Ulf Béla Timmermann (, ; born 1 November 1962 in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

) is a German former

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

ter who broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

several times during the 1980s, and is the first and one of only four people to ever throw over 23 metres (along with Randy Barnes, Joe Kovacs and Ryan Crouser). Timmermann was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to an athletic family and took up shot put at 13. He broke his first world record in 1985 with a throw of 22.62 meters. On 22 May 1988 he became the first person to throw over 23 meters with a throw of 23.06 meters at

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. He won gold for

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

at the 1988 Olympics in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, ahead of Randy Barnes of the U.S. The fourth place throw at this competition would have won every previous Olympics in the shot put. At the 1992 Olympics, he represented Germany, but finished a disappointing fifth. He left competition afterwards. Timmermann is the farthest thrower of all time in the shot put using the glide technique. He also passed 22 metres in 16 different competitions. His coach was Werner Goldmann who is currently coaching shot put and discus throw in Berlin.

References

Article on Ulf Timmermann
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timmermann, Ulf 1962 births Living people Athletes from East Berlin East German male shot putters German male shot putters Olympic athletes for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic athletes for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Indoor Championships winners East German Athletics Championships winners

See also

References