Gerd Bonk (26 August 1951 – 20 October 2014) was a

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

active for

East Germany 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 ...

from 1969 to 1980 who during his career won a silver medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

, a bronze medal at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, set two world records and achieved numerous other top-three ranks at

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 European Weightlifting Championships. He was also a master mechanic.

Biography

Bonk began his career at BSG Motor Nema Netzschkau as a track and field athlete and set the

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 ...

youth record for the shot put in 1967 with 17.82 m. To build up the necessary strength for shot putting, he regularly lifted weights. After participating in weightlifting contests and having greater successes in it than in shot putting, he shifted his focus completely towards weightlifting in 1969 at SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, Chemnitz. His coach was Klaus Kroll, a former top weightlifter of the GDR. In 1971 Bonk became GDR super heavyweight champion (with a bodyweight above 110 kg). During the Baltic-Cup, in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

in the same year, he had his international debut, where he made three failed pressing attempts. Being a top lifter, he was never able to beat Vasiliy Alekseyev from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Rudolf Mang Rudolf Mang (17 June 1950 – 12 March 2018) was a German heavyweight weightlifter. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and placed fifth and second, respectively. Between 1971 and 1972 he won four more medals at the world and European champ ...

from Germany up to 1980. His specialty was the clean and jerk, where he set two world records. In 1980 he once more placed third at the European Championships and even lifted 430 kg (180–250) in a smaller competition. Because he was not nominated for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, he stepped back from professional weightlifting. Bonk lived in Limbach/Vogtland as a pensioner. He was one of the prominent victims of

doping in East Germany The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a decades long program of coercive administration and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, initially testosterone, later mainly anabolic drugs to its elite athletes. The ai ...

reporting in 2003 that he had "diabetes, a failing liver and his feet are numb, among a host of signs of a failing body".http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/01/1048962754081.html Doping victims get short-changed on gold, Roy Kammerer, The Age In 2002 he was awarded the Georg von Opel Prize for Silent Winners in the category "Special Warriors".

World records

Bonk set two world records in clean and jerk: * 246.5 kg, 1975 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) * 252.5 kg, 1976 in Berlin.

GDR Championships

Bonk was East German champion in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1979 and won another 15 East German champion titles in

clean and press The clean and press is a two-part weight training exercise whereby a loaded barbell is lifted from the floor to the shoulders (the clean) and pushed overhead (the press). The lift was a component of the sport of Olympic weightlifting from 1928 to ...

(until 1972), snatch and clean and jerk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonk, Gerd 1951 births 2014 deaths People from Vogtlandkreis German male weightlifters Sportspeople from Saxony Olympic medalists in weightlifting Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Weightlifters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1976 Summer Olympics European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists