Gerd Bonk in 1979 |
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| Born | August 26, 1951 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 metres (6 ft 2 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 145 kilograms (320 lb)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Olympic weightlifting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 1969 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | 1976 Silver medal 1972 Bronze medal |
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Medal record
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Gerd Bonk (born 26 August 1951 in Limbach, Vogtland, Saxony) is a former weightlifter active for East Germany from 1969 to 1980 who during his career won a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics, has set two world records and has achieved numerous other top-three ranks at World Championships and European Weightlifting Championships. Today he is a retired master mechanic.[1]
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Gerd Bonk began his career at BSG Motor Nema Netzschkau as a track and field athlete and set East German youth record for shot put in 1967[1] with 17.82 m. To build up the necessary strength for shot putting he regularly lifted weights. After participating in weightlifting contests and having greater successes in it than in shot putting, he shifted his focus completely towards weightlifting in 1969 at SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, Chemnitz. His coach was Klaus Kroll, a former top weightlifter of the GDR. In 1971 Bonk became GDR super heavyweight champion (with a bodyweight above 110 kg). During the Baltic-Cup, in Lübeck in the same year he had his international debut where he made three failed pressing attempts. Being a top lifter he was never able to beat Vasiliy Alekseyev from the Soviet Union or Rudolf Mang from Germany up to 1980. His specialty was the clean and jerk, where he set two world records. In 1980 he once more became third at the European Championships and even lifted 430 kg (180-250) in a smaller competition. Because he was not nominated for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow he stepped back from professional weightlifting.
Gerd Bonk now lives in Limbach/Vogtland as a pensioner. Furthermore he is one of the prominent victims of doping in East Germany[4] reporting he has "diabetes, a failing liver and his feet are numb, among a host of signs of a failing body".[5]
In 2002 he was awarded the Georg von Opel Prize for Silent Winners in the category "Special Warriors".
Gerd Bonk set two world records in clean and jerk:[3]
Gerd Bonk became East German champion in 1971,[1] 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1979 and has won another 15 East German champion titles in clean and press (until 1972), snatch and clean and jerk.