Dieter Speer (born 24 February 1942) is a former East German biathlete. He was the first German to hold the title when he became world champion in biathlon in 1971, beating the outstanding

Alexander Tikhonov Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov (russian: Александр Иванович Тихонов; born 2 January 1947) is a former Soviet-Russian biathlete. On 23 July 2007, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to three ye ...

over 20 kilometres. Tikhonov could be said to be partly responsible for Speer's success, since the rifle was a gift from Tikhonov. Speer was able to return the favour a year later at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

in Sapporo, lending Tikhonov his ski when the latter fell during the relay and broke a ski. In that event, the Russians won, and the East German team only got a bronze medal.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...

Olympic Games

''1 medal (1 bronze)''

World Championships

''3 medals (1 gold, 2 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.''

References

External links

*
SGD Zinnwald

Portrait
1942 births Living people People from Legnica German male biathletes Biathletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of East Germany Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Biathlon World Championships medalists {{Germany-biathlon-bio-stub