Robert Förstemann (born 5 March 1986) is a German

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

specialising in the sprint disciplines and world champion in

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The riders use a ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In his later career he has transitioned to Paralympic track cycling, representing

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as a sighted 'pilot' in tandem events at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, Förstemann piloted Thomas Ulbricht to a silver medal in the tandem B sprint and a bronze medal in the tandem B kilo at the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Glasgow.

Major results

Olympics 2012

The German Olympic team used a loophole in the International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations to include Förstemann as an additional member of their 2012 sprint cycling team. He was also included in the German team for the

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

event.

Physique

In July 2012, a photograph of Förstemann's legs was widely circulated by the world's media during the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Described as a 'quad off' with Olympic team-mate

André Greipel André Greipel (born 16 July 1982) is a German cyclist, who rode professionally in road bicycle racing between 2005 and 2021. Since his retirement from road racing, Greipel has worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental teams and , and in ...

, the photo showed his quad muscles compared with those of the road cyclist. His thighs were measured with a circumference of . A circumference of has also been recorded, and the size of his quad muscles has led to him being called "Quadzilla" by some in his sport.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forstemann, Robert 1986 births Living people German male cyclists German track cyclists UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Olympic cyclists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Germany Paralympic medalists in cycling Cyclists from Thuringia Sportspeople from Greiz 21st-century German sportsmen