Hellmuth Bantz

German gymnast. He won at the 1956 Olympic Games gold medal in the vault. Bantz originally wanted to be a professional footballer, but his father - himself chairman of the gymnastics club Speyer - persuaded him to gymnastics. During military service, he became a prisoner of war in 1944 in English. As a prisoner of war in 1948 he was allowed to turn the English national team at the Olympic Summer Games in London train. Germany could then do not already participate in the Summer Games. After his release, he returned - despite some offers English gymnastics clubs - back to Germany. Bantz was active for the first time in Helsinki in 1952 participate in the Olympics. Here he was seventh in the all around. In 1954 he took at the World Championships in Rome, the second Place in the vault and high bar. In 1955 he was in Frankfurt European champion on uneven bars. 1956 he finally won at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne along with the Russians Valentin Muratov gold in the vault. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome Bantz was indeed there, but was not used as a substitute. Then he ended his active career. He worked from 1970 to 1986 as senior warden in turn Rheinische Gymnastics Federation until 1992 he was assessor of the Bureau. 1992 appointed him an honorary member of the association. Under master coach Hennes Weisweiler Bantz also worked as a fitness trainer at the Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbach . Again and again he was - even then - on the Bökelberg seen-with a total of 18 German Championships, four European Championships and three World Championship medals, he was one of the most successful German gymnasts. Many major honors were given to him. He was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit , the Walter-Kolb-Medal of the DTB , and finally, in 1998 the Georg von Opel Award . He was married (Erika) and had two daughters (Sabine and Susanne) and a son (Rainer). He had to endure serious illnesses: 1981 heart attack, 1984 back surgery, 1994 leg amputation for circulatory disorders, later he also lost the second leg. He died after a long illness on 4 October 2004 in Pulheim-Brauweiler. Link to German Wikipedia