Peter Frenkel (born 13 May 1939 in

Eckartsberga Eckartsberga () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated west of Naumburg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") An der Finne. Since 2009 it has included the former municipali ...

) is an

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 ...

athlete who was one of the best 20 km race walkers in the world in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Biography

He won the gold medal for East Germany in the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Olympics of 1972 in the 20 kilometre walk, in a time of 1:26:43. He defended his title at the 1976 Olympics held in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada, finishing in third place. He first competed in the Olympics at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, where he finished in tenth place, with a time of 1:37:21. He came fourth at the 1971 European Championships in a time of 1:27:52.8. He had retired early from the sport by the time of the 1974 European Championships. He used a

decompression chamber A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...

belonging to the state airline

Interflug Interflug GmbH (german: Interflug Gesellschaft für internationalen Flugverkehr m.b.H.; ) was the national airline of the German Democratic Republic from 1963 to 1990. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to Europea ...

in training for the 1972 Olympics, so as to simulate the effects of altitude training. He set two

World Records 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 ...

during his racing career, the first in 1970 (1:25:50), the second in 1972 (1:25:19.4) equalling Hans-Georg Reimann's record. He served in the East German Army while training, rising to the rank of Major. After finishing his racing career, he became a well-known photographer in East Germany. He was vice-president of the Union of German Olympians (''Gemeinschaft Deutscher Olympiateilnehmer'', or GDO) from 1991 to 1998. He then became a press officer fo
OSC Potsdam
athletic club. He raced for the ASK Vorwärts Potsdam club (the army sports club). He was coached by Wilhelm Kustak until 1968, and then by Hans-Joachim Pathus. In his racing years he was tall, and weighed .

References

External links

* 1939 births Living people People from Eckartsberga People from the Province of Saxony East German male racewalkers Sportspeople from Saxony-Anhalt Olympic athletes of East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub