Gerhard Stöck

Gerhard Stöck was born the son of a butcher in Kaiserswalde, a small village now located in the middle of Poland, and grew up in Posen Province. In the 1930s Stöck was a very versatile athlete. At the 1936 Olympics he won a bronze medal in the shot put, and then four days later, became Olympic champion in the javelin, defeating the favored Finns. Gerhard Stöck was a three-times World Student Games champion, in 1935 in the javelin and pentathlon, and in 1939 in the shot put. At the 1938 European Championships, he placed second in the shot put and seventh in the javelin throw. With the javelin he was once German champion (1938) and from 1933-47 won eight silver medals. He was also runner-up in the shot put four times at the German nationals, three times behind Olympic gold medalist Hans Woellke. Stöck finished his active career in the early 50s.

After having studied philology Stöck worked as a teacher beginning in 1938. In 1933 he became a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary part of the Nazi Party, and in 1944 was promoted to Sturmbannführer. After the war he took on various sports and political tasks. Among other things, he was chef de mission of the Unified German Olympic team in 1956 and 1960, and in 1964 its deputy chef de mission. His Nazi past was intensively discussed, but only well after his 1985 death. It was found that after the war he had falsified his birth year during the de-Nazification process in 1945, and always stated that he was born in 1910.

His daughter Jutta Stöck participated as a sprinter at the 1968 Olympic Games, his son-in-law Peter Hertel was a 1966 rowing world champion in coxed eights, and also his grandson Ole Hertel was a very good shot putter and discus thrower.

Personal Bests: SP – 16.49 (1939); JT – 73.96 (1935).