Gerhard Stöck

Gerhard Stöck

Stöck (right) at the 1936 Olympics
Personal information
Born	Gerhard Karl Eduard Stöck 28 July 1911 Kaiserswalde, German Empire
Died	29 March 1985 (aged 73) Hamburg, West Germany
Height	184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	91 kg (201 lb)
Children	Jutta Stöck
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Events	Shot put, javelin throw
Club	SC Charlottenburg, Berlin
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	SP – 16.49 m (1939) JT – 73.96 m (1935)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing Germany Olympic Games 1936 Berlin Javelin throw 1936 Berlin Shot put European Championships 1938 Paris Shot put

Gerhard Karl Eduard Stöck (28 July 1911 – 29 March 1985) was a German athlete and Nazi officer. He won the gold medal in the javelin throw event at the 1936 Summer Olympics and placed third in the shot put.

Early life

Stöck was the son of a butcher. He was born in Kaiserswalde, a small village now in Poland, in 1911, and grew up in the Province of Posen.

Athletic career and World War II

He was a versatile athlete and, besides throwing events, competed in decathlon and won the javelin and pentathlon events at the 1935 World Student Games. Domestically, he won the German javelin title in 1938 and placed second from 1933 to 1947. He never won the German shot put title, due to strong competition from Hans Woellke, and placed second four times. At the 1938 European Championships, Stöck won a silver medal in the shot put, surprisingly beating Woellke, but placed only seventh in the javelin throw.

Stöck had a degree in philology and worked as a teacher from 1938. Earlier in 1933, he became a member of the Nazi paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung, and, in 1944, was promoted to SA-Sturmbannführer. In the lead-up to Operation Uranus, Stöck reported to General Schmidt's division that day an expected Soviet attack; it the first of the operation. The message was not passed on to Schmidt, however, as it was considered another false alarm. This lack of early response is thought to have contributed to the Soviet success of Operation Uranus.

After World War II, he continued competing until the early 1950s, then worked as a sports administrator. He served as Chef de Mission of the Unified German Olympic team in 1956 and 1960 and as deputy chef de mission in 1964. His past military activity was raised only after his death in 1985. Among other things, it was found that he falsified his birth year, changing it from 1911 to 1910.

Personal life

Stöck was married and raised an athletic family. His daughter, Jutta Stöck, became an Olympic sprinter, while his son-in-law, Peter Hertel, was a 1966 world champion in rowing. His grandson, Ole Hertel, was a competitive shot putter and discus thrower.