Walter Sawall

Walter Sawall

Walter Sawall (born July 18, 1899 in Morgenroth near Beuthen , † January 31, 1953 in Erkner ) was a German racing cyclist .

Athletic career

Even in his school days, Walter Sawall was extremely athletic and a very good gymnast . He left school at 15 because he had eight siblings and had to contribute to the family income. He worked as a bicycle messenger and newspaper driver and thus came into contact with cycling. In 1916 he drove his first race. He was discovered by the pacemaker Emil Meinhold as a stayer. Twice, in 1928 and 1931 , he was world champion of the standing and three times German standing champion (1927, 1929, 1931). At the 1928 World Championships, his opponent Victor Linart tried to prevent him from starting the finals by protesting his handcrafted saddle. Sawall had to remove the saddle. Since the optimal seat height was no longer suitable, he and his supervisor Gustav Hamann (known by the nickname "Blaubacke") had the idea of ​​sewing a cut piece of fillet of beef into the racing pants. The position was right again and Sawall won the race. He also drove six days . The professional cyclist was sponsored by the Brandenburg car and bicycle company Brennabor and later by Opel . He later learned to fly and made friends with the aviator Elly Beinhorn during this time . His discipline and determination were the secret of his sporting success; he kept himself fit with forest running, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, boxing and a special breathing technique. With the money he had earned through sport, he bought his parents a house in Erkner.

For four years, Sawall's standard pacemaker was the French Ernest Pasquier , although the two could not communicate verbally. In 1931 the two parted in a dispute. In 1934 Walter Sawall retired from competitive cycling due to an intestinal disease. He died of a brain tumor in 1953.

Honors

In 1932, while he was still alive, the street in Erkner was named after him. Walter Sawall's nephew, Günther Georgens, left numerous memorabilia from his uncle to the Erkner Heimatmuseum.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Illustrated Cycling Express . No. 4/1948 . Express-Verlag, Berlin, p. 28 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Gronen / Walter Lemke: History of the bicycle and cycling , Eupen 1978, p. 287
3. ↑ ^{a b} Valuable memory of Walter Sawall. Märkische Oderzeitung, November 26, 2008, accessed on December 4, 2013 . 
4. ↑ Illustrated cycling , February 1, 1931

literature

• Fredy Budzinski: Taschen-Radwelt , Berlin 1921

Web links

• Walter Sawall in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Article about Walter Sawall (PDF file; 285 kB)
• Results of the German Stayer Championships 1892-2005 on stayer.de (PDF file; 92 kB)