Gymn Forum: The Double Departure of Gymnast Andreas Wecker

The Double Departure of Gymnast Andreas Wecker

Berliner Zeitung, 25 April 1990

The operating table at Sport Berlin #1 was empty yesterday morning. The announced patient, European horizontal bar champion and vice rings world champion Andreas Wecker, was no longer there. The Sportsman of the Year was supposed to have residual substances removed due to an operation last year, so that he can calmly prepare for the 1991 world championships. The European championships in Lausanne at the end of May had passed.

But for national team coach Dieter Hoffmann, who yesterday morning flew with 14 gymnasts to the first USA-GDR dual meet in Memphis, Tennessee, Wecker was of course the absolute number one for the world championships and Barcelona Olympics in 1992 – until Monday. During the trip overseas, Hoffmann and his selection team were hit by the news of Wecker’s departure for Hannover.

At his last appearance on a GDR gymnastics podium, at the Cottbus tournament at the beginning of April, Wecker had botched his exit – and now this second exit, which seems more serious.

Gymnastics head coach Siegfried Wustemann from SC Berlin No. 1: “Andreas was with his parents in Magdeburg over the weekend. On Sunday evening he drove his car to Hannover and left a letter for his home coach, Lutz Landgraf.”

Lutz Landgraf found it very difficult to digest his top student’s letter. “He sent me a letter through a training mate. In it, Andreas said that he hadn’t been able to tell me this in person. His move to TK Hannover has nothing to do with me as his coach. He had thought about it for a long time and, despite the different opinions of his parents and girlfriend, he chose the route to the West,” said Landgraf.

Both the coach and head coach at SC Berlin #1 agreed that Wecker hadn’t lacked for anything. Siegfried Wustemann: “He had an apartment, good financial conditions, and decent training opportunities.” The fact that his apprenticeship as a car electrician in Pankow recently brought hardship with it – Wecker had to start very early and then often train for five hours afterwards – obviously influenced him. In Hannover, gymnastics administrators named 'difficulties in vocational training' as one of the reasons for switching sides.

How the loss of Wecker will affect the morale of the GDR selection will only be learned on Friday, when the first dual meet will take place in the Memphis Arena. There is no Berliner among the men, but Diana Schroder, Anke Schonfelder and Annett Bleil (all SC Berlin No. 1) strengthen the women’s squad. Wecker had previously stated that he wanted to continue competing for the GDR team in the future.

How the head coach Dieter Hoffman and the incumbent gymnastics general secretary Klaus Heller stand will only be learned after their return from the USA in early May.