Gottfried Weimann

Gottfried Weimann

Medal record
Men’s athletics
Competitor for  Germany
International University Games
Bronze	1930 Darmstadt	Javelin throw
Bronze	1933 Turin	Javelin throw

Gottfried Weimann (16 September 1907 – 13 March 1990) was a German javelin thrower. He placed fourth at the Olympic Games in 1932 and ninth in 1936.^[1]

Career

Weimann was one of the world's top javelin throwers by 1930, when he threw 66.97 m.^[2][3] He placed third behind two Finns at that year's International University Games in Darmstadt with 64.24.^[4] Ahead of the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he threw 69.54 in Leipzig^[3] and entered the Olympics as the main challenger to Finland's javelin supremacy, as the other top non-Finnish thrower, Estonia's Gustav Sule, was not competing.^[2]

At the Olympics he threw 68.18 in round one, a new Olympic record;^[1] however, Finland's world record holder Matti Järvinen reached 71.25 later in the same round.^[5] For much of the competition Weimann was second behind Järvinen,^[2][5] but the other Finns, Eino Penttilä and Matti Sippala, passed him in rounds five and six, leaving Weimann in fourth and out of the podium.^[2][5]

Weimann won another bronze medal at the International University Games in Turin in 1933, missing out to Hungary's József Várszegi and Sule.^[4] Later that year he reached his eventual personal best, 73.40, in Gdańsk;^[3][6] at the time, that distance placed him second in the world, behind only Järvinen.^[6] He placed sixth at the inaugural European Championships in 1934^[1] and remained in shape for another two years, throwing 72.24 in July 1936,^[3] but at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin he only managed 63.58 and placed ninth.^[1]

References