Christiaan David "Chris" Berger (27 April 1911 – 12 September 1965) was a Dutch

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-dev ...

, competing in the sprints.

Career

Berger was a football player and changed to running after winning a

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

national title among footballers. In 1930 he ran his best 200 m time (21.1 s), which would remain the European record until 1951 and the Dutch national record until 1965. His career highlights came in 1934, when he had equalled the world record on the 100 m (10.3 s) in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Later at the first

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, he won both the 100 m and 200 m sprints and finished third with the Dutch team at the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

. Originally the jury had declared the

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athlete Erich Borchmeyer as winner of the 100 m, which led to outrage among the spectators who had clearly seen Berger win the race. The jury was eventually convinced to delay its decision after the films of the finish would be available the next day, which showed Berger to have won indeed. Berger participated twice at the Olympics without much success. Much was expected from the Dutch athletes in 1932, but after a 10-day voyage by boat and a week on the train they didn't play much of a role in

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. Berger was eliminated in both sprints in the semifinals. In 1936, Berger had passed his peak and was overshadowed in his own country by Tinus Osendarp and Wil van Beveren, while the Dutch relay team ended up dropping the baton in the finals. Between 1930 and 1934 Chris Berger won eight Dutch titles, four in each sprint event. He ended his career in sports in 1943 and became supervisor of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam in 1965 and is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. His daughter Elles was a popular presenter on Dutch television.

Competition record

References

* Heere, A. and Kappenburg, B. ''(2000) 1870 – 2000, 130 jaar atletiek in Nederland.'' Groenevelt b.v. * Bijkerk, T. (2004) ''Olympisch Oranje.'' De Vrieseborch *

External links

Article on Berger
(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Chris 1911 births 1965 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Dutch male sprinters Olympic athletes of the Netherlands World record setters in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Amsterdam European Athletics Championships medalists