon, where he was able to combine two of his sports, shooting and cross-country skiing. Nevertheless, he also took part in the 1966 Nordic World Ski Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , where he was 20.

In 1967 Merkel started at the Biathlon World Championships in Altenberg and in 1970 in Östersund . In 1967, the squadron with Theo Merkel, Herbert Hindelang , Xaver Kraus and Gerhard Gehring took second place in the German and Bavarian championships.

As a sports shooter, he was the Gaumeister of the Schützengau Traunstein . For the soccer team of SV Ruhpolding he played as a middle runner until the age of 35.

As a member of the customs team, Merkel took part in two Winter Olympics. In Grenoble 1968 he finished 12th in the individual competition and came in ninth place with the relay.

In cross-country skiing, Merkel was in 1969 with his brother Hubert Merkel , Herbert Steinbeißer and Karl Zellner as a representative of SC Ruhpolding, German club relay championship over 4 × 10 km. In 1975 the Ruhpolding relay won the Bavarian championships.

In 1972 , Theo Merkel took part in the Olympic Winter Games for the second time in Sapporo at the age of 37. He was initially on medal rank until the race was canceled due to falling fog. The following day he could only reach the 50th place.

organizer

After his active career, Merkel remained connected to biathlon for decades. He was a youth coach in his club as well as at the Chiemgau Ski Association, was a biathlon consultant for the Chiemgau Ski Association and the Bavarian Ski Association and for decades was the head of the shooting range at the Ruhpolding biathlon stadium. Here he was responsible for the shooting range at Biathlon World Championships , Junior World Championships, Biathlon World Cups and other events. He was an honorary member of the Ruhpolding Ski Club. It is not least thanks to Merkel's commitment that Ruhpolding has developed into one of the biathlon strongholds worldwide. As a trainer he looked after Andreas Birnbacher, among others .

In memory of the athlete, trainer and functionary who died early after a long and serious illness, the SC Ruhpolding annually awards the Theo Merkel Memorial Prize . SC Ruhpolding had a bronze plaque attached to a memorial stone in the Chiemgau Arena .

Web links

• Obituary of the Chiemgau Ski Association ( Memento from November 27, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 11 kB)
• Theo Merkel in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

supporting documents

1. ↑ Chronic of SC Riuhpolding .