# Ronald Weigel

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German athlete and Olympic medal winner (born 1959)

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Ronald Weigel Medal record Men's athletics Olympic Games Representing East Germany 1988 Seoul 20 km walk 1988 Seoul 50 km walk Representing Germany 1992 Barcelona 50 km walk World Championships Representing East Germany 1983 Helsinki 50 km walk 1987 Rome 50 km walk

**Ronald Weigel** (born 8 August 1959 in [Hildburghausen](/source/Hildburghausen), [Thuringia](/source/Thuringia)) is a German [athlete](/source/Sport_of_athletics) and Olympic medal winner. In the 1980s through the middle of the 1990s he represented [East Germany](/source/East_Germany) (and then Germany after 1990) as one of world's best in [race walking](/source/Race_walking).

His first big win came in 1983 when he won the World title in the 50 km walk. At the 1988 Summer Olympic games he won a silver medal in the 20 km walk as well as a silver medal in the 50 km walk. At the 1992 Olympic Games he won a bronze medal in the 50km walk. He is the only German sportsman to have won Olympic medals in both walking disciplines at the Games.

He was unable to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games because of the East German boycott, when he was the overwhelming favourite to win.

Weigel represented ASK Vorwärts Potsdam, and after reunification he went to OSC Potsdam and then LAC Halensee. He trained with Hans-Joachim Pathus. During his competitive years he was 1.77 meters tall and weighed 62 kilograms.

## Results in detail

- 1983, World championship, 50 km walk: 1st place (3:43:08 hours)

- 1987, World championship, 50 km walk: 2nd place (3:41:30 hours)

- 1988, Summer Olympic games, 20 km walk: 2nd place (1:20:00 hours); 50 km walk: 2nd place (3:38:56 hours)

- 1990, European championship, 50 km walk: 9th place (4:04:36 hours)

At the 1986 European championships he was disqualified in the 50 km walk. At the 1991 World championship he retired from the course, and at the 1995 World championship he was disqualified.

## Life outside sport

Weigel started in the sport as a student in his hometown of Hildburghausen and was found to have natural talent. In 1973 he became the East German student champion, and in 1977 he was second at the Junior European championship.

As a member of the Army sports club he was [Hauptmann](/source/Hauptmann) in the [NVA](/source/National_People's_Army). After reunification he freely admitted to having worked for the [Stasi](/source/Stasi) and was then let go from the sports group of the [Bundeswehr](/source/Bundeswehr) without notice.

In 1997, Weigel took a position as the [Australian](/source/Australia) national coach in [Canberra](/source/Canberra). He trained the Australian [Nathan Deakes](/source/Nathan_Deakes) who won the bronze medal in the 20 km walk at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and was the 2007 World Champion over 50 km walk

After the games, Weigel went back to Germany and took over from his previous trainer, Hans-Joachim Pathus as the German national trainer. His admitted work for the East German security service was taken into consideration, but was not deemed to be a hindrance in hiring him.

## References

## External links

- [Ronald Weigel](https://web.archive.org/web/20161204/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/we/ronald-weigel-1.html) at [Olympics at Sports-Reference.com](/source/Sports_Reference#Olympics) (archived)

Records Preceded by Josep Marín Men's 50km Walk World Record Holder 20 July 1984 – 5 August 1989 Succeeded by Andrey Perlov

v t e World champions in men's 35 km and 50 km race walk 50 km 1976: Veniamin Soldatenko (URS) 1983: Ronald Weigel (GDR) 1987: Hartwig Gauder (GDR) 1991: Aleksandr Potashov (URS) 1993: Jesús Ángel García (ESP) 1995: Valentin Kononen (FIN) 1997: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 1999: Ivano Brugnetti (ITA) 2001: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 2003: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 2005: Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS) 2007: Nathan Deakes (AUS) 2009: Trond Nymark (NOR) 2011: Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) 2013: Robert Heffernan (IRL) 2015: Matej Tóth (SVK) 2017: Yohann Diniz (FRA) 2019: Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) 35 km 2022: Massimo Stano (ITA) 2023: Álvaro Martín (ESP) 2025: Evan Dunfee (CAN)

