1959–60 Four Hills Tournament

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Four Hills Tournament
Ski jumping pictogram.svg
Venues Schattenbergschanze, Große Olympiaschanze, Bergiselschanze, Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze
Location Germany, Austria
Dates30 December 1959 (1959-12-30) – 6 January 1960 (1960-01-06)
Competitors46 from 8 nations
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg  
Silver medal icon.svg  
Bronze medal icon.svg  
  1958-59
1960-61  

The eighth annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was influenced by the German flag controversy, which led to the teams of the Warsaw Pact zone withdrawing from the tournament. In addition, Finland and Norway decided not to compete due to preparations for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympics. Finland ultimately sent prospective athletes.

Contents

The tournament was instead dominated by the host country and for the first time, the Four Hills were won by a West German ski jumper, Max Bolkart.

German Flag Controversy

For ten years after its declared independence, the German Democratic Republic continued to use the German tricolour for official use. In October 1959, they finally adapted a distinctive flag, the East German coat of arms in front of the tricolour. The Four Hills tournament starting in December 1959 was one of the first sporting events on West German ground where East German athletes were supposed to compete under the new flag.

However, it was prohibited to display the new East German flag under West German law and the hosts refused to do so in Oberstdorf. The strong East German delegation including defending champion Helmut Recknagel refused to compete under the circumstances and withdrew. Teams of countries that accepted East Germany as a sovereign nation and thus their flag, withdrew in solidarity (Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union). Originally, it was announced that they would compete at the two events in Austria.

Austria, however, did not yet have diplomatic relations with the GDR and it was left to the local government to deal with the situation. Innsbruck mayor Alois Lugger decided not to display the East German flag either. Although he offered compromises, such as the use of the Olympic German flag or using no flags at all, the Warsaw Pact teams declared their withdrawal on the day of the Innsbruck event and left the day after. [1]

Participating nations and athletes

Many notable absences include the teams from East Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway and the top athletes from Finland.

A French team, however, competed at the Four Hills for the first time.

NationNumber of AthletesAthletes
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 13 Hermann Anwander, Helmut Böck, Max Bolkart, Rudi Duffke, Alois Haberstock, Wolfgang Happle, Heini Ihle, Helmut Kurz, Georg Thoma, Helmut Wegscheider, Hubert Witting, Heinrich Zapf, Axel Zerlaut
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 14 Willi Egger, Klaus Fichtner, Walter Habersatter, Waldemar Heigenhauser, Willi Köstinger, Ernst Kröll, Lois Leodolter, Otto Leodolter, Peter Müller, Alwin Plank, Baldur Preiml, Rudi Schweinberger, Walter Steinegger, Ferdl Wallner
Canadian Red Ensign (1957-1965).svg Canada 3 Jacques Charland, Gerry Gravelle, Luis Moser
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 2 Timo Kavelä, Markku Maatela
Flag of France.svg  France 2 Claude Jean-Prost, Robert Rey
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 4 Lars-Åke Bergseije, Holger Karlsson, Inger Lindquist, Folke Mikaelsson
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 3 Andreas Däscher, Ueli Scheidegger, Peter Wenger
Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia 5 Božo Jemc, Jože Langus, Miro Oman, Marjan Pečar, Jože Šlibar

Results

Oberstdorf

Flag of Germany.svg Schattenbergschanze, Oberstdorf
30 December 1959 [2]

RankNamePoints
1 Flag of Germany.svg Max Bolkart 220.5
2 Flag of Austria.svg Alwin Plank 219.5
3 Flag of Germany.svg Helmut Kurz 219.0
4 Flag of Austria.svg Willi Egger 217.0
Flag of Sweden.svg Holger Karlsson 217.0
6 Flag of Germany.svg Hermann Anwander 215.5
7 Flag of Austria.svg Walter Habersatter 214.5
8 Flag of Austria.svg Otto Leodolter 212.5
9 Flag of Sweden.svg Folke Mikaelsson 212.0
Flag of Germany.svg Georg Thoma 212.0

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Flag of Germany.svg Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1 January 1960 [3]

With his ninth place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Jacques Charland became the first non-European with a Top-Ten-finish at a Four Hills event.

