Gustav-Adolf "Täve" Schur (born 23 February 1931) is a former East German

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. He was born in Heyrothsberge,

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. His sporting career began with

SC DHfK Leipzig SC DHfK Leipzig e. V. ''(Sportclub Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur Leipzig e. V.)'' is a sports club in Leipzig, Germany. It was established in 1954 as a competitive sports club, initially under the name ''SC Wissenschaft DHfK Leipzig'', ...

. He was the first German to win the amateur competition of the

World Cycling Championships The UCI World Championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winn ...

and the

Peace Race The Peace Race (, , , (), , , , ) is a cycling race that was established as the largest event in Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Since 2013, it has been run as one of the most prestigious stage races for national U23 teams. Histo ...

. Between 1958 and 1990 Schur was a member of the

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

, the East German

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Life

"Täve" Schur (a shortening of Gustav-Adolf) grew up near Magdeburg. He only took up cycling aged 19 and won the highest honors an amateur cyclist could reach. Schur won the East German championships 6 times in that period and won the GDR tour 4 times. In 1953 he had a great stake in East Germany winning the blue jersey of the best team at the Peace Race. His real breakthrough came in 1955, however, when he was the first East German to win the Peace Race, considered the most prestigious amateur stage race. Schur won the Peace Race once more in 1959. As a member of the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany () was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympic Games, Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes from a third ...

he won a bronze medal in the team time trial at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and a silver medal at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, at a time when the impact East Germany would have in later Olympic Games was not foreseen yet. Between 1955 and 1963 Schur studied at the DHfK Leipzig and finished with a diploma as coach. In late 1950s Schur was at the height of his form, as proven by his two wins at the amateur road race at the road world championships in 1958 and 1959, he was the first amateur to defend his title. He won the DDR Rundfahrt in 1953, 1954, 1959 and 1961. Schur reached the summit of his popularity by not winning, however: At the 1960

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

that took place at the

Sachsenring The Sachsenring () is a motorsport race track, racing circuit located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal near Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany. Among other events, it features the annual German motorcycle Grand Prix of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyc ...

, Schur was favorite to defend his title again, but instead he let his teammate Bernhard Eckstein pass who eventually won the race. This selfless gesture capped Schur's myth, the dimensions of which can be sensed if one considers the results of a survey conducted after the end of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

: here Schur was voted greatest East German sports personality of all time, 25 years after ending his career. Schur was selected as East-German Sportspersonality of the Year nine times in a row from 1953 to 1961. His son Jan (born 1962) won an Olympic gold medal in the team trial at 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 ...

, together with Uwe Ampler, Mario Kummer and Maik Landsmann. Schur was more deeply involved politically than other sports people in East Germany. Between 1958 and 1990 he was a member of the

. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

he kept to his views and joined the SED successor party PDS and was a member of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's parliament,

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

, between 1998 and 2002. Schur is also a member of the "Kuratorium Friedensfahrt Course de la Paix e.V.". In 1992 Schur opened a bicycle store in Magdeburg that is now run by his other son Gus-Erik Schur. "Täves Radladen" supports the bicycle racing club "RC Lostau" and takes part in races all over Europe under the name "Team Täves Radladen". In May 2012 Schur re-rode two stages of the 1955

, as part of th
Alf Buttler Peace Race Tribute Ride

Honors

In 2005 the planetoid 2000 UR was named after Schur. It now has the official designation (38976) Täve, circling the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

on an orbit between

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

Books

*Adolf Klimanschewsky: ''Täve. Das Lebensbild eines Sportlers unserer Zeit''. Sport Verlag, Berlin, 1955 *Klaus Ullrich: ''Unser Täve. Ein Buch über Gustav Adolf Schur.'' Sport-Verlag, Berlin, 1959. *Klaus Ullrich: ''Unser Weltmeister.'' Sport-Verlag, Berlin, 1959 *Uwe Johnson: ''Das dritte Buch über Achim.'' Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1962. *Klaus Huhn: ''Das vierte Buch über Täve''. Spotless-Verlag, Berlin, 1992, *Tilo Köhler: ''Der Favorit fuhr Kowalit. Täve Schur und die Friedensfahrt.'' Kiepenheuer, Leipzig 1997, *Klaus Huhn: ''Der Kandidat.'' Spotless-Verlag, Berlin, 1998, *Andreas Ciesielski:: ''Täve. Eine Legende wurde 70.'' Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2001, *Gustav-Adolf Schur: ''Die Autobiographie.'' Das Neue Berlin Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin, 2001, *Klaus Ullrich, Klaus Köste: ''Das 9. (neunte) Buch über Schur.'' Spotless-Verlag, Berlin, 2002, *Andreas Ciesielski: ''Typisch Täve.'' Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2006, *Gustav-Adolf Schur: ''Täve, die Autobiografie. Gustav Adolf Schur erzählt sein Leben.'' Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2011, *Gustav-Adolf Schur: ''Der Ruhm und ich.'' Spotless-Verlag, Berlin, 2011, *Gustav-Adolf Schur: ''Täve, die Autobiografie. Gustav Adolf Schur erzählt sein Leben.'' 2. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2011,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schur, Tave 1931 births Living people People from Jerichower Land Sportspeople from the Province of Saxony Politicians from the Province of Saxony Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians Members of the 3rd Volkskammer Members of the 4th Volkskammer Members of the 5th Volkskammer Members of the 6th Volkskammer Members of the 7th Volkskammer Members of the 8th Volkskammer Members of the 9th Volkskammer Members of the 10th Volkskammer Members of the Bundestag for Saxony-Anhalt Members of the Bundestag 1998–2002 Free German Youth members German male cyclists East German male cyclists Cyclists from Saxony-Anhalt Cyclists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for the United Team of Germany Olympic silver medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic medalists in cycling Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Members of the Bundestag for the Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) German sportsperson-politicians SC DHfK Leipzig athletes Sportspeople from Bezirk Magdeburg