Therese Zenz

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The newly crowned world champion Therese Zenz was enthusiastically received in her home town of Mettlach in 1954

Therese Zenz (born October 15, 1932 in Merzig ; † October 22, 2019 there ) was a German canoeist . She took part in three Olympic Games from 1952 to 1960 and won three silver medals. She also became world champion in 1954.

Sporting successes

Therese Zenz began her athletic career with athletics and handball. “Just for fun,” she says she got into a canoe. However, she collected title after title in Saarland and participated as a member of the Saarland Olympic team at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki . She took 9th place in the final in a single kayak on the open sea of ​​the Baltic Sea . This result was more than could be expected from the athlete who lives in the Saarland community of Mettlach . The participation in the games and her good performance was a strong motivation for her, the participation in Helsinki, according to her own statement, drove her to downwind her training workload even in winter. This and her long-time trainer Nickel Ziegler have driven her time and again.

In 1954, Zenz won the title of world champion in single kayaks over 500 meters at the Canoe World Championships in Mâcon . In the process, she wrote sports history: This was the first and only time that a participant in a Saarland team became world champion and the Saarland flag was hoisted at world championships. At that time the Saarland was a member of the IOC due to the political development after the Second World War , before the National Olympic Committee of the Saarland was dissolved in October 1956. Only after this success did she, according to her own statement, get extra leave for training from her employer Villeroy & Boch , where she worked as a mosaicer.

In 1956 Zenz won the German Olympic elimination and was in Melbourne favorite for the all-German Olympic team in a single kayak over the distance of 500 meters, as she had been unbeaten for two years. The Russians were stronger than expected, however, Therese Zenz lost in the final to the Russian Jelisaweta Dementjewa just 0.7 seconds behind. Zenz won the silver medal. In 1959 she changed her coach. He did not accept the athlete's individual training and although she was German champion four times in a row from 1957 to 1960, the press called for her fourth place at the world championships after her departure. So she drew her own conclusions and separated from her trainer. She qualified for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome . She started on August 29, 1960 as the favorite on lane 5 in the final. After a long tour, the photo finish was decisive. Zenz lost 0.14 seconds to Russian Antonina Seredina . Less than 80 minutes later, she won the silver medal over 500 meters in a two-person kayak with her sports mate Ingrid Hartmann .

After the final in Rome, Zenz ended her sports career. In 1964 she took part in the Olympic Games as a supervisor . The two-person kayak she oversees, made up of Roswitha Esser and Annemarie Zimmermann , won the gold medal.

On January 21, 1957, Zenz was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf for her athletic achievements .

Shortly after her 87th birthday, she died in Merzig in October 2019.

source

  • Volker Bernardi and a .: Olympic history of the Saarland. Gollenstein Verlag, Blieskastel 2004, ISBN 3-935731-54-X .

Web links

Commons : Therese Zenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituaries of Therese Zenz | Saarbruecker-Zeitung.Trauer.de. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f After the end of her career, the “silver girl” won gold , Saarbrücker Zeitung , June 1, 2016
  3. ^ The 1956 Olympic Games;: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Stockholm, Melbourne; the official standard work of the National Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committee, Olympischer Sport Verlag, 1957, p. 481 [1]
  4. ↑ Information given by the Federal Government to the Bundestag on September 29, 1973 - Printed matter 7/1040 - Annex 3, pages 54 ff., Here page 62
  5. ↑ Kanutin dies at 87: The Saarland "silver girl" Therese Zenz is dead , Saarbrücker Zeitung , October 23, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Zenz, Therese
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German canoeist
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Merzig
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 2019
Place of death Merzig