Jürgen Hingsen (; born 25 January 1958) is a former

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

decathlete The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθ� ...

who won several medals at international championships and Olympic Games in the 1980s, and held the decathlon world record in 1982 and again from 1983 to 1984. His rivalry with British decathlete

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958) is an English former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competit ...

proved one of the most exciting in athletics during the 1980s.

Biography

The tall athlete came second in the

Olympic decathlon ''Olympic Decathlon'' is a sports video game written by Timothy W. Smith for the TRS-80 and published in 1980 by Microsoft. In the game, the player competes in ten track and field events. The gold medalist for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summ ...

at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

just behind

. Also in 1984, Hingsen set his personal best in the decathlon at 8832 points – then a

world record 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 organizatio ...

, and the German record until 2023. During the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, Hingsen made three false starts in the 100 metre sprint, and he was disqualified from that event – and effectively eliminated from that decathlon competition.

Personal bests

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hingsen, Jurgen 1958 births Living people West German decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for West Germany Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Sportspeople from Duisburg Athletes from Düsseldorf (region) World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games silver medalists for West Germany Medalists at the 1979 Summer Universiade West German Athletics Championships winners