Hans Günter Winkler (; 24 July 1926 – 9 July 2018) was a German show jumper. 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 (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, 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'' 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 is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and Groomsman, ...

in the stable of the Landgravine of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

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 w ...

. 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 language, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf (district), Warendorf District. The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for eq ...

. 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 the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

. 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 the ...

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

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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

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

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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. 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 who has competed in dressage at seven Olympic Games —1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2016, 2020, 2024— winning the gold medal in the team event in all seven, and one gold and six s ...

and Reiner Klimke for gold medals produced in German equestrian competition. He was German Sportspersonality of the Year 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 and

Herbert Mayer Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territ ...

, 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'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 (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

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

Major achievements

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

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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

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

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

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

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

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** 1954

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

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

: 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