Hermann Weingärtner

Who was Hermann Weingärtner?

Hermann Weingärtner was a German gymnast.

He was born and died in Frankfurt.

He started his career in his hometown at the local gymnastics club Frankfurter Turnverein 1860. Later on he moved to Berlin to compete for the Deutsche Turnerschaft.

He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Weingärtner was a member of the German team that won two gold medals by placing first in both of the team events, the parallel bars and the horizontal bar.

He also won a number of individual medals, taking the gold in the horizontal bar, silver in pommel horse and rings, and bronze in the vault. He competed in the parallel bars, but did not win a medal in that event. His six medals made him one of the most successful competitors at the first modern Olympic Games.

After his return to Germany he and most of the other German gymnasts were suspended, because the Deutsche Turnerschaft boycotted the Olympic games with the reason that competing is "ungerman". So he moved back to Frankfurt to manage the open-air swimming pool founded by his father on the Ziegenwerder island.

He drowned trying to rescue a person from drowning in the Oder.