Jan Hempel (born 21 August 1971) is a German diver who competed at the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, winning two Olympic medals. Hempel won a silver in 10 m Platform and a bronze medal in 10 m synchronized platform. He also competed on the 3m springboard, scoring "the second best dive of all time" in Vienna in 1993.

Olympic career

1988

Hempel made his Olympic debut at age 17 in

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, where he placed fifth.

1992

Hempel returned to the Olympics in

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, but again did not medal, placing fourth.

1996

The third time was charm, as Hempel won silver in the 10 m platform, scoring 663.27. He saved his toughest dive for last. He nailed the back 1 somersault with 4 twists from the free position, earning 92.88 points. It was one of the two dives out of the 72 in the finals with a 3.6 degree of difficulty.

2000

In the inaugural men's 10 m synchronized platform event, Hempel, now 29, with partner

Heiko Meyer Heiko Meyer (born 2 December 1976 in Dresden, Sachsen) is a German diver who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000' ...

won the bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Games, earning Hempel his second medal in four Olympic appearances. Meyer and first-time Olympian Heiko Meyer began training together in 1998 and won the bronze medal at the World Championships later that year. The pair also won the event at the 1999 European Championships. Despite these achievements, Hempel came into the 2000 Games with modest expectations. Hempel stated, "If you had asked us before the competition, we wouldn't have thought we were a chance for a medal." However, the team pulled off a solid performance on the program's most difficult dive, a back 3 somersault tuck and reverse 3 somersault tuck, scoring 78.54. Hempel continued, "It has the most risk but it paid off for us."

Other appearances

European Diving Championships

In the European Diving Championships, Hempel had an illustrious career winning silver in 1987 in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, bronze in 1989 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, Germany, gold in 1993 in

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, England, and silver in 1995 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. In 1997 in

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, Spain, Hempel finally won a European highboard diving gold 10 years after taking the first of three silvers on the 10-meter board. Hempel had been suffering from influenza for three days and considered pulling out of the competition. But he decided against it and was rewarded with the gold. "I'm happy it worked out at the sixth attempt", said Hempel. During the competition, he scored a rare perfect 10 mark. After taking the silver in 1987, 1989 and 1995 and bronze in 1993, he had finally added a highboard gold to the European three-meter springboard gold he won in 1993. At the 2003 Arena Diving Champions Cup in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, Hempel, now 32, was described as the man "who wrote diving history", citing the second best dive of all time in the Diving Champions Cup 3m finals performing a back 1 somersault with 3 twists in Vienna 1993, for a fantastic 87.36 points.

Synchronized diving

With Meyer, the synchronized pair continued to compete in the event at the World Championships, through at least 2001. They also competed separately on the men's 10 m platform. Hempel placed 4th at the 2001 Goodwill Games.

Personal life

Hempel is a father of two. In summer of 2022, he was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

Sexual abuse allegations against coach

In August 2022, Hempel revealed that his long-term coach Werner Langer sexually abused him over the course of 14 years. When he finally informed the German Swimming Association they relieved the coach from duty but did not make the reason public or bring criminal charges.

References

External links

Profile Jan Hempel

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hempel, Jan 1971 births Living people German male divers Divers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Divers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic divers of East Germany Olympic divers of Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Divers from Dresden Olympic medalists in diving Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games 20th-century German people 21st-century German people