Michael Thomas Maria Wessing (29 August 1952 – 7 May 2019) was a German

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. He finished fourteenth at the 1974 European Championships, won the gold medal at the 1978 European Championships and finished ninth at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. Representing the sports team

TV Wattenscheid TV Wattenscheid 01 Leichtathletik is a German sports club focused on athletics. Founded in 1971 in Wattenscheid, Bochum in the Western part of Germany, the club's history is linked to that of an older club, ''Turnverein Wattenscheid 01'', a gymnas ...

, he became West German champion six years in a row in the years 1975 to 1980. His personal best throw was 94.22 metres (with the old javelin type), achieved on 3 August 1978 in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. It was the best throw in the world that year, and at the time second overall only to

Miklós Németh Miklós Németh (, born 24 January 1948) is a retired Hungarian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 24 November 1988 to 23 May 1990. He was one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party, Hungary's Communi ...

's 1976 world record of 94.58. When new javelin design rules came into force in April 1986, Wessing still stood as the eighth-best performer worldwide; in Germany only Uwe Hohn and Detlef Michel, both from East Germany, had longer throws. He died on 7 May 2019, at the age of 66, due to complications from surgery.Trauer um Speerwerfer Wessing

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* * 1952 births 2019 deaths West German male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for West Germany European Athletics Championships medalists TV Wattenscheid athletes Sportspeople from Recklinghausen Athletes from Münster (region) Deaths from surgical complications West German Athletics Championships winners {{West Germany-athletics-bio-stub