Hans Günter Winkler (; 24 July 1926 – 9 July 2018) was a German

show jumper Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

. He is the only show jumper to have won five Olympic gold medals and a total of seven Olympic medals, and to compete and win medals in six different Olympic Games. In the 1950s and 1960s Winkler was one of Germany's most popular athletes.

Career

Winkler was born in

Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen, together with the neighbouring town of Elberfeld founded the first electric ...

, today part of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Germany, the son of a riding teacher. His father, Paul Winkler, died as a soldier during the last week of World War II. The boy was drafted as a ''

Flakhelfer A ''Luftwaffenhelfer'', also commonly known as a ''Flakhelfer'', was any member of the auxiliary staff of the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Such terms often implied students conscripted as child soldiers. Establishment ''Luftwaff ...

'' and was a prisoner of war for a short time. The house of his mother in Frankfurt was destroyed by bombing. He made money, to support his mother and himself, as a

groom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse (if female) is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man an ...

in the stable of the Landgravine of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Kronberg im Taunus Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was ab ...

. He was also a riding teacher of the Americans who occupied the area. He began an apprenticeship in a textile store in Frankfurt in 1948. Winkler participated in show jumping competitions and won for the first time on 10 October 1948, in Hünfeld, on Falkner. A new Olympic Committee for Riding (DOKR) was founded in 1949 by Gustav Rau, who moved it to

Warendorf Warendorf (, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf District. The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for horse-riding, and the opportunities it prov ...

. He called Winkler to join in 1950. In the morning, Winkler trained horses for the committee, in the afternoon he worked as a carpenter. Halla was a horse that the committee intended for

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. Thi ...

. Rau found her unsuitable for the task and called her owner and breeder Gustav Vierling in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

to take her back. Vierling came and asked Winkler to take care of the mare, which he accepted. The mare became an important part of his equestrian career. Winkler won his first German championship in 1952, but could not participate in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in Helsinki that year because he was classified as a professional due to his teaching in the 1940s. On an initiative of , he was qualified as an amateur by the end of the same year. Winkler won the World Championship with Halla in 1954, again in 1955, and became one of the favorites for the 1956 Olympic Games. In 1956 the Equestrian Games were held in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, as the athletes and their horses were not allowed to travel to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

due to quarantine restrictions. In the first round Winkler pulled a groin muscle at the penultimate obstacle after his mare took off early and threw him out of position. Despite the pain Winkler decided to ride in the second round as the German team would be eliminated without him. After he was given tranquilizers Winkler found that he was comfortable sitting, but riding was difficult and painful. Any drugs that could reduce the pain enough to make him comfortable in the saddle also would reduce his mental capacity, and therefore, he was only given black coffee before his ride to try to help reduce his dizziness and double-vision. Halla apparently sensed that her rider was not right and performed the entire course clear with only steering from Winkler, and their performance won them the individual and team gold. Hans Günter Winkler, Deutsches Spring-Derby 2012

Hans Günter Winkler, Deutsches Spring-Derby 2012

Winkler won five gold medals in jumping (in addition to the four individual medals with the German team) between 1956 and 1976, as well as a silver medal and a bronze medal. He is one of the most successful German Olympic athletes, third only to

Isabell Werth Isabell Werth (born 21 July 1969 in Issum) is a German equestrian and world champion in dressage who competed in the Olympics six times (1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2016, 2020) ...

and

Reiner Klimke Reiner Klimke (; 14 January 1936 – 17 August 1999) was a German equestrian, who won six gold and two bronze medals in dressage at the Summer Olympics — a record for equestrian events that has since been surpassed. He appeared in six Ol ...

for gold medals produced in German equestrian competition. He was

German Sportspersonality of the Year The German Sportspersonality of the Year has been chosen annually since 1947, with separate awards made for men and women. The record holder is tennis player Steffi Graf, who won five awards. Swimmer Michael Groß, tennis player Boris Becker, a ...

in 1955 and 1956. Winkler retired from jumping on 13 July 1986 with the conclusion of the Aachen tournament. Winkler worked as a trainer for the German Olympic teams, along with

Paul Schockemöhle Paul Schockemöhle (born 22 March 1945) is a German former showjumper. He was a successful international show jumping equestrian in the 1970s and 1980s at individual and team events in Olympic Games, World Championships and Eu ...

and Herbert Mayer, leading them to success in Seoul in 1988. He consulted companies who wanted to sponsor equestrian sport, organized tournaments, and worked for the development of young riders. He later published numerous books on riding and in 1991 founded the HGW-Marketinggesellschaft, a sports marketing firm that has helped produce various equestrian competitions. He was also a member of the

German Equestrian Federation The German Equestrian Federation () is an umbrella organization in Germany for equestrian sports and breeding. It is the governing body for the majority of equestrian sports and their organization in Germany, including FEI-recognized disciplines ...

's Jumping Committee and helped to select the 2000 Olympic Team for Germany. The German Equestrian Federation announced his death in

on 9 July 2018.

Awards

In May 2000, Winkler was the first recipient of the award, ''Goldene Sportpyramide'', of the . On 12 June 2008, he received the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

in Warendorf from , minister of interior and sport in North Rhine-Westphalia. He also received the media prize

Bambi Award The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and ot ...

Major achievements

*Olympic Games ** 1956 Stockholm: Team gold medal and individual gold medal on ''Halla'' ** 1960

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: Team gold medal. Individually finished 5th on ''Halla'' ** 1964

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

: Team gold medal. Individually finished 16th on ''Fidelitas'' ** 1968

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

: Team bronze medal, individually finished 5th on ''Enigk'' ** 1972

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

: Team gold medal on ''Torphy'' ** 1976

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

: Team silver medal, individually finished 10th on ''Torphy'' *

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, ...

** 1954

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

: Individual gold medal on ''Halla'' ** 1955

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

: Individual gold medal on ''Halla''/''Orient''

Publications

* *

Literature

* Bryant, Jennifer O. ''Olympic Equestrian, A Century of International Horse Sport.'' Lexington, KY: Blood-Horse Publications, 2008 * Ludwig, Dieter: ''Hans Günter Winkler''. – Warendorf : FN-Verl., 1983. – * Schröter, Eckhard F.: ''The happiest place on earth. The life and career of German riders.''. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1980,

Career

Awards

Major achievements

See also

Publications

Literature

References

External links