RankNamePoints
1 Flag of Germany.svg Max Bolkart 216.9
2 Flag of Finland.svg Timo Kivelä 216.5
3 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Jože Šlibar 212.7
4 Flag of Sweden.svg Inger Lindquist 212.6
5 Flag of Germany.svg Georg Thoma 212.5
6 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Božo Jemc 212.1
7 Flag of Austria.svg Alwin Plank 211.2
8 Flag of Finland.svg Markku Maatela 210.8
9 Canadian Red Ensign (1957-1965).svg Jacques Charland 210.4
10 Flag of Austria.svg Willi Egger 209.8

Innsbruck

Flag of Austria.svg Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
3 January 1960 [4]

Thanks to close results so far, the overall ranking was still closely contested after the first two events. In Innsbruck however, Max Bolkart increased his lead to almost twenty points after a third, clearer victory.

Curiously, three out of four Swedish competitors shared 21st place, equal in points (198.5).

RankNamePoints
1 Flag of Germany.svg Max Bolkart 229.5
2 Flag of Austria.svg Otto Leodolter 225.5
3 Flag of Austria.svg Alwin Plank 216.5
4 Flag of Sweden.svg Folke Mikaelsson 215.5
5 Flag of Germany.svg Georg Thoma 214.5
6 Flag of Finland.svg Timo Kivelä 213.0
7 Flag of Austria.svg Willi Egger 212.0
8 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Božo Jemc 211.5
Flag of Austria.svg Walter Steinegger 211.5
10 Flag of Finland.svg Markku Maatela 211.0

Bischofshofen

Flag of Austria.svg Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen
6 January 1959 [5]

Max Bolkart was the third athlete within seven years to win the first three events but fail to achieve the 'Grand Slam' in Bischofshofen. He still became the first West German to win the tournament however, as Alwin Plank almost, but not quite closed the gap in the overall ranking.

The Austrians achieved their first triple victory, a feat that only the Finnish had produced so far (twice in 1954–55).

RankNamePoints
1 Flag of Austria.svg Alwin Plank 227.5
2 Flag of Austria.svg Otto Leodolter 224.7
3 Flag of Austria.svg Willi Egger 221.7
4 Flag of Germany.svg Helmut Kurz 216.0
5 Flag of Germany.svg Max Bolkart 211.1
Canadian Red Ensign (1957-1965).svg Jacques Charland 211.1
7 Flag of Austria.svg Walter Steinegger 210.8
8 Flag of Germany.svg Wolfgang Happle 209.8
9 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Jože Šlibar 208.9
10 Flag of Finland.svg Timo Kivelä 204.3

Final ranking

RankNameOberstdorfGarmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenPoints
1 Flag of Germany.svg Max Bolkart 1st1st1st5th878.0
2 Flag of Austria.svg Alwin Plank 2nd7th3rd1st874.7
3 Flag of Austria.svg Otto Leodolter 8th11th2nd2nd870.6
4 Flag of Austria.svg Willi Egger 4th10th7th3rd860.5
5 Flag of Germany.svg Helmut Kurz 3rd12th14th4th849.0
6 Flag of Finland.svg Timo Kivelä 11th2nd6th10th845.3
7 Flag of Germany.svg Georg Thoma 9th5th5th14th839.2
8 Flag of Austria.svg Walter Steinegger 23rd14th8th7th826.8
9 Flag of Germany.svg Hermann Anwander 6th20th15th11th825.7
10 Flag of Germany.svg Wolfgang Happle 19th27th17th8th808.7

References

  1. "Flaggenstreit beim Innsbrucker Skispringen" (in German). Arbeiter-Zeitung. 1960.
  2. "Oberstdorf (GER)". FIS.
  3. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)". FIS.
  4. "Innsbruck (AUT)". FIS.
  5. "Bischofshofen (AUT)". FIS.