Albert Zürner (30 January 1890 – 18 July 1920) was a German diver who competed in the 1906 Summer Olympics, in the 1908 Summer Olympics, and in the 1912 Summer Olympics.[1][2]

Olympic medal record
Men's Diving
Gold medal – first place 1908 London 3 metre springboard
Silver medal – second place 1912 Stockholm 10 metre platform

Career edit

At the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Zürner was the youngest member of the German team aged just 16 years and 87 days old,[3] he competed in the platform diving event and finished fourth overall after nine dives from three different heights.[4]

Two years later, Zürner was competing in the 3 metre springboard event at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, after winning his heat and finishing second in his semi-final, he was in the final against two other German divers and an American, and on 18 July after seven dives Zürner was declared the winner, winning by 0.2 points from Kurt Behrens and receiving a gold medal.[5]

 
Zürner on the way to win the silver medal 10 m platform event at the 1912 Olympics.

Zürner competed in three events at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, he tried to retain his 3 metre springboard but only managed to finish in fourth place, missing out on the bronze medal by 0.4 points to Kurt Behrens,[6] he also entered the plain high diving event, but only managed sixth place in his heat so did not qualify for the final.[7] Zürner's best event at these Games was in the 10 metre platform event, where he won the silver medal, finishing behind Swedish diver Erik Adlerz by 1.34 points.[8]

Twelve years to the day after he won his gold medal, Zürner died in a diving accident while training for an event to be held in Bremen on 18 July 1920.[9]

In 1988, Zürner was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.[10]

References edit

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Albert Zürner". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Albert Zürner". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Germany at the 1906 Athina Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  4. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1906 Athina Summer Games: Men's Platform". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Springboard Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  6. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Springboard Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  7. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Plain High Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  8. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Diving at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Platform Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Albert Zürner". hamburger-persoenlichkeiten.de (in German). Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  10. ^ "ALBERT ZURNER (GER) 1988 Honor Pioneer Diver". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.

External links edit