Lars Riedel
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | |||
| Men's Athletics | |||
| Gold | 1996 Atlanta | Discus | |
| Silver | 2000 Sydney | Discus | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 1991 Tokyo | Discus | |
| Gold | 1993 Stuttgart | Discus | |
| Gold | 1995 Gothenburg | Discus | |
| Gold | 1997 Athens | Discus | |
| Bronze | 1999 Seville | Discus | |
| Gold | 2001 Edmonton | Discus | |
| European Championships | |||
| Gold | 1998 Budapest | Discus | |
Lars Riedel (born June 28, 1967 in Zwickau) is a successful German discus thrower. He ranks sixth in all-time longest discus throw distances with a personal best of 71.50m.
Riedel began his discus career in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). He grew up in Thurn which is next to Zwickau. In 1983 he went to join SC Karl-Marx-Stadt. His first important competitions were the junior world championship in 1986 and the European Championship in 1990 but without much success. When the GDR went down he lost his coach and Lars Riedel stopped training regularly. When he met his new coach Karlheiz Steinmetz from USC Mainz he continued his sport career. In the 90s he became a dominating figure on the German discus scene. With his good physical constitution (1,99 m, 115 kg) he took part in the Olympic Games of Atlanta. There he won his only Olympic title – the gold medal. Furthermore he won the world championship five times.
To help his body recover from the hard workouts, Riedel has daily physical therapy to improve his mobility, administered by his new girlfriend, Katja, working as a physiotherapist. He is separated from his wife Kerstin, with whom he has a son, Robert.
Lately his name was involved in a few scandals including doping missed tests administered by the German athletics association and IAAF.
[edit] Achievements
- Olympic title 1996 in Atlanta (invalid – invalid – 65,40m – 63,10m – 69,40m – 69,24m)
- 5 times world champion (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001)
- European champion 1998
- 3rd Place World championship 1999
- 2nd Place Olympic Games in Sydney 2000
- 10 times German champion
| Olympic champions in men's discus throw |
|---|
| 1896: Robert Garrett | 1900: Rudolf Bauer | 1904: Martin Sheridan | 1906: Martin Sheridan | 1908: Martin Sheridan | 1912: Armas Taipale | 1920: Elmer Niklander | 1924: Clarence Houser | 1928: Clarence Houser | 1932: John Anderson | 1936: Ken Carpenter | 1948: Adolfo Consolini | 1952: Sim Iness | 1956: Al Oerter | 1960: Al Oerter | 1964: Al Oerter | 1968 Al Oerter | 1972: Ludvík Daněk | 1976: Mac Wilkins | 1980: Viktor Rashchupkin | 1984: Rolf Danneberg | 1988: Jürgen Schult | 1992: Romas Ubartas | 1996: Lars Riedel | 2000: Virgilijus Alekna | 2004: Virgilijus Alekna |
