Hans Heinrich Sievert (1 December 1909 – 6 April 1963) was a German Olympic decathlete. He was born in Grittern near Hückelhoven. He competed at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

and the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

. In 1934 he became the last decathlon world record holder under the 1915 method of scoring, with 8790.46 points, and won the gold medal at the 1934 European Championships. In the Nazi period in Germany, Sievert was seen as a symbolic hope of the German "master race" in the

. However, he was injured during the games and the gold medal was won by American Glenn Morris, who also beat Sievert's record. Sievert was recommended to leave the sport after his injury. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Sievert became an officer of the German armed forces. In Hungary in 1944, he lost his left foot to a land mine. After the war, Sievert became the chairman of Hamburg's track-and-field event federation and a sport advisor to the German government. He became ill in 1957 and quit his work, moving into the home of his father in

Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Ostholstein, Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of December 2022, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic ...

. He married Ruth Hagemann, a fellow athlete that Sievert met while training in the 1930s, and had two daughters who also became athletes. He died in

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* 1909 births 1963 deaths German decathletes German male discus throwers German male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Germany German military personnel of World War II European Athletics Championships medalists People from Heinsberg (district) Athletes from Cologne (region) 20th-century German sportsmen {{Germany-decathlon-bio-stub