Reinhard Heß (13 June 1945 – 24 December 2007) was a German

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

coach. He was the national team's coach from 1993 until 2003, helping the sport in becoming popular in Germany. Heß was born in

Lauscha Lauscha is a town in the district of Sonneberg, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 13 km north of Sonneberg, and 24 km southwest of Saalfeld. Lauscha is known for its glassblowing, especially for Christmas tree decorations like ba ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. The jumpers he trained included

Martin Schmitt Martin Schmitt (; born 29 January 1978) is a German former ski jumper who competed from 1997 to 2014. He is one of Germany's most successful ski jumpers, having won the World Cup twice; a gold medal at the Winter Olympics; four gold medals at th ...

, who won the

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

two times and

Sven Hannawald Sven Hannawald (; born 9 November 1974) is a German former ski jumper. Having competed from 1992 to 2004, his career highlight was winning the 2002 Four Hills Tournament, on that occasion becoming the first athlete to win all four events of said ...

, who won the

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament (german: link=no, Vierschanzentournee) or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week (german: link=no, Deutsch-Österreichische Skisprung-Woche) is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in ...

in 2002. With 21 medals won in

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

combined, Heß was Germany's most successful ski jumping coach. He died of pancreatic cancer in Bad Berka.

References

1945 births 2007 deaths People from Sonneberg (district) German ski jumping coaches German sports coaches German Olympic coaches Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Germany German autobiographers Sportspeople from Thuringia German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-skijumping-bio-stub