Jörg Drehmel (born 3 May 1945) is a retired

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 ...

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er who won a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics. He was the European champion in 1971.

Sports career

Drehmel first tried his hand at the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

and the decathlon before switching to the triple jump in 1966. His first big success came with a win at the European Cup in 1970, where he was the first German jumper to set a record with the first-ever jump over 17 meters. His jump of 17.16 meters to win the European Championship in 1971 did not qualify as a record due to excessive tail wind.

Background

Drehmel had a degree in electronics and was an officer in the

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) a ...

. At the end of his career in 1977 he became a youth coach for long and triple jump athletes. At the demise of the GDR he lost this position, and later joined the state sports association in the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

. At present he is the honorary jumping coach at SC Potsdam. He resides in Stahnsdorf near

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

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* * * * * 1945 births Living people People from Vorpommern-Greifswald East German male triple jumpers Sportspeople from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Olympic athletes of East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for East Germany European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze Universiade bronze medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1973 Summer Universiade {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub