Friedrich Traun
Adolf Friedrich "Fritz" Traun ( born March 29, 1876 in Wandsbek, † July 11, 1908 in Hamburg ) was a German sports pioneer and champion in doubles tennis at the Olympic Games in 1896.
Life
Traun, who came in Wandsbek 1876 World, came from a wealthy Hanseatic home; his father Heinrich Traun had a company of rubber-processing industry and was from 1901 to 1908 Hamburg senator. After visiting the Matthias -Claudius -Gymnasium Traun took in 1895 to study chemistry at the Technical University of Dresden. In the autumn of that year he joined a city competition in athletics between Berlin and Hamburg in appearance and won the race about half a mile.
In 1896, Traun part in the first Olympic Games in Athens. In his best discipline, the 800 -meter run, however, he resigned to lead in third place with a time of 2:14,0 minutes. He is said to have been then the Irishman John Pius Boland to participate in the tennis competition, who suffered from international players from a lack, persuaded; after the other portrayal, he decided himself spontaneously. While he was in the match against Boland, the future Olympic champion, was eliminated in the first round, both covered in a double after a win in the first round and a subsequent bye directly to the final, which they on April 9 against the Greeks Dionysius Kasdaglis and Demetrios Petrokokkinos won.
In 1897 he reached in Baden -Baden in the long jump as the first German a length of about 6 meters.
1899 doctorate in Traun entitled to knowledge of Dibrommesitolbromids and its transformation products with the best grade summa cum laude. In the years 1900 and 1901 he worked as researcher at the Sorbonne in Paris, and then joined his father's company. As of 1902, Traun held for a year on business in the United States. First Traun inspected a branch of the company on Long Iceland. In the winter of 1902/ 03 he became ill with tuberculosis, from which he never fully recovered. He met with Carl Schurz, on his advice, he spent the following spring in a spa hotel in Augusta, and returned to Hamburg in the summer of 1903. He spent the following years to cure stays in St. Moritz and Davos, where he gained experience as a bobsledder and 1904 on the Cresta Run set a new track record at St. Moritz.
After he was increasingly excluded by his illness from active competition, is Traun operated as a sports journalist and organizer. In 1906 he acted as tournament director at the Hamburg Tennis Championship Tournament, in 1907 as its chief referee. In the same year Traun learned at Kiel Week Friedel Preetorius, daughter of wealthy businessman William Mainz Preetorius to know. In March 1908, both married to great public attention; the honeymoon they had with Trauns car to Algiers. Then the couple lived until the planned completion of her mansion in the prestigious " Park Hotel Devil's Bridge " in Hamburg.
On the morning of July 11, 1908, a young woman walked in and claimed to have also married to Traun and even to have children with him. The exact circumstances could never be clarified; Following the meeting, Traun shot in the bathroom of his apartment.
Literature and links
- Heiner Gillmeister: A forgotten pioneer. From: Tennis in Germany. From the beginnings to 2002. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 2002. ISBN 978-3428108466.
- Adolf Friedrich Traun at Sports- Reference.com (English)