Christiaan David "Chris" Berger (27 April 1911 – 12 September 1965) was a Dutch

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, competing in the

sprints Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle * Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint ...

Career

Berger was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and changed to running after winning a 100 national title among footballers. In 1930 he ran his best

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

time (21.1 s), which would remain the European record until 1951 and the Dutch national record until 1965. His career highlights came in 1934, when he had equalled the world record on the 100 m (10.3 s) in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Later at the first

European Championships in Athletics The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

, he won both the 100 m and 200 m sprints and finished third with the Dutch team at the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. Originally the jury had declared the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

athlete

Erich Borchmeyer Erich Borchmeyer (23 January 1905 – 17 August 2000) was a German Track and field athletics, athlete, who competed mainly in the 100 metres. Borchmeyer was born in Münster. He competed for Germany in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los An ...

as winner of the 100 m, which led to outrage among the spectators who had clearly seen Berger win the race. The jury was eventually convinced to delay its decision after the films of the finish would be available the next day, which showed Berger to have won indeed. Berger participated twice at the Olympics without much success. Much was expected from the Dutch athletes in 1932, but after a 10-day voyage by boat and a week on the train they didn't play much of a role in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Berger was eliminated in both sprints in the semifinals. In 1936, Berger had passed his peak and was overshadowed in his own country by

Tinus Osendarp Martinus "Tinus" Bernardus Osendarp (21 May 1916 – 20 June 2002) was a Dutch sprint runner. Sporting career Osendarp was a football player and started training in sprint for fun. His first international success came at the 1934 European Champi ...

and

Wil van Beveren Wijnand "Wil" van Beveren (28 December 1911 – 5 October 2003) was a Dutch sprinter. He competed in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 metres relay at the 1936 Summer Olympics and finished sixth in the 200 m, running against Jesse Owens. In the relay, ...

, while the Dutch relay team ended up dropping the baton in the finals. Between 1930 and 1934 Chris Berger won eight Dutch titles, four in each sprint event. He ended his career in sports in 1943 and became supervisor of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam in 1965 and is buried at Zorgvlied cemetery. His daughter Elles was a popular presenter on Dutch television.

Competition record

References

* Heere, A. and Kappenburg, B. ''(2000) 1870 – 2000, 130 jaar atletiek in Nederland.'' Groenevelt b.v. * Bijkerk, T. (2004) ''Olympisch Oranje.'' De Vrieseborch *

External links

Article on Berger
(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Chris 1911 births 1965 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Dutch male sprinters Olympic athletes of the Netherlands World record setters in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Amsterdam European Athletics Championships medalists