Gottfried Kottmann

Gottfried " Göpf " Kottmann (* October 15, 1932 in Zurich, † November 6, 1964 in Zurich ) was a Swiss rower who in 1964 won the Olympic bronze medal in One.

Career

Kottmann career began in twos with coxswain, in a boat of this he won in 1954 in Amsterdam and in 1955 in Ghent at the European Championships together with Rolf Streuli and Walter Ludin. 1956 occupied Kottmann, Streuli and helmsman Walter Rüede second behind the German boat. At the Olympic Games 1956, the German boat won the silver medal, while Switzerland did not compete after the invasion of the Red Army during the Hungarian national uprising. 1958 erruderten Kottmann and Streuli with the helmsman Werner Ehrensperger the bronze medal at the European Championships.

1959 changed Kottmann and Streuli in the coxless four and won along with Emile dining and Hansrüdi Scheller at the European Championships in Macon. At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 Kottmann and Streuli came along with Paul Kölliker and Kurt Schmid four without and occupied the sixth place in the finals.

Then Kottmann switched from rowing to Skull belt. He remained in the 1960s without a medal at the European Championships. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 he reached the final and finished there in the finals on October 15th to third place behind Vyacheslav Ivanov and Achim Hill. On the day of the final run Kottmann celebrated his 32nd birthday.

Gottfried Kottmann was a member of the Zurich cantonal police. Just three weeks after winning the Olympic medal, on 6 November 1964 he had an accident during a night dive exercise the cantonal police in the Rhine at Flaach and died as a result. On gleichenTag died, the Swiss cycling legend Hugo Koblet, so this day as "Black Day " of Swiss sport applies.