Otto Herschmann
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Austria |
||
| Men's swimming | ||
| Silver | 1896 Athens | 100 m freestyle |
| Men's fencing | ||
| Silver | 1912 Stockholm | Team sabre |
Dr. Otto Herschmann (4 January 1877 – 14 June 1942) was a Jewish Austrian swimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sport official. He is one of only three athletes to have won Olympic medals in different sports.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Olympic swimming career
Born in Vienna, Herschmann first competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in the 100 metres freestyle event. He placed second with a time of 1:22.8, .6 seconds behind the winner Alfréd Hajós.[2]
[edit] Olympic fencing career
Herschmann returned to Olympic competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden competing as a member of Austria's fencing team. A sabre fencer, he won a silver medal in the team competition.[2]
At that time he was serving as president of the Austrian Olympic Committee. He is the only president of a National Olympic Committee to win a medal while holding office.[3]
[edit] Concentration camp and death
Herschmann was arrested in Vienna by the Nazis, and deported on 14 January 1942, to the Sobibór extermination camp. He died in the Izbica concentration camp in German-occupied Poland later that year.[4]
[edit] Hall of Fame
Herschmann, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
On 7 November 2001 his hometown Vienna named a lane Otto-Herschmann-Gasse in Simmering.
[edit] See also
- List of select Jewish fencers
- List of select Jewish swimmers
- List of multi-sport athletes
- List of multiple Olympic medalists
[edit] References
- ^ Otto Herschmann at www.jewishsports.net
- ^ a b "Otto Herschmann Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
- ^ INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE – OLYMPIC GAMES at 209.85.165.104
- ^ Schaffer, Kay; Smith, Sidonie (2000). The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games. Rutgers University Press. pp. 60—62. ISBN 9780813528205. http://books.google.com/books?id=nMzYdZpk8qMC&pg=PA61&dq=holocaust+%22After+the+games%22&hl=en&ei=N7I_TbCOBYT68AaBu7WjBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=holocaust%20%22After%20the%20games%22&f=false.
[edit] External links
- 1877 births
- 1942 deaths
- Austrian swimmers
- Austrian fencers
- Austrian Jews
- Freestyle swimmers
- Izbica concentration camp victims
- Olympic swimmers of Austria
- Olympic fencers of Austria
- Olympic silver medalists for Austria
- Olympic medalists in fencing
- Swimmers at the 1896 Summer Olympics
- Fencers at the 1906 Summer Olympics
- Fencers at the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople of multiple sports
- People from Vienna
- Jewish fencers
- Jewish swimmers
- People condemned by Nazi courts
- Sportspeople who died in Nazi concentration camps
- Austrian civilians killed in World War II
- Olympic medalists in swimming
- Lawyers who died in Nazi concentration camps
- Sobibor extermination camp