v t e Men's IAAF World Race Walking Cup champions 20 kilometres 1961–1963: Ken Matthews (GBR) 1965: Dieter Lindner (GDR) 1967: Nikolay Smaga (URS) 1970–1973: Hans-Georg Reimann (GDR) 1975: Karl-Heinz Stadtmüller (GDR) 1977–1979: Daniel Bautista (MEX) 1981: Ernesto Canto (MEX) 1983: Jozef Pribilinec (TCH) 1985: José Marín (ESP) 1987: Carlos Mercenario (MEX) 1989: Frants Kostyukevich (URS) 1991: Mikhail Shchennikov (URS) 1993: Daniel García (MEX) 1995: Li Zewen (CHN) 1997: Jefferson Pérez (ECU) 1999: Bernardo Segura (MEX) 2002–2004: Jefferson Pérez (ECU) 2006–2008: Paquillo Fernández (ESP) 2010: Wang Hao (CHN) 2012: Wang Zhen (CHN) 2014: Ruslan Dmytrenko (UKR) 2016: Wang Zhen (CHN) 2018: Koki Ikeda (JPN) 50 kilometres 1961: Abdon Pamich (ITA) 1963: István Havasi (HUN) 1965–1970: Christoph Höhne (GDR) 1973: Bernd Kannenberg (FRG) 1975: Yevgeniy Lyungin (URS) 1977: Raúl González (MEX) 1979: Martín Bermúdez (MEX) 1981–1983: Raúl González (MEX) 1985: Hartwig Gauder (GDR) 1987: Ronald Weigel (GDR) 1989: Simon Baker (AUS) 1991–1993: Carlos Mercenario (MEX) 1995: Zhao Yongsheng (CHN) 1997: Jesús Ángel García (ESP) 1999: Sergey Korepanov (KAZ) 2002–2004: Aleksey Voyevodin (RUS) 2006–2008: Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) 2010: Matej Tóth (SVK) 2012: Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS) 2014: Mikhail Ryzhov (RUS) 2016: Jared Tallent (AUS) 2018: Hirooki Arai (JPN)

v t e World Best Year Performance in men's race walking 20 km walk 1980: Domingo Colín (MEX) 1981: Dave Smith (AUS) 1982: Willi Sawall (AUS) 1983: Jozef Pribilinec (TCH) 1984: Ernesto Canto (MEX) 1985: Dave Smith (AUS) 1986: Reima Salonen (FIN) 1987: Axel Noack (GDR) 1988: Mikhail Shchennikov (URS) 1989: Yevgeniy Misyulya (URS) 1990: Pavol Blažek (TCH) 1991: Aleksandr Pershin (URS) 1992: Stefan Johansson (SWE) 1993: Bernardo Segura (MEX) 1994: Bernardo Segura (MEX) 1995: Vladimir Andreyev (RUS) 1996: Yevgeniy Misyulya (BLR) 1997: Jefferson Pérez (ECU) 1998: Vladimir Andreyev (RUS) 1999: Julio René Martínez (GUA) 2000: Roman Rasskazov (RUS) 2001: Dmitriy Yesipchuk (RUS) 2002: Paquillo Fernández (ESP) 2003: Jefferson Pérez (ECU) 2004: Vladimir Stankin (RUS) 2005: Nathan Deakes (AUS) 2006: Li Gaobo (CHN) 2007: Vladimir Kanaykin (RUS) 2008: Sergey Morozov (RUS) 2009: Valeriy Borchin (RUS) 2010: Alex Schwazer (ITA) 2011: Wang Zhen (CHN) 2012: Alex Schwazer (ITA) 2013: Petr Trofimov (RUS) 2014: Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) 2015: Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) 2016: Eiki Takahashi (JPN) 2017: Wang Kaihua (CHN) 2018: Sergey Shirobokov (RUS) 2019: Toshikazu Yamanishi (JPN) 2020: Toshikazu Yamanishi (JPN) 2021: Wang Kaihua (CHN) 2022: Vasiliy Mizinov (ANA) 50 km walk 1980: José Marín (ESP) 1981: Uwe Dünkel (GDR) 1982: Ronald Weigel (GDR) 1983: José Marín (ESP) 1984: Ronald Weigel (GDR) 1985: Andrey Perlov (URS) 1986: Ronald Weigel (GDR) 1987: Andrey Perlov (URS) 1988: Vyacheslav Ivanenko (URS) 1989: Andrey Perlov (URS) 1990: Aleksandr Potashov (URS) 1991: Carlos Mercenario (MEX) 1992: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 1993: Jesús Ángel García (ESP) 1994: Valentí Massana (ESP) 1995: Zhao Yongsheng (CHN) 1996: Thierry Toutain (FRA) 1997: Jesús Ángel García (ESP) 1998: Andrey Plotnikov (RUS) 1999: Sergey Korepanov (KAZ) 2000: Valeriy Spitsyn (RUS) 2001: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 2002: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 2003: Robert Korzeniowski (POL) 2004: Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) 2005: Yu Chaohong (CHN) 2006: Nathan Deakes (AUS) 2007: Alex Schwazer (ITA) 2008: Denis Nizhegorodov (RUS) 2009: Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS) 2010: Yohann Diniz (FRA) 2011: Sergey Bakulin (RUS) 2012: Sergey Kirdyapkin (RUS) 2013: Robert Heffernan (IRL) 2014: Yohann Diniz (FRA) 2015: Matej Tóth (SVK) 2016: Yohann Diniz (FRA) 2017: Yohann Diniz (FRA) 2018: Tomohiro Noda (JPN) 2019: Masatora Kawano (JPN) 2020: Matej Tóth (SVK) 2021: Satoshi Maruo (JPN) 2022: Resham Midhun (IND)

Authority control databases: People World Athletics

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ronald Weigel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Weigel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Weigel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.