Roland Wieser (born 6 May 1956, in

Zschopau Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany. Geography The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the Ore Mountains, on both banks of the Zschopau River, about south-east from Chemnitz. The highest point i ...

) is an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

racewalker who won the bronze medal in the 20 kilometer walk during the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

with a time of 1:25:59 hours. During his active career he measured 1.86 meters in height and 68 kg in weight. Wieser's first success came at an early age, when he became the East German 10 kilometer walk Youth Champion in 1971. In 1975 he became the European Junior Champion in the same event. In 1978, Weiser competed in the East German National Championship and won the 50 kilometer walk; in the same year he achieved his first major success when he became the European Champion in the 20 kilometer walk at the elite level with a time of 1:23:11.5 hours. He followed this two years later with his Olympic bronze medal. After his Olympic triumph Wieser did not win any additional medals in international competition. In 1982 he finished ninth in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, in 1983 he managed tenth in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and in 1987 he retired from competitive walking. After his retirement Wieser studied to become an auto mechanic, and later became a sports instructor at the Volkspolizei-Präsidium in Berlin. During these years he ran at the club level for SC Dynamo Berlin and trained under Max Weber.

Achievements

References

1956 births Living people East German male racewalkers Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic athletes of East Germany World record setters in athletics (track and field) People from Zschopau European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Saxony {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub