René Herms (17 July 1982 – 9 January 2009) was a German middle-distance runner who specialised in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

. Herms was born in

Dohna Dohna is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, Saxony, Germany. It is located south of Heidenau, in the Müglitz valley and lies at the northeastern foot of the Eastern Ore Mountains. It is accessed by the Pirna interchange ...

Bezirk Dresden The Bezirk Dresden was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany that lasted from 1952 to 1990. Dresden would be reabsorbed back into Saxony after the reunification of Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Dresden. History The dist ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. He won the silver medal in

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

at the 2000 World Junior Championships, became European junior champion in 2001 and finished seventh at the 2002 European Championships. He also competed at the World Championships in 2003 and 2005 as well as the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

without reaching the finals. His personal best time was 1:44.14 minutes, achieved in August 2004 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. He competed for the athletics clubs LSV Pirna and LG Braunschweig. He died in

Lohmen Lohmen is a municipality in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. History Lohmen was first officially recognized as a village in 1292. The village name comes from the Slovak term ''lom'' or "fissure". There were ...

, Germany, aged 26. The reported cause of the death was a heart-related illness.

References

1982 births 2009 deaths People from Dohna People from Bezirk Dresden German male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Saxony LG Braunschweig athletes Olympic athletes of Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics German national athletics champions 21st-century German people 20th-century German people {{Germany-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub