Jürgen Schult (, ; born 11 May 1960) is a German former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete and, as of September 2021, the

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

in the discus. Dating from 1986, this is the longest-standing record in men's track and field. Schult represented

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 ...

in the 1988 Olympic discus competition, where he won the gold medal.

Biography

Born in

Amt Neuhaus Amt Neuhaus is a municipality in the District of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Amt'' means "municipal office" in German. The original "municipal office of ''Neuhaus''" existed since at least the 17th century until 1885, consecutively as p ...

, now in Niedersachsen, Schult was unable to compete in the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

due to his country's boycott of the games. He set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the discus in 1986. As an athlete under the East German program, his throw of bested the previous record of Soviet athlete, Yuriy Dumchev, of . This discus world record still stands today and is the longest-standing men's world record ever (having surpassed the length of

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...

' long jump record, which stood for 25 years and 79 days).Post, Marty (25 August 2011)
After 51 years, Owens' longevity record finally falls
IAAF. Retrieved on 21 September 2011. In 1988, at the first ever track and field competition between East and West Germany, Schult refused to shake hands with his former teammate, Wolfgang Schmidt, after beating him; Schmidt had very shortly before moved from East to West Germany. Later in his long sports career, Schult joined the reunified German team. He competed in a second Olympic Games in 1992, getting a silver medal, and the 1999 World Championships, again getting second place. He competed in his final Olympics in 2000 at the age of 40, finishing in eighth place. Schult has a degree in sport, and in 2002 became the trainer of the German track and field association's men's discus team. Schult represented the Traktor Schwerin sports club and trained with Dr. Hermann Brandt, later he represented the Schwerin and Riesa sports clubs and trained with Thomas Schult. While he was actively competing, he was 1.93 meters tall and weighed 110 kilograms.

International competitions

1979 European Athletics Junior Championships The 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships was the fifth edition of the biennial athletics competition for European athletes aged under twenty. It was held in Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, ...

: 1st place * 1983 World Championships in Athletics: 5th place (64.92) *

1986 European Athletics Championships The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as Mercedes-Benz Arena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. ...

: 7th Place (64.38) *

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

: 1st place (68.74) *

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

: 1st place (68.82) *

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

: 1st place (64.58) *

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participa ...

: 6th place (63.12) * 1992 Olympic Games: 2nd place (64.94) *

1993 World Championships in Athletics The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...

: 3rd place (66.12) * 1994 European Athletics Championships: 3rd place * 1995 World Championships in Athletics: 5th place (64.44) *

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

: 6th place *

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

: 3rd place (66.14) * 1998 European Athletics Championships: 2nd place *

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and Augu ...

: 2nd place (68.18) * 2000 Olympic Games: 8th place (64.41)

References

Track and Field News

External links

Video of world record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schult, Jurgen 1960 births Living people People from Lüneburg (district) Sportspeople from Lower Saxony East German male discus throwers German male discus throwers German athletics coaches Olympic athletes of East Germany Olympic athletes of Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics record holders Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners Friendship Games medalists in athletics