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Gerd Wessig
 
 
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Gerd Wessig (born July 16 1959 in Lübz
Lübz

L?bz is a town in the Parchim , in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 12 km northeast of Parchim....
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) was an East German
German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic was a self-declared socialist state created in the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the East Berlin of Allied Occupation Zones in Germany....
 high jump
High jump

The high jump is an athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices....
er who won a gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Moscow in the Soviet Union....
.

Wessig, a professional chef, trained with the SC Traktor Schwerin under trainer Bernd Jahn. He attended the John Brinckmann School in Goldberg. Shortly before the 1980 Olympics, he surprisingly became East German champion with a personal best result of 2.30 metres and was subsequently nominated for the East German Olympic team.






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Gerd Wessig (born July 16 1959 in Lübz
Lübz

L?bz is a town in the Parchim , in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 12 km northeast of Parchim....
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) was an East German
German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic was a self-declared socialist state created in the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the East Berlin of Allied Occupation Zones in Germany....
 high jump
High jump

The high jump is an athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of any devices....
er who won a gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Moscow in the Soviet Union....
.

Wessig, a professional chef, trained with the SC Traktor Schwerin under trainer Bernd Jahn. He attended the John Brinckmann School in Goldberg. Shortly before the 1980 Olympics, he surprisingly became East German champion with a personal best result of 2.30 metres and was subsequently nominated for the East German Olympic team. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, he was thus amongst the mild favourites, yet that he not only won the gold medal but also set a new world record
World records in athletics

World records in athletics are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Records are kept for athletics at the Summer Olympics and some others....
 with his jump of 2.36 metres was considered a sensation. He thereby became the first high jumper who had managed to improve on the high jump world record at the Olympic Games
Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event established for both summer and winter sports. There have been two generations of the Olympic Games; the first were the Ancient Olympic Games held at Olympia, Greece, Greece....
. The previous world record holder, Jacek Wszola
Jacek Wszola

Jacek Wszola is a Poland gold and silver Olympic Games medalist in high jump.Jacek Wszola is the most famous Polish high jumper. He took part in two Olympic Games: in 1976 Summer Olympics and in 1980 Summer Olympics....
 from Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, won the silver medal.

After the Olympic Games, Wessig tried his luck as a decathlete
Decathlon

The decathlon is an athletic event consisting of ten track and field events. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all....
 (best performance: 8015 points, 23rd of May 1983 in Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg

Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated in the southeastern part of the state, at the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....
; the equivalent of 7974 points according to the scale introduced in 1985). He turned back to the high jump following frequent injuries. In 1985, he came in second at the World Cup. In 1986, he reached seventh place at the European Championships
1986 European Championships in Athletics

The 14th European Championships in Athletics were held from 29 August to 3 September 1986 at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany....
. He became East German champion again 1988 and 1989.

Wessig was 2.01 metres tall and, while he was competing, weighed 88 kilograms. He had trained as a chef and studied gastronomy. Since the end of his active athletics career, he has been running an enterprise in Lübstorf-Rugensee, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which sells sport equipment, sport and leisure systems, as well as park and garden systems. He married the long jumper Christine Schima (best performance: 6.96 metres, 1984; seventh place at the 1982 European Championships
1982 European Championships in Athletics

The 13th European Championships in Athletics were held from September 6 to September 12, 1982 at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece....
).