Fritz Hofmann (born 19 June 1871 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

; died 14 July 1927 in Berlin,

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

) was a German

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 ...

. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

1896 Summer Olympics

Hofmann competed in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

. In the heats, he came in second out of five runners, qualifying for the final. There he again came in second, with his time of 12.2 seconds being 0.2 seconds behind the winner, Thomas Burke of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Hofmann also competed in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

. He placed second in his preliminary heat, advancing to the final. There, he finished in fourth place. He was credited as having finishing third for many years, but modern sources (based on 1896 documents) place him fourth behind

Charles Gmelin Charles Henry Stuart Gmelin (28 May 1872 – 12 October 1950) was a British athlete. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Personal life Gmelin was born in Krishnanagar Nadia, in Bengal, India, where his father Frederick Gme ...

. In the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Hofmann placed last of the five athletes. His best jump was 1.55 metres. He also placed either sixth or seventh (with Khristos Zoumis of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

taking the other place) in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, as well as in the bottom three of the seven man field in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. He also competed in three

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

events, rope climbing and the team

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars slightly over long and positioned at roughly head height. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally we ...

and

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

. In the rope climbing Hofmann reached the highest of the three gymnasts who did not finish, receiving a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

behind the two

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

climbers, who reached the top of the 14 metre rope. Hofmann made it to 12.5 metres. In the team, Hofmann was the captain of the German team that won both competitions.

Later life

Hofmann, along with the rest of the 1896 German Olympic gymnastics team, was excluded from the German Gymnastics Association and banned from German national gymnastics competitions for competing in an international sporting event. He remained involved in athletics, however, captaining the German team at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

and

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 29 August to 3 September 1904, as part of an extended s ...

, as well as the

1906 Intercalated Games The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games i ...

(at which he also competed again in the 100 metres, finishing 5th in his first-round heat). From 1904 to 1927, he served on the German

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

"Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Olympische Spiele" (''"German Imperial Commission for Olympic Games"''), which was renamed '' Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen'' (''"German Imperial Commission for Physical Exercise"'') in 1917. Hofmann owned a sports articles business, opened a "sports-bath", and edited a health magazine.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Fritz 1871 births 1927 deaths German male sprinters German male artistic gymnasts Olympic athletes of Germany Olympic gymnasts of Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Gymnasts at the 1896 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in gymnastics Athletes from Berlin Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic male high jumpers 19th-century German people 20th-century German people