Ottilie "Tilly" Fleischer (2 October 1911 – 14 July 2005) was a German athlete who competed in a variety of track and field athletic events. She competed for Germany in the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

held in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in three different events, taking the bronze medal in the javelin. Four years later in her home country at the 1936 Games she won the gold medal in the javelin in front of the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

crowds. The reaction of Olympic officials to the congratulations given to her by Nazi leader

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

was put forward as the reason why Hitler never congratulated American athlete

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 ...

after his first gold medal victory. Rumours appeared in 1966 as to who was the father of one of her daughters, after her daughter Giselle claimed in a book to be the daughter of Adolf Hitler.

Early life

Ottilie Fleischer was born on 2 October 1911; her father was a butcher. Even at an early age she was interested in sports, initially gymnastics, but when she was a teenager she became involved in athletics. She trained in a variety of events including pentathlon, javelin, discus and shot put.

Career

Fleischer travelled across the Atlantic Ocean on board the SS ''Europa'' with the other members of the German team and then across the United States by train to Los Angeles in order to compete at the

. At the 1932 Games, she went in as one of the favourites for the gold medal in the women's javelin along with Ellen Braumüller. In the competition, she finished third, while Braumüller took the silver medal. American

Babe Zaharias Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; Didrikson; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer O ...

won the gold medal. She also competed in the Women's 4 x 100 metres relay with teammates

Grete Heublein Margarete "Grete" Heublein (29 January 1908, in Barmen – 2 March 1997, in Wuppertal) was a German track and field athlete who competed in the discus throw, shot put and the 100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a s ...

Marie Dollinger Maria "Marie" Dollinger-Hendrix (28 October 1910 – 10 August 1994) was a German track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events and the 800 metres. She represented Germany at three consecutive Olympic Games: 1928, 1932 and 1936. She ...

and Braumüller. The team came in the sixth and final position out of the teams that entered the race. She also finished fourth in the women's discus throw, just outside the medal positions. Whilst competing at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, she broke the Olympic record for the women's javelin throw twice during the rounds of the competition. She threw a javelin 148 feet, 2 25/32 inches, beating the previous record holder by over five inches. In so doing, she became the first German woman to win a gold medal at an Olympics event. As opposed to the 1932 Games, the javelin event was the only competition she entered at the 1936 Games. After Fleischer won the javelin event, she was taken, along with the other two medallists, to meet

. She was congratulated by the German leader and

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

and posed for photographs. Hitler was later warned by Olympic officials that heads of states were not permitted to conduct such congratulations, which in 1984 was what

Willi Daume Willi is a given name, nickname (often a short form or hypocorism of Wilhelm) and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Willi Apel (1893–1988), German-American musicologist * Willi Boskovsky (1909–1991), Austrian violin ...

claimed had prevented Hitler from congratulating gold medallist

, causing the story that the Nazi leader refused to shake his hand. After retiring from athletics Fleischer became involved in handball and played for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

handball club, winning the German championship in 1943.

Personal life

Fleischer was married twice, having two daughters in her first marriage. In 1948 she opened a leather goods shop in

Lahr Lahr (officially Lahr/Schwarzwald since 30 September 1978) (); gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Lohr) is a town in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 50 km north of Freiburg im Breisgau, 40 km southeast of Strasbourg, and 95&nb ...

, near the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

. One of her daughters was named Gisela, who in 1966 was reported by the newspaper ''

Tribune de Genève The ''Tribune de Genève'' (English: ''Geneva Tribune'') is a Swiss French-language, regional daily newspaper, published in Berliner format by Edipresse in Geneva. History and operations The ''Tribune de Genève'' was first published by Jame ...

'' to be the illegitimate daughter of Adolf Hitler and was subsequently reported elsewhere in the press. This was due to the publishing of a book by Gisela, in which she claimed to be Hitler's daughter. Gisela later took over the two leather goods shops owned by her mother following Tilly's death on 14 July 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischer, Tilly 1911 births 2005 deaths German female javelin throwers Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic athletes of Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Frankfurt Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Women's World Games medalists