Eberhard Gienger

Eberhard Gienger (born 21 July 1951) is a German politician (CDU) and former West German gymnast. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, winning bronze in the latter.[1]

Eberhard Gienger
Eberhard Gienger in 2007
Personal information
Country represented	West Germany
Born	21 July 1951 Künzelsau, Germany
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	International
Eponymous skills	Gienger salto
Medal record Olympic Games 1976 Montreal Horizontal bar World Championships 1974 Varna Horizontal bar 1978 Strasbourg Pommel horse 1978 Strasbourg Horizontal bar 1981 Moscow Horizontal bar European Championships 1973 Grenoble Horizontal bar 1975 Berne Horizontal bar 1981 Rome Horizontal bar 1975 Berne All-around 1977 Vilnius Parallel bars 1975 Berne Pommel horse 1979 Essen Parallel bars

Gymnastics career

During his gymnastics career from 1971 to 1981, Gienger won 36 German championship titles; one gold and three silver medals in world championships; three gold, two silver and two bronze medals in European championships, and one Olympic bronze medal.

Gienger was an outstanding high bar artist: He won the European Championships in 1973, 1975 and 1981; he won gold in the 1974 World Championships, and won the bronze medal in the 1976 Olympic Games. For these feats he was elected German Sportsman of the Year in 1974 and 1978. The Gienger salto on the high bar and on the uneven bars is named after him.

Political career

Gienger was a member of the German National Olympic Committee from 1986 to 2006, and since 2006 has been the Vice President of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, the successor organization to the German NOC.

Gienger entered politics in 2001 and became a member of the Christian Democratic Union. He has been a member of the German Parliament since the 2002 elections, representing the Neckar-Zaber electoral district of the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg. In parliament, he has since been serving on the Committee on Sports and the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment.

References

1. Olympic results Archived 20 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

• Jo Viellvoye, Josef Göhler: "Eberhard Gienger. Das Abenteuer der Turnkunst" Badenia, Karlsruhe 1978, ISBN 3-7617-0147-0
• Andreas Götze, Jürgen Uhr: "Eberhard Gienger präsentiert Mond-Salto. Die großen Erfinder" Steinmeier, Nördlingen 1994, ISBN 3-927496-26-X

External links

Media related to Eberhard Gienger at Wikimedia Commons

• Eberhard Gienger at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Parliamentary home page of Eberhard Gienger