Dietmar Schmidt (born 29 April 1952 in

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

) is a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

coach who is currently the assistant coach at the women's team

BSV Sachsen Zwickau Ballsportverein Sachsen Zwickau e. V. is a German women's handball team from Zwickau, Saxony. It plays in the Bundesliga. It was founded as a continuation of the DDR club ''BSG Aktivist Karl Marx Zwickau'' after the fall of the Berlin Wall ...

. He is also a former

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

player who won gold medals in the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Playing Career

Schmidt started his sports career with

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

fistball Fistball is a sport of European origin, primarily played in the German-speaking nations of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Brazil. The objective of the game is similar to volleyball, in that teams try to hit a ball over a net, b ...

. In 1967 he won the DDR Youth championship in first ball. He started playing handball in school and then joined

BSG Aktivist „Karl Marx“ Zwickau Ballsportverein Sachsen Zwickau e. V. is a German women's handball team from Zwickau, Saxony. It plays in the Bundesliga. It was founded as a continuation of the DDR club ''BSG Aktivist Karl Marx Zwickau'' after the fall of the Berlin Wall ...

and

BSG Wismut Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

. In the

DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga (English: ''East German Premier League'' or ''GDR Premier League'') was the top-level association football league in East Germany. Overview Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the Allied-occupied G ...

he played for

ASK Vorwärts Frankfurt Frankfurter Handball Club is a German women's handball from Frankfurt (Oder). History During the communist era Frankfurter HC was the handball section of military sports club ASK Vorwärts, installed in Frankfurt since 1971. Vorwärts was one of ...

, where he won the DDR championship twice in 1974 and 1975. In 1975 he also won the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

. For the East German national team he played at the 1974 World Championship, where East Germany came second, losing to Romania. At the 1978 World Championship, he came third with the East German team, beating Denmark in the third place playoff. At the

1980 Olympics The 1980 Olympics may refer to: * 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, United States * 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), wer ...

He was the

of the East German handball team which won the gold medal. He played all six matches and scored two goals. For that he was awarded the DDR

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in silver in 1980 and in gold in 1984. He retired in 1984.

Coaching Career

In 1985 he became the assistant at the East Germany women's team, where he was until 1989. At the same time he was the assistant coach of the women's team of his former team,

. In 1988 he became the head coach of

's first men's team. In 1989 he won the East German Championship with the club. Later he was the head coach of Zwickauer HC Grubenlampe,

EHV Aue EHV may refer to: * Equine herpesvirus, a group of viruses that affect horses *Extra high voltage, a type of power supply *Evangelical Heritage Version, an English language translation of the Bible *Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List o ...

(1999–2002), HC Plauen (2002–2004) and HSV Glauchau (2004–2006). From july 2006 he became the head coach at

Frankfurter HC Frankfurter Handball Club is a German women's handball from Frankfurt (Oder). History During the communist era Frankfurter HC was the handball section of military sports club ASK Vorwärts, installed in Frankfurt since 1971. Vorwärts was one of ...

. He coached the team through the 2013 bankruptcy and exit from the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and continued in the 3. Liga. He ceased in this position in 2017. He returned to the club in October 2019. From the 2020-21 season he became the assistant at the women's team at

, the club that his own former team

had turned into after the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. They played in the second Bundesliga at the time and was promoted to the

the following season.

External links

profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Dietmar 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Zwickau Handball players from Saxony German male handball players Olympic handball players for East Germany Handball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Sportspeople from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt Friendship Games medalists in handball Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver German handball coaches East German male handball